Communists and the Truth

 

Govan Mbeki, member of the South African Communist Party and of the African National Congress, was brought from his cell at Robben Island where he is serving a life sentence as one of the "Rivoni" trialists, to appear in a Durban courtroom last November. He was a defence witness at the trial of Harold Strachan, former political prisoner, whose revelations of abominable jail conditions caused a furore. Strachan is now being prosecuted for causing "false information" anout jail conditions to be published in the Rand Daily Mail. The prosecutor, Combrink, tried to shake Mbeki's evidence —the whole of which was an inspiring example of a revolutionary of unbroken spirit— was more than a match for Combrink. We reprint some brief extracts of the cross-examination.

Combrink: For several years before it was banned you were a local editor of the newspaper New Age?  Mbeki: Yes.

You are aware of the power and extent of a press report?—Yes.

If you had the opportunity of publishing half truths to serve your political ends would you have done so?—I would never have published untruths.

Would you have tested every bit of information for truth?—I would have.

Are you saying that everything published under your supervision was the truth?—As far as I am aware.

You, who would not shirk bloodshed to attain your political ends, would not print a half-truth or lie in your newspaper?—I wouldn't print an untruth. There is no relation between telling a lie and bloodshed. Men who conduct wars do not do so because the have abandoned the principle of truth.

Then you would rather kill a man than to lie to him?—If the killing is in the process of conducting a war.

And a lie in the process of conducting a war?—It is necessary to kill sometimes to weaken the enemy. A lie can boomerang. If its discovered you would lose the support of your people. There is nothing to be gained from telling lies.

Do you still feel as ardently about your political beliefs as before you were jailed?—Yes.

You say you are prepared to sacrifice human life to achieve political ends, but for the sake of truth you are prepared to see your friends suffer in prison?—They are suffering in prison now for the truth.