If This Be Treason by Helen Joseph

Author:Helen Joseph
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780795708497
Publisher: Kwela
Published: 2018-01-30T16:00:00+00:00

After the Emergency

6 September. Our holiday weekend is over and we are once more sitting on our hard benches, and very hard they are too, though some of us have succumbed to a flat cushion. Somehow the Court seems different now that we have resumed our “normal” lives. It acquired an air of homeliness during the detention period as we spread ourselves over it with our books and personal things. It was always more pleasant than the gaol, for we were together and had some sort of freedom within its confined space. Now most of the policemen have gone, for since last Wednesday we have no longer been prisoners to be herded and guarded and gaoled. Only the court sergeant and one or two other police orderlies remain.

The men from the Eastern Cape are back. They have travelled 2500 kilometres and more during this weekend dash to see their families again after so many long months of separation.

Resha is still in the witness box, his antagonism has been flaring openly. Trengove faces a formidable opponent who speaks not only for himself but for all of us, and we delight in Resha’s handling of this prosecutor. Even the traditional form of address, “My Lord”, has disappeared. It is Resha v. Trengove and ‘Mr Trengove’ prefaces and ends every statement until Trengove can stand it no longer, and complains that Resha continually addresses him by name, appealing to the Court to instruct the witness to address Their Lordships. But the Judge President is not prepared to be involved in this duel and urges the prosecutor not to take it amiss, suggesting to Resha, “I think it will be easier if you don’t mention any name at all!”

Trengove comes back again and again to the new theme of “contingent retaliation” but he hasn’t made the slightest impact on Resha and the mutual antagonism only becomes exacerbated.

Advocate Trengove: “You want the government to use force and intimidation.”

Mr Resha: “We want to struggle and no amount of force and intimidation will deter us!”

Advocate Trengove: “You know full well that the situation you were creating in the Western Areas would be a spark to start off a conflagration.”

Mr Resha: “We know the government wanted to start a conflagration because it wants to rob the people of their rights and threatens force. The government sent 2000 armed police to remove the people.”

Advocate Trengove: “You regard that as a victory?”

Mr Resha: “Yes, because they went away without shooting one person!”

Advocate Trengove: “In the Western Areas, you embarked on a vicious and ruthless campaign using masses of innocent people and provoking violence between the Government and them.”

Mr Resha: “There is no evidence anywhere before this Court of such action. The African National Congress is clearly and completely non-violent. Throughout the Western Areas Campaign not one Congressman was arrested for anything arising out of violence, despite the actions of the police who broke down doors and other such things.”

To the insinuation that the African National Congress slavishly followed the Soviet

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.