Dennis Goldberg

Denis Goldberg
Denis Goldberg speaking at the launch of the Edinburgh World Justice Festival, 12 October 2013.
Born	(1933-04-11) 11 April 1933 (age 84) Cape Town
Nationality	South African
Alma mater	University of Cape Town
Known for	Rivonia Trial
Political party	African National Congress

Denis Goldberg (born 11 April 1933) is a South African social campaigner, who was active in the struggle against apartheid and was imprisoned along with other key members of the anti-apartheid movement.

Denis Theodore Goldberg grew up in Cape Town and studied for a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Cape Town. As member of the South African Communist Party, an organisation which was suppressed by the apartheid regime which came to power in 1948, he joined other leading white members in forming the Congress of Democrats, of which he became leader. This in turn allied itself with the African National Congress (ANC) and other 'non-racial' congresses in the Congress Alliance. He was detained in 1960 and spent four months in prison without trial.

When the underground armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe was founded in 1961, Goldberg became a technical officer. In 1963 he was arrested at the Rivonia headquarters of their army. He was sentenced in 1964 at the end of the famous Rivonia Trial to four terms of life imprisonment. He was the only white member of Umkhonto we Sizwe to be arrested and sentenced in the Rivonia Trial to life imprisonment.

Goldberg described the issue of being white and involved with the armed struggle as follows: "Being black and involved (in the struggle) meant you had the support of many people and it meant you got to be part of a community. Being white and involved meant being isolated."

He was sent to a white prison in Pretoria. While in prison he took degrees in Public Administration, History and Geography, and in Library Science. He was halfway through a law degree when, in 1985, after 22 years in prison, he was released.

Despite Israel, which enjoyed good relations with the apartheid regime, having interceded on his behalf, he was vehement in his criticism of its treatment of the Palestinians and cooperation with apartheid South Africa. After first visiting his daughter, then living in an Israeli kibbutz, he went into exile in London where he joined his family. In London he resumed his work in the ANC in its London office from 1985 to 1994. He was a spokesperson for the ANC and also represented it at the Anti-Apartheid Committee of the United Nations. A large group of US organisations presented Denis Goldberg with the Albert Luthuli Peace Prize in recognition of his work against apartheid. His exiled family had been active for many years in Woodcraft Folk, a British movement for children and young people committed to fostering equality and cooperation, and he became its president until the position was abolished at his request.