Thursday, July 11, 1963: Liliesleaf raid

     South African police raid the African National Congress headquarters, the Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, just outside Johannesburg. Virtually the entire leadership of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), armed wing of the ANC, were arrested. Nelson Mandela, the commander in chief of the MK, was not arrested as he was serving a five-year prison sentence for leaving the country illegally in 1962. The farm was privately owned by Arthur Goldreich, but bought with funds from the Communist Party of South Africa. At the farm police found documents relating to the manufacture of explosives, Mandela's dairy of his African tour and copies of a draft memorandum, "Operation Mayibuye." It outlined a possible strategy of guerrilla warfare. More arrests followed shortly after this incident. Mandela and his co-accused were sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia trial that ended in June 1964.
     -- From South African History Online (www.sahistory.org.za)

* "The Rivonia Trial Fifty Years Later" (Longer summary from South African History Online): @
* The Liliesleaf Trust: @
* "Operation Mayibuye" document (from nelsonmandela.org): @
* "The Last Meeting at Liliesleaf Farm" (from City of Johannesburg website): @
* African National Congress: @
* Post on Mandela's arrest (August 5, 1962): @ 

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