...The prisoners faced sabotage rather than treason charges. Under the sabotage legislation, and unlike the earlier treason trial, the onus was now on the defense to prove the accused were innocent...Each of the Rivonia trialists was accused of 222 acts sabotage between 1961 and 1963 in preparation for guerrilla warfare. The state asked for the maximum penalty: death by hanging...
..On December 3, 1963...Mandela had put the South African Government on trial. Together with the crowd assembled outside
...April 20, 1964 was a wet and miserable Monday. Mandela's mother and his young wife sat side by side in the
....reading from his own script, carefully drafted over two weeks...Mandela refused to change his parting words. He put his script on the table and turned to face the judge. He did not break eye contact as he spoke the final risky words engraved in his memory:
" 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 I hope t live for. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die for"
Mandela finished.
The courtroom was silent.
Even the aggressive, jumpy prosecutor was quiet. Mandela had been speaking for hours.
He sat down.
One of the worlds greatest speeches was over.
(Culled from the book NELSON MANDELA written by Christiana Scott, 2005- Random House Inc)
Today, Mandela is free and still alive.
...so one question I ask...do you have any values you hope to live for and if needs be die for?...or are you just one of those people who are carried away by the winds? we live in a country with dead values and no one is ready to stand up for change. I ask...and once again I ask, what will you be known for when you time is up? Mandela is still alive and many values stand already in his name..the battle is over..
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