August 15, 2006
By Ndaba Dlamini
COMMEMORATING the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Treason Trial, anti-apartheid activist and celebrated author Phyllis Naidoo will launch a book on Saturday, 26 August chronicling the lives of each of the 156 trialists.
The launch of 156 Hands that Built South Africa, sponsored by the Johannesburg Development Agency, takes place at the Drill Hall, where the early stages of one of South Africa's longest treason trials was heard.
Joining Naidoo at the launch will be the Gauteng MEC for community safety, Firoz Cachalia and African National Congress secretary general, Kgalema Motlanthe.
Born in 1928 in Estcourt, KwaZulu Natal, Naidoo – Aunt Phil, as she is popularly known – became involved in politics in 1946 when she joined the Non-European Unity Movement, an organisation that "discussed and debated political issues".
When she read reports of the 1956 arrests, and the trial for high treason of Dorothy and Errol Shanley, members of the South African Communist Party and parents of three young children Nigel, Di and Roz, Naidoo decided she had to take an active part in bringing about change. That was when she decided to organise a human rights committee to help raise fund for the Treason Trialists and their families.
Documenting the lives of the 156 trialists has not been an easy task.
During the past five decades, while some of the trialists have become household names, others passed away, left the country, or are untraceable.
The book explains the context of the trial in the mid- to late 1950s, a period characterised by mass resistance and severe repression culminating in the Sharpeville massacre, which occurred on March 21, 1960 when South African police opened fire on black protesters, and the subsequent declaration of a State of Emergency which saw thousands of activists banned and arrested.
The Treason Trial followed the arrest of 156 Congress leaders. The swoop on the leaders came in the early hours of 5 December, 1956 and was executed with military precision. Those arrested were driven or flown in military aircraft to Johannesburg where they were imprisoned in the Fort Prison.
Along with former president Nelson Mandela, some of the prominent leaders arrested included Albert Luthuli, Walter Sisulu and Alex La Guma.
Naidoo has a long history in the fight against oppression and injustice. This led to her being banned in 1966 and fleeing the country in 1977 to avoid detention. Whilst in Lesotho she, together with five other people, was seriously injured by a parcel bomb.
She was forced to move to Zimbabwe in 1983. Naidoo returned to South Africa after the ANC was unbanned in 1990. She currently lives and works in Durban.
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