Delmas Treason Trial starts

Date: 16 Oct 1985
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

The Delmas Treason Trial, up to that time the longest trial in the history of SA, started in Delmas, east of Pretoria. Twenty-two Transvaal United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders, including former premiers of the Free State and North West provinces, Mosiuoa "Terror" Lekota and Popo Molefe, were indicted for treason in June. All the accused pleaded not guilty. The trial dragged from 1985 till December 1988, when Justice Kees van Dijkhorst passed judgement. Van Dijkhorst convicted eleven of the twenty-two and sentenced them to terms of imprisonment ranging from five to eleven years. The Appellate Division overturned their convictions at the end of 1989.

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How we know this

01South African Institute of Race Relations. (1989). Race Relations Survey 1988/89, Johannesburg: South African Institute of Race Relations, p. 571.
02Stanford Introduction to Regional Profiles [online] Available at: www.stanford.edu [Accessed on 16 October 2013]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Delmas Treason Trial starts. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012615

South African History Online (2011) 'Delmas Treason Trial starts', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012615 (Accessed: 3 October 2026).

South African History Online, Delmas Treason Trial starts [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012615, (accessed 3 October 2026).

"Delmas Treason Trial starts." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012615. Accessed 3 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Delmas Treason Trial starts." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012615.