I Am Prepared to Die

"I Am Prepared to Die" is the name given to the three-hour speech given by Nelson Mandela on 20 April 1964 from the dock of the defendant at the Rivonia Trial. The speech is so titled because it ends with the words "it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die". The speech is considered one of the great speeches of the 20th century, and a key moment in the history of South African democracy.

In July 1963, ten African National Congress (ANC) leaders were arrested in Rivonia, a suburb of Johannesburg. Along with Mandela, who had been arrested in August 1962 and was serving a five-year sentence, they were accused of counts of sabotage, furthering communism and aiding foreign powers. This included charges of recruiting persons to undertake guerrilla warfare against the South African state, conspiring to aid foreign military against the republic, and furthering acts of communism. The prosecutor Percy Yutar did not explicitly move for the death penalty, but it was generally believed that that was what the state wanted. All defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Before the trial Mandela and the other defendants decided that instead of testifying as witnesses and submitting to cross-examination he would make a speech from the dock to put the state on trial, by pointing out the injustices of the South African society and its legal system. They also sought to show the political and moral programme of the ANC.

Mandela worked on the speech for weeks before the trial, receiving help in editing and polishing it from author Nadine Gordimer and journalist Anthony Sampson. In writing the speech, Mandela was inspired by Fidel Castro's famous "History Will Absolve Me" defence speech. He was particularly interested in making the speech appeal to an international audience, inspiring international support for the ANC cause.

Mandela's lawyers urged him to leave out the final statement, lest it provoke the judge into sentencing him to death, but Mandela refused. He felt that he was likely to be sentenced to death regardless of his statement, so that saying what he truly felt would be the best option. Nonetheless, he did add the qualifier "if needs be".

When the defence announced that Mandela would begin by giving a speech instead of facing a more traditional cross-examination the prosecutor Percy Yutar made a surprised objection: "My Lord, My Lord, I think you should warn the accused that what he said from the dock has far less weight than if he submitted himself to cross-examination." Judge de Wet over-ruled the objection saying, "I think Mr Yutar, that counsel for the defence have sufficient experience to be able to advise their clients without your assistance." And Bram Fischer the main defence lawyer added "Neither we, nor our clients are unaware of the provisions of the Criminal Code", in this way subtly pointing out the fact that Mandela was himself a lawyer with experience in criminal trials. Since in South African law a defendant may not address the court from the witness stand, but only answer questions, Mandela gave the speech from the defendant's dock. He spoke for some three hours, before concluding with the often quoted passage "I am prepared to die".

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Wikipedia