 11 July 1963 Senior ANC members arrested at Lilliesleaf Farm |
Security police raided the African National Congress (ANC) ‘safe-house' at Lilliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, just outside Johannesburg. The farm was privately owned by Arthur Goldreich, but bought with money of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA). Virtually the whole leadership of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), armed wing of the ANC, were arrested, namely Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Ahmed Kathrada, Lionel Bernstein and Bob Hepple. Nelson Mandela, the commander-in-chief of MK, was not arrested at the time as he was serving a five-year imprisonment term for leaving the country illegally in 1962. 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 guerrilla struggle, and which the six men had been studying the moment the police entered the door. More arrests followed shortly after this incident, including Arthur Goldreich, Andrew Mlangeni, James Kantor, Dennis Goldberg, Harold Wolpe and Elias Motsoaledi. Goldreich and Wolpe later bribed prison guards and escaped. Mandela and his co-accused were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia trial of 1964. Sources:
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