The note reads:

This was one of several messages ‘Terror’ wrote analysing the political implications of the trial and assuring the outside world that he and his comrades would not give up their struggle for justice, regardless of the personal cost. He passed them to Advocate George Bizos’ ‘assistant’ (the author) to send out to anti-apartheid supporters in the UK.

Bizos facilitated the secret message service by introducing his temporary assistant to the accused as they sat in the bleak court cell eating the lunch provided by volunteers of Black Sash. Back in the courtroom, the instructions to the assistant were whispered and simple: ‘Don’t speak to any of the court officials, wait for me to ask you to consult with the defendants, and give me all your notes each day before we leave.’ In that way it was easy to send out uncensored reports.

The day would start at George Bizos’ home in Greenside around 7.30 am and the drive to his Chambers, in Pretoria, was spent listening to Greek liberation songs on the cassette player, discussing the trial – and the weight-loss diet compassionately imposed on him by his wife (successful despite the fact he kept a bottle of olive oil secreted in his cupboard with his gown).

In the same court that had seen Nelson Mandela and his comrades convicted of treason in the Rivonia Trial 24 years earlier, the madness of apartheid was in full flow. Nineteen men who could have been out in their communities providing leadership and strengthening the cause of non-violent change were charged with attempting to overthrow the state.