A visit to Liliesleaf Farm, Rivonia, Johannesburg, ANC headquarters 1961-63

Lilisleaf farm as it is today

The history of Johannesburg is so interwoven with the ANC, Nelson Mandela and the struggle against the apartheid regime that it would be impossible to stay here without visiting some of the iconic sites that punctuated the era, one of these - and the first we visited is Lilisleaf Farm. So, dear reader, this is a history post and we appreciate not everyone will be interested, but the fight against apartheid is so well known the world over that, we hope, it will be interesting enough to read.

The thatched cottage - MK meeting house

Johannesburg is a relatively young city, established in 1886 in what was then the Transvaal by some wandering Boer (farmers of Dutch descent), who settled in the area after being pushed out of the Cape area by the British. Unfortunately for them gold was discovered in the city and thousands descended in search of their fortune, The British moved in and after the second Boer war annexed the area to create the Union of South Africa, Johannesburg becoming the largest city in South Africa. The city is thus a mere 133 years old, not much more than twice my age!

Aerial photo of the farm taken the day after the police raid

Inside the thatched cottage. Think of the meetings that took place in here 

Over the next decades the white minority government gradually tightened its iron grip, segregating white and black citizens, forcing blacks into townships with no facilities while whites lived in comfortable towns. Pass laws were introduced where each black citizen had to carry a pass showing their legitimacy to be in certain areas, these could be requested at any time by the police and failure to show it or being in an unauthorised area could mean a jail term, and jail for a black person was pretty dire.

Photo inside the cottage the day after the police raid 12-07-63

During this time the African National Congress (ANC) was formed in 1912 with its aim to bring together all African people as one and defend rights and freedoms. The movement was initially to bring about equal rights for all by peaceful means but the Sharpville massacre of 21st March 1960 changed all that when police opened fire on black people peacefully protesting outside a police station, killing 69 and injuring 180 more, including children.

The cottage and other outbuildings from the farm house

The government declared a state of emergency, banned the ANC and SACP (South African Communist Party) and world opinion turned against the apartheid regime. Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and others in the ANC decided to part from peaceful resistance and embark on an armed resistance forming a military wing to the ANC which they called Umkhonto we Sizwe (aka: MK), which means Spear of the Nation.

The coal shed at the back of the farm house where the police found Mandelas diary and the papers that incriminated him and led to his incarceration on Robben Island for 27 years

Info panel by the coal shed. Click photo to enlarge

At the same time as the Sharpville Massacre Jo Slovo, Arthur Goldreich and others in the South African Communist Party who, despite being white, were campaigning for an end to the apartheid regime and, after their organisation was banned, were looking for a safe place to buy in order to continue their work covertly were completing the purchase of a smallholding in Rivonia, 10 miles to the north of Johannesburg. The place they bought was Lilisleaf farm, a 37 acre farm with house and outbuildings in the, then, very rural outskirts. Lilisleaf was owned by a Scottish family who wished to sell it and return home, having named the farm after a village in Scotland (it's south of Edinburgh and is in this location: Lillisleaf).

Notice at the entrance to the farm house

Arthur Goldreich, his wife and two children being white, were the front to the purchase in order to give an appearance of respectability. Arthur resigned from the communist party and severed all links to other organisations so no-one could connect him. Shortly after this Nelson Mandela moved into the small thatched workers cottage in the grounds posing as a farmer and using the name David Motsamayi. MK moved their headquarters there and it was here they planned their acts of sabotage as part of their armed resistance. From then on there were a lot of 'comings and goings' at the farm by cars and white and black people, something that was unusual in those days and noted by some locals, including residents of the nearby caravan park. Read more of the history here: https://www.sahistory.org.za/place/liliesleaf-farm

Another aerial view of that farm taken after the police raid

Nelson Mandela had previously left the country for military training in Algeria and Morocco and, on his return in 1962 was picked up by South African police in a roadblock in KwaZulu Natal on a tip-off from the CIA and sent to prison for 5 years on charges of incitement and leaving the country illegally. They were unable to pin any other charges on him due to lack of evidence.

Walter Sisulu's defence statement at his trial

During his days at Lilisleaf farm he had written a diary in which all the MK sabotage plans were detailed. He had given this along with other papers to Arthur Goldreich and told him to destroy them. Arthur couldn't bring himself to destroy them as they were valuable so he hid them. He considered sending them abroad but in the end hid them in a coal shed at the back of the house at Lilisleaf farm.

The ANC Freedom Charter presented in Kliptown on 25-26 June 1955

The remaining members of MK and the SACP, Walter Sisulu, Joe Slovo and others continued their sabotage planning but, as time went on, they became concerned their location at Lilisleaf was becoming compromised so prepared to move their headquarters elsewhere. The 11th July 1963 was to be their last meeting at Lilisleaf and Walter Sisulu, then South Africas most wanted man headed a meeting with 15 of both the MK and SACP in the thatched cottage, during which they discussed Operation Mayibuye and had their plans open on the table.

Here's an interesting story: this old Bedford truck was used to bring in arms for the ANC during the 1980's. Its front was a safari vehicle 'Africa Hinterland' and it took real customers on an overland trip across the border into South Africa. Hidden under the seats was 1 tonne of arms on each trip. It made over 40 trips and was never caught. There is a documentary on Youtube about it called The Secret Safari. We have yet to watch it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foqURw31gmc

During the meeting a strange vehicle entered the farm, on investigation they saw it was a dry cleaning van, which didn't concern them much. Suddenly the doors opened and the police charged the cottage with their dog 'Cheetah', capturing all 16 red handed and at a stroke set back the anti-apartheid movement more than 10 years. It was not until the second half of the seventies that the movement recovered. During the search Mandela's diary and notes were uncovered in the coal shed and the incriminating evidence was enough for him to be sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island, of which he served 27 years.

Inside the safari truck. The screen at the end shows interviews from some of the people who went on the safaris and shows their astonishment when they found out the covert use.

Who betrayed them has never been established. Walter Sisulu's dentist Reeve Arenstein is a possibility as he had visited him and left only 30 minutes before the raid, residents in the caravan park are possibles, captured ANC people may heve revealed their location under torture or some other informants, no-one really knows. What is known is that they were all sentenced to life imprisonment after the Rivonia trials in 1964, all that is except 2 of them, Arthur Goldreich and Harold Wolpe, plus 2 others, Abdulhay Jassat and Mosie Moolla. They escaped on 11th August 1963 by bribing their prison guard, Johannes Greef and that is an amazing story in itself and superbly told in the Lilisleaf museum with video interviews with Goldreich and Greef himself. It's too long to tell here but suffice to say that they all got away and Greef, being too honest to lie, told the truth and served 2 years of a 6 year sentence. He was promised £2000 by the ANC to help their release, but they couldn't pay him as he was arrested the following day. The debt was finally settled in 1990.

The onsite cafe sold Lilisleaf bottled water!

All in all, we spent over 4 hours there and still didn't read and see all the information. It is an incredibly interesting place to visit and we enjoyed it tremendously. If you're in Johannesburg don't miss this! It's now a small section inside a housing estate as the farm was sold off into lots sometime ago. The farm house and outbuildings were bought and converted into a guest house, the new owners being unaware of its historical significance, but after Mandela's release he visited the area again, barely recognising it, but it was decided then to rebuild it using as many original bricks as possible and make it into a museum. It opened to the public in 2008 and was paid for mainly by money from the EU.

The 'Rivonia 12'