After the 1952 Defiance Campaign, the African National Congress and the South African Indian Congress were joined by the (white) South African Congress of Democrats, the Coloured People's Congress and the South African Congress of Trade Unions, all under the banner of the Congress Alliance. Together they sent 50 000 volunteers all over the country to collect the demands, wishes and aspirations of ordinary South Africans as to what they wanted to see in a just and free society.

These wishes and aspirations formed the basis of the Freedom Charter, which was accepted at the Congress of the People on 26 June 1955 in Kliptown, Soweto. It was the biggest non-racial gathering ever held in South Africa. This was the first time that the shared democratic vision of so many diverse people was clearly expressed.

On 9 August 1956, 20 000 women, led by Lillian Ngoyi, Rahima Moosa, Sophie Williams, Helen Joseph and Albertina Sisulu, marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, carrying 100 000 letters from women all over South Africa, objecting to pass laws and other forms of discrimination. They were refused entry to Prime Minister Strijdom’s office, but stood in silent protest in the Union Buildings amphitheatre, arms raised in the Congress salute, for thirty minutes.

"Wathint’ abafazi, wathint' imbokodo uzokufa" – You have struck a woman, you have struck a rock. You will suffer.

On 21 March 1960 the PAC launched a campaign against pass laws. That same day, Robert Sobukwe was arrested in Orlando East, Soweto, where the demonstrations were not met with any physical violence. In Sharpeville, however, where the demonstrators were led by Nyakane Tsolo, the police fired on unarmed demonstrators. Sixty-nine people were killed, most of them shot in the back, and 180 were wounded. Some 50 women and children were among the victims.

After his arrest, Robert Sobukwe was imprisoned until 1969, spending most of this time in solitary confinement. On his release he was put under house arrest in Kimberley – a town he had never lived in before.

On 10 December 1961, Chief Albert Luthuli, ANC President, received the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent methods to achieve peace. Awarding Luthuli the Nobel Prize for Peace was one way in which members of the international community could show their disapproval of apartheid.

Luthuli initially opposed the idea of the use of any kind of violence, but just before he received the Nobel Peace Prize he had already agreed to the establishment of a military wing that did not involve the loss of human life, as articulated in the MK “Code of Conduct”, which specifically stated that people were not to be targeted. MK, the armed wing of the ANC, was formally launched on 16 December 1961.

The leaders of the liberation movement reluctantly concluded that years of trying to negotiate with the government had yielded no results. The only option left was a more violent form of protest. They came to the realisation that the only language the government understood was the language of violence. uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the ANC, was formally launched on 16 December 1961, with Nelson Mandela as its first Commander-in-Chief. Liliesleaf became the headquarters of MK’s High Command.

MK launched a campaign of sabotage against government and economic installations, deliberately targeting “the symbols of oppression, not human beings”. Over the next two years, 200 acts of sabotage were committed against power stations, pass offices and other government installations.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) purchased Liliesleaf in 1961 with the intention of it being a safe meeting place for its leadership. Liliesleaf was a 28 acre farm situated some 12 miles from the centre of Johannesburg, and was ideal due to its seclusion.

The funds for the purchase of Liliesleaf came from Moscow via Zurich into the trust account of the law firm of James Kantor & Partners, which did the legal transaction on behalf of Navian (Pty) Ltd. Vivian Ezra, a member of the SACP at the time, was the sole director.

In 1962, Mandela left South Africa illegally to travel to several African countries and to London to promote the cause of the ANC and MK. He tried to persuade African leaders to support MK with weapons and military training. He met with Julius Nyerere, Rashidi Kawawa, Ibrahim Abboud, Habib Bourguiba, Modibo Keita, Sekou Touré, Leopold Senghor, William Tubman, Ben Bella, Krim Belkacem, Milton Obote, and Emperor Haile Selassie.

He underwent some military training in Algeria and made arrangements for MK cadres to do the same. He also represented the ANC at a conference of the Pan African Freedom Movement for East, Central and Southern Africa, in Ethiopia.

A group of MK leaders, of the belief that a stronger approach should be taken with regard to the apartheid government, drafted a strategy of guerrilla warfare, called Operation Mayibuye (Operation Comeback). It was primarily drafted by Joe Slovo and Govan Mbeki, but seriously questioned, amongst others, by Rusty Bernstein, Walter Sisulu and Bram Fischer. On 11 July 1963 they met at Liliesleaf one final time to continue the meeting of 6 July, to discuss Operation Mayibuye.

The police had planned to raid the farm that day, looking for Walter Sisulu. He was suspected of having fled the country, but following the inaugural broadcast of Radio Freedom, the authorities were alerted to the fact that he was still in South Africa, and a manhunt was launched for his recapture. At Liliesleaf, the police not only stumbled upon the leadership of MK, but the draft of Operation Mayibuye and Mandela’s journals with his notes on guerrilla warfare and other documents.

Nelson Mandela, arrested outside Howick in 1962, was brought from Robben Island to join nine co-accused, six of whom were arrested at Liliesleaf. Mandela became Accused Number 1 in the Rivonia Trial – so named because Liliesleaf was situated in the peri-urban suburb of Rivonia. The group was charged with 193 acts of sabotage designed to “ferment violent revolution”. In his statement, Mandela made it clear that the sabotage campaign was not civil war.

He reinforced his commitment to the Freedom Charter and to democracy, stating that MK was fighting for dignity, equal rights and decent livelihoods. Eight of the accused were sentenced to life imprisonment and two were acquitted.