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R/£ 'Big shot' trialists reunited
July 30, 2009 Edition 2
A reunion of four surviving Rivonia Trial accused, including Nelson Mandela, has been held in Joburg.
"Ah, the big shots are here," Mandela said when he saw Andrew Mlangeni, 84, Denis Goldberg, 76, and Ahmed Kathrada, 79, who came to the former president's office in Houghton yesterday.
The four were sentenced to life for sabotage on June 12 1964.
"Goldberg, the only white person convicted in the case, served his sentence in Pretoria, while the other seven went to Robben Island," the Nelson Mandela Foundation said.
The other accused - who are now deceased - were Govan Mbeki, Elias Motsoaledi, Raymond Mhlaba and Walter Sisulu.
Rusty Bernstein and James Kantor were acquitted of all charges.
An audience that included the four Rivonia accused and Mandela's wife, Graça Machel, watched a performance of the one-person show The Rivonia Trial.
The play was written, directed and performed by Monde Wani, from the Eastern Cape, who has staged it in the US, Britain and Germany.
After being congratulated by Mandela, who told him he "did very well", Wani was overwhelmed. "This was the most powerful performance I have done in my life," he said.
Other audience members included Nobel literature laureate Nadine Gordimer; poet Oswald Mtshali; advocate George Bizos; Ilse Wilson, daughter of the late Bram Fischer; Annemarie Wolpe, widow of activist Harold Wolpe; and Caroline Motsoaledi, the widow of Elias. - Sapa
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