History Matters Blog :

Mandela skips the country and appears in Addis Ababa

Nelson MandelaNelson Mandela

Date: 11 January, 1962

Early in 1962 Nelson Mandela was smuggled across the borders of South Africa as David Motsamayi and on 11 January made a surprise appearance at the Pan-African Freedom Movement Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mandela's address to the conference took place a few weeks after the first sabotage attacks were committed by uMkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) known as MK,  the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). In his speech he clarified and justified the turn to the armed struggle. During this trip, Mandela received guerrilla training in Algeria before travelling to London where he met leaders of British opposition parties.

He returned to South Africa in July, and on 5 August was arrested near Howick in Natal. Mandela was tried in Pretoria's Old Synagogue and during this trial he decided to conduct his own defence with Bob Hepple acting as his legal representitive. He also applied for the recusal of the magistrate because as a white person he was already an interested party and therefore not impartial. He also pointed out that he was not obligated to obey the laws of a white parliament, which did not represent him, and the rest of Black South Africans.

In November 1962, Mandela was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for incitement and illegally leaving the country. He served this sentence on Robben Island. While Mandela was in prison, police raided the underground headquarters of the African National Congress at Lillies Leaf Farm, Rivonia, arresting, among others, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Ahmed Kathrada, Dennis Goldberg, Lionel Bernstein and Bob Hepple.

Police found documents relating to the manufacture of explosives, Mandela's diary of his African tour and copies of a draft memorandum - 'Operation Mayibuye' - which outlined a possible strategy of a guerrilla struggle.

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