/ 9 September 1999

Madiba given original Rivonia trial transcript

Former president Nelson Mandela on Tuesday received a transcript of the original judgment in his 1961 treason trial from the daughter of the president of the court that tried him. Mandela — along with thirty other African National Congress members — was tried for high treason by Mr Justice Frans Rumpff. Rumpff’s daughter, Irene, was a clerk at the trial and along with the judgment also presented Mandela with a scrapbook she had made of newspaper clippings of the trial. Irene’s scrapbook of news clippings on the trial have now been compiled into book form, but the originals were given to Mandela. Twenty-five of the books have been donated to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, which will sell them to raise funds. Copies of the judgment and the scrapbooks have also been kept by the University of Pretoria for research purposes.