Political suppression and the Treason Trial

Question 1

South Africa’s standing as a democracy from 1948

Answer 1

• South Africa remained a democracy for white voters, and white opposition parties were tolerated so long as they were peaceful and didn’t try to recruit black African people.
• However, any opposition from non-white groups was often brutally suppressed, and the security forces deployed both physical and psychological pressure.
• The main legal authority for repression in the 1950’s was the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950.

Question 2

What was the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950?

Answer 2

• The government genuinely believed communist agitators were behind the majority of protests against apartheid.
• In suppressing communism, they were also seen by the Western powers, and the USA in particular, as a reliable ally in the Cold War.

Question 3

What was the definition of communism?

Answer 3

• This act defined communism as any scheme aimed at ‘bringing about any political change within the union by the promoting of disturbance and disorder’.
• Communism was therefore a euphemism for any form of unrest, and the Act could be used to imprison anyone for anything the authorities deemed subversive.
• It could also ban organizations and individuals from contacting others for periods up to 5 years by the use of banning orders.
• For many, this meant house arrest.
• The British Lord Chancellor succinctly summed up the act when he reported, anyone was a communist if the South African Minister of Justice said so.

Question 4

The Communist Party after the Suppression of Communism Act

Answer 4

• The CPSA dissolved itself and became and illegal organization, the South African Communist Party (renaming itself).
• Its policy was that SA must first become a non-racial state before communism could succeed there, and therefore it continued to work with anti-apartheid groups, notably the ANC.

Question 5

What was the 1953 Public Safety Act?

Answer 5

• In 1953 the Public Safety Act allowed the government to call a state of emergency for 12 months in the first instance, with powers to renew it indefinitely.

Question 6

What was the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1953?

Answer 6

• The Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1953 stated that anyone accompanying a person found guilty of a crime would be automatically assumed guilty too and would have to prove their innocence.

Question 7

What were the Censorship Acts of 1955 and 1956?

Answer 7

• Censorship Acts in 1955 and 1956 aimed to prevent critical reporting and critical material being brought into South Africa.

Question 8

What was the 1956 Riotous Assemblies Act?

Answer 8

• In 1956 the Riotous Assemblies Act outlawed any meetings which might engender hostility between races, and prevent any ‘banned’ persons from addressing public meetings.
• This had been passed to prevent future meetings such as the 1955 Congress of the People, which had led to the freedom charter.
• The main intention was to isolate would-be protestors and prevent seditious material from reaching their potential audience.

Question 9

What started the Treason Trial?

Answer 9

Many different groups of all races had protested against the implementation of apartheid. At a people’s congress in Kliptown, in June 1955, these groups drew up a Freedom Charter, demanding equal rights for all in South Africa.
- Eighteen months after the ratification of the Freedom Charter, on 5th December 1956, the authorities arrested 156 of those who had attended the Kliptown meeting and charged them with high treason.

Question 10

Who was arrested on the 5th December 1956?

Answer 10

• Those arraigned included the entire leadership of the ANC and most of that of the other opposition groups.

Question 11

What were the events of the Treason Trial?

Answer 11

• After 5 months, there were accused of conspiring to overthrow the government and replace it with a Communist Regime.
• The ensuing Treason Trial dragged on for 5 years.
• From 1957 onwards, some defendants were released for lack of evidence and indictments were withdrawn against 73 defendants.
• The trial against the remaining 30 defendants finally began August 1959.
• White the defendants were in court, they could find little time for either covert activities or earning their livelihood.
• Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo’s law firm effectively went out of business during the trial.
• In March 1961, the trial ended with the acquittal of all the defendants.
• The prosecution had failed to present a convincing case throughout the trial, and there was no evidence that any of those accused had ever been guilty of treason.
• However, there was no sense of rejoicing among dissidents.