Two cupboards built specifically for the Rivonia Trial have gone on sale on Gumtree.co.za, priced at R10,000.
The smaller of the two cupboards was customised with 46 drawers – one for each of the 46 charges laid against the ten leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) on trial. The other housed the evidence documents.
The trial was of particular significance as it led to the imprisonment of former President Nelson Mandela and other convicted defendants on life sentences. It is best remembered for Mandela’s speech from the dock, during which he uttered the famous words: “I have fought against white domination, I have fought against black domination.
I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die”.
The cupboards were purchased by the seller at an auction in 2009, although the documents from the trial were subsequently bought and donated to the Brenthurst Library.
The cupboards were originally owned by Dr Percy Yutar, the state prosecutor at the time.