Chapter 3 - Beginning(s) of the Project

Summary

“There is very little truth to the old refrain that one cannot legislate morality. Laws do not only provide concrete benefits, they can even change the hearts of men—some men anyhow—for good or evil.”

—Thurgood Marshall

Introduction

The decade that proved so tumultuous around the world did not find an exception in South Africa. Preventative detentions increased, as did the number of people killed within them. Assassination and exile continued to be realities for activists. As South African attorneys cast about for hope, perceived commonalities with the United States drove the formation of the Southern Africa Project. The fledgling partnership gave Americans a way to expand the domestic civil rights movement in years when it seemed to have reached its zenith.

Trials and personal tribulations

Beginning in 1963, IDAF supported the defence of Rivonia trialists. The court drama, spanning the years 1963-1964 saw the trial of eleven and conviction of eight African National Congress National Executive Committee members on charges of sabotage. In many ways, it precipitated the country's move toward the apex of government repression, as the regime subsequently worked overtime to dismantle the apparatus that supported defences in political trials. In the year before Rivonia, however, IDAF funded attorney Godfrey Pitje and advocate Sydney Kentridge as they defended young men accused of treason or sabotage. Digang Moseneke recalled his experience as a teenage defendant in one of these trials:

In 1963, within two months of my departure from Kilnerton, I was arrested. I was fifteen years, two months old. I was charged with conspiracy to overthrow the government by violent means. No acts of violence were proven. I think the truth of the matter was that we were a group of many people who sought to change apartheid and transform the state. You had an opportunity to talk through the case you were going to face and what it was likely to mean to you. Therefore the levels of preparedness and mutual reinforcement were quite high. Because, you know, at fifteen, you needed a lot of strength to go through the period of awaiting trial in jail. You came from a regular family, where you had a reasonably good way of living … and suddenly you’re a prisoner. “Sorry you said too much about us and you have to go to jail.” And it's not like you blew up something.