The SASO/BPC trial, also known as the Black Consciousness trial, was an

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

-era legal trial in South Africa which resulted in the conviction of nine

Black Consciousness The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-Apartheid Activism, activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the power vacuum, political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African Nationa ...

activists from the

South African Students' Organisation The South African Students' Organisation (SASO) was a body of black South African university students who resisted apartheid through non-violent political action. The organisation was formed in 1969 under the leadership of Steve Biko and Barney P ...

(SASO) and

Black People's Convention The Black People's Convention (BPC) was a national coordinating body for the Black Consciousness movement of South Africa. Envisaged as a broad-based counterpart to the South African Students' Organisation, the BPC was active in organising resis ...

(BPC). The trial ran from 31 January 1975. to 21 December 1976 in the

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. The nine accused are commonly known as the SASO Nine. They were Zithulele Cindi,

Saths Cooper Sathasivan "Saths" Cooper (born 11 June 1950) is a clinical psychologist in South Africa who was born in Durban of Indian-South African background. He began to identify with the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) and joined the South African Stude ...

, Mosioua Lekota, Aubrey Mokoape,

Strini Moodley Strinivasa Rajoo "Strini" Moodley (22 December 1945 – 27 April 2006) was a founding member of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa. In 1976, he was convicted of terrorism in a trial involving members of the South African Student ...

, Muntu Myeza, Pandelani Nefolovhodwe, Nkwenke Nkomo and Gilbert Kaborone Sedibe. They were first arrested, with four other Black Consciousness activists, by the Security Branch in September 1974; they were charged with

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

for organising pro-

FRELIMO FRELIMO (; from the Portuguese , ) is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It is the dominant party in Mozambique and has won a majority of the seats in the Assembly of the Republic in every election since the country's first ...

rallies in

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

to celebrate Mozambican independence, in defiance of a police ban against the gatherings. In one of the longest political trials of the apartheid era, witnesses for the defence included

Steve Biko Bantu Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Ideologically an African nationalist and African socialist, he was at the forefront of a grassroots anti-apartheid campaign known ...

and Rick Turner. The trial received extensive public attention and press coverage. When the trial ended, all nine defendants were convicted under the Terrorism Act and sentenced to periods of

imprisonment Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...

Robben Island Robben Island ( af, Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrik ...

: three were given six-year sentences and the six others were given five-year sentences. The detention of the SASO Nine depleted the leadership ranks of the Black Consciousness movement.

References

{{Reflist

External links

1977 report
by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Centre against Apartheid
"Black Consciousness on Trial: The BPC/SASO Trial, 1974–1976"
Trials in South Africa Events associated with apartheid 1975 in South Africa 1976 in South Africa Black Consciousness Movement