Ahmed Kathrada was jailed on the island alongside Nelson Mandela after being sentenced to life imprisonment for treason at the famous Rivonia trial.
Ahmed Kathrada, former political activist, said, “On the night of our sentence, they suddenly woke us up, I think midnight, and told us to get dressed and we are going. They didn’t tell us where but we guessed it would be Robben Island, handcuffed us, leg irons, taken to the military airport, put on the plane and the next morning we land on Robben Island on this cold winter’s day, winter’s morning.”

Mandela and his co-accused had chosen to wage an armed struggle. Mandela was the armed wing’s commander.

Nelson Mandela: “It is useless and futile for us to continue to talking peace and non-violence against a government whose reply is only savage attacks on an unarmed and defenseless people”

Ahmed Kathrada, former political activist, said, “The armed struggle was an additional struggle to force the enemy to the negotiating table. It was never envisaged that with the armed struggle there would be a military victory, we never envisaged that. It was an additional pressure. Now we were already involved in the activities that eventually led to the Rivonia trial. We were aware of what the consequences could be, namely a maximum penalty was death. So all of us who were involved and we already knew what the consequences could be.”

Arthur Chaskalson, Rivonia Defence Team lawyer, said, “This is the eternal flame of freedom to symbolize the adoption of our constitution on its fifteenth anniversary…. And here is some of our history of claims. You will see there was a demand for the African Bill of Rights. Then there was a demand for full citizenship and rights, abolition of political discrimination based on race, the right to equal justice, the freedom of residence and a repeal of what was in effect the pass laws, freedom of movement, a share in the all the resources of the country.”

“These are the founding members of the ANC”

Arthur Chaskalson later became the first president of the Constitutional Court. At the trial, Mandela and his co-accused, assisted by some of the country’s most brilliant lawyers, chose an unconventional defence that effectively put Apartheid on trial.

Arthur Chaskalson, Rivonia Defence Team lawyer, said, “The whole case was conducted on the basis that Apartheid was evil and that this was a justifiable response and that – you see it in the universal declaration of human rights, that people are entitled to revolt against unjust regimes and that was the basis of the whole defence, so it was a very positive and strong defence.”

Arthur Chaskalson, Rivonia Defence Team lawyer, said, “When he got to the end, this is how he concluded and when he got to the end where he said ‘And if needs be, for which I am prepared to die’, there was an absolute silence in the court. You could actually hear the silence, it was so tangible.”
Ahmed Kathrada, former political activist, said, “The courts became a political platform for all of us who were political… When you go into the witness box you proclaim your political beliefs.”

Which is what Mandela did, his speech proclaimed the beliefs of the ANC – and the demands of a people for fair treatment - to the world.

Arthur Chaskalson, Rivonia Defence Team lawyer, said, “I think his whole speech did have an amazing influence. Because it did get very wide publicity out of the country. It was circulated everywhere and everybody knew about it and it really was I think a turning point, although there continued to be some hostility in western countries to the ANC. ”

The statement may have drawn international attention to the evils of Apartheid but for Mandela and his seven co-accused, the least sentence they could expect was life, which is what they got. The guilty verdict meant that, as in some western countries, white South Africans now viewed Mandela and his colleagues at terrorists.

Christo Brand, Former Prison Warden, said, “I ask the sergeant, one day, what are these criminals in for? Because they say life imprisonment, 15 years, 18 years and he said man, that’s the terrorists who tried to overthrow our country. So I immediately had hatred to myself, because I never knew Nelson Mandela and all when I came here, I came from a farm community, I had a hate towards these guys because that’s the guys who killed my friends on the border.”

Despite trying to hate these so-called terrorists, Christo Brand found himself empathizing with the prisoners.