RAID ON LILIESLEAF FARM

LILIESLEAF: On July 11 1963, Liliesleaf Farm (see yesterday ’ s solutions 1 and 7 below) in Rivonia, northern Johannesburg, was a farm used secretly by the ANC where many of its prominent leaders were arrested – exactly 50 years ago – in a raid that was the harbinger to the infamous Rivonia Trial.

The farm was bought by Arthur Goldreich and Harold Wolpe in 1961 for the underground Communist Party and as a safe house for political fugitives. It was also used by the ANC’s military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) and the Congress Alliance.

Nelson Mandela lived there as a worker in blue overalls under the assumed name of David Motsamai.

On July 11 1963, security police raided the farm after a tip-off and arrested 19 members of the underground movements. Liliesleaf was the “nerve centre” of liberation activity and the raid dealt a hammer blow to the Struggle.

Those arrested in the raid included Govan Mbeki (father of former president Thabo Mbeki), Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, Lionel “Rusty ” Bernstein and Bob Hepple.

Nelson Mandela, commander-in-chief of MK, was serving a five-year prison sentence for leaving the country illegally in 1962 and inciting a strike.

The meeting on the day of the raid was to discuss Operation Mayibuye, the plan to overthrow the government.

More arrests followed shortly afterwards, including Arthur Goldreich, Andrew Mlangeni, James Kantor, Dennis Goldberg, Harold Wolpe and Elias Motsoaledi. Goldreich and Wolpe later escaped from prison.

Mandela and his co-accused were sentenced to life imprisonment in the subsequent Rivonia Trial.