Mike Selby
“It is a story of the beauty and terror of human life, and it cannot be written again because it cannot be felt again.”
——-Alan Paton
It was just before noon on August 5th, 1962 when Nelson Mandela was arrested just outside of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. His day in court would take place a full year later, when he and nine others were charged with treason and sabotage (terrorism). Known as the Rivonia Trial (named after the place where Mandela’s co-defendants were arrested), it was the most important trial in South Africa’s history. A guilty verdict would result in the death penalty.
“During my lifetime,” Mandela stated at his trial, “I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
After a long six months, the trial ended on June 12th, 1964. Nelson Mandela was found guilty of “waging guerrilla war intended to culminate in full scale revolt against the Government of South Africa.” Before the death penalty could be imposed though, Mandela’s lawyer called a character witness on his behalf—-the novelist Alan Paton.
Born and raised in Pietermaritzburg, Paton attended and later taught at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He spent his free time volunteering at the Toc H. Tuberculosis Settlement and helped found South Africa’s Liberal Party in the early 50s, becoming the Party’s leader. But Paton is best known for 19 books he wrote, which his ‘Cry the Beloved Country’ stands above all others. A heartbreaking book told in lyrical prose, it alerted the international community to life of non-white people under the boot heel of apartheid.
This book, combined with his political stance—a non-racial and humane alternative to the apartheid government—earned him little favour in his home country. The security police harassed Paton and his family, frequently searching his home, confiscated his passport, and eventually banned the Liberal Party.
In June of 1964, Nelson Mandela’s defense lawyer asked Paton to act as a character witness, hoping to mitigate the chances that his client would be put to death. Paton had no sooner begun to speak when a highly unusual and unprecedented happened. The prosecuting attorney Percy Yutar was granted permission to cross-examine Paton. His reason being “to unmask this gentlemen and make perfectly clear that his only reason for going into the witness box is to make political propaganda. “
Yutar began to assault Paton with all sorts of accusations of communism, being a part of the Community Party, and that he consulted with the defendants “before they embarked on this traitorous programme of theirs.” Somewhat shocked, Paton truthfully denied all. This was followed by some back and forth about Paton holding and attending secret meetings (all impossible as he was under the watch of the security police), with Yutar frequently interjecting “And you call yourself a true South African.”
The prosecutor then entered into evidence—again, unheard of for a character witness—Paton’s interview with the highly subversive international entity: the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
CBC: “We are all very aware of the terrible problems confronting South Africa, and I think the question we would all like to ask is whether there is any way out?”
Paton: “[one way out] is an increase in unrest and conflict within the country, but we except also increasing aggressiveness from other African countries…if that were to happen you might find some intervention by the United Nations.”
Yutar became even more hostile, asking why he was overseas advocating for unrest and U.N. involvement. Since this was exactly what was happening at the time, Paton was either behind it all, or a prophet.
Yutar: “Your prophecy [has] remarkable accuracy.”
Paton: “I will thank-you for the compliment.”
Yutar: “I was not trying to compliment you at all…nor would I dare!”
CBC: “Many Canadians are asking would it be useful for a country like Canada to impose a trade boycott of African goods?”
Paton: “The three field which are vulnerable are gold, oil, and shipping.”
Yutar: “And you are patriotic, you call yourself a patriot of South Africa, and you are telling countries abroad [how] South Africa will be brought to its knees?”
Paton: “I perhaps have different ideas for some people as to what are the rights of a free man, and I thought it was my right, and I still think it was my right, to go to a country and answer questions of that kind.”
Yutar then held up a newspaper from Norway, with the headline “Paton’s Plea to Nordics: Don’t Stop Concern at Apartheid.”
Yutar: “Campaigning even from this country? Against your country?”
Paton “No, not against my country, no.”
Yutar: “You have also spoken out against apartheid?”
Paton: “Yes.”
Yutar: “And that is not treason either?”
Paton: “Not yet.”
And that was all that was heard from Mandela’s single character witness. Although reporters noted the judge wasn’t even listening to this exchange, Mandela and his co-defendants were given life sentences instead of death.
Mandela served 27 years before being released in 1990. He wrote many letters to Paton before the author’s death in 1988.
After being sworn in as South Africa’s President, Mandela invited Yutar—the man who prosecuted him and demanded his death decades earlier— to have lunch with him.