Court proceedings started on 26 November 1963.  Counsel for the Defence asked for a postponement.  The trial judge [Mr
Justice Quartus de Wet, Judge President of the Transvaal] refused the application and ordered the trial to start on the following day, 27 November 1963 at 10am.
There is no record of any evidence led on 27 November; indeed there appears to be a week’s evidence missing. This can be deduced from the fact that the first witness called on 4 December, Joseph Mashifane, referes to his father Thomas Mashifane as a “former
witness” who worked on the farm at Rivonia. Joseph’s evidence is recorded at length but there is no word about Thomas Mashifane and what he had to tell the Court.
 The papers were bound carelessly. An index at the beginning of MS.385/2 records a list of witnesses and the date on which each witness gave evidence. This list is most misleading.  A supplementary list gives some of the names which should have appeared on the first list but is also inaccurate.  One of the names on the second list is that of the policeman Donald John Card who gave evidence on 26 January 1964;  his evidence is not recorded in MS.385/2 or anywhere else.
The chief witness for the State is Bruno Mtolo.  His evidence is scattered through MS.385/3 and MS.385/5.  Surprisingly 6 pages of the cross examination are bound into the back of a volume recording defence evidence.  This evidence was given on 17 January 1964 although the evidence in MS.385/5 was given on 28 February.  To add to the confusion 110 pages of cross examination is duplicated in MS.385/3 and the list volume of the State evidence- 196 pages - is a duplication of Mtolo's evidence-in-chief.
A further complication is caused by the fact that this key witness for the State was not referred to by name. He was, perhaps for reasons of security, called Mr X.  In his statement from the dock Nelson Mandela said that Mr X had given slanted and wrong evidence.  The accused Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki both said that Mr X's evidence was false. It was not until judgment was given that the identity of Mr X was revealed by the trial judge as the witness Mtolo.
Apart from Mtolo there are a number of other places where the evidence has been duplicated.  This adds to the bulk but not the value of the volumes. More serious are the gaps and omissions in the trial record.
The examination-in-chief of the State witness, Abel Mthembu, for example, is missing but his cross examination is recorded [MS.385/4].  So also the examination-in-chief of Lionel Bernstein is recorded in part but no cross examination is recorded.  The accused Walter Sisulu spent a long time in the witness box, but 57 of the first 382 pages of his evidence are missing, and the full cross examination and re-examination are omitted.  Accused No.5, Ahmed Kathrada, is another important witness; only 18 pages of his evidence-in-chief is recorded and is duplicated in MS.385/5, but no cross examination is recorded.
Accused No.8 James Kantor, Accused No.9 Elias Motsoaledi and Accused No.10 Andrew Mhlangeni gave no evidence. When the  Defence case opened on 20 April 1964 Mr Fischer stated that Nelson Mandela would not go in the witness box but would make a statement from the dock.
 In his autobiography “Long walk to freedom” [MacDonald Purnell, 1994] Mandela says that he spent a fortnight drafting the address. 
It took some four hours to deliver in Court but only portions of the statement are quoted in the autobiography. Historically it is a most important document.  It is more than a life story; it is the confession of a man’s political beliefs and ideals and an explanation for his conduct after he went underground.  The full statement runs to 50 pages and is recorded in MS.385/6 [AA1 of the Defence case].
The names of many witnesses appear in the State’s concluding address to the Court.  It may well be that the majority of these witnesses gave formal evidence only as their evidence is not on record.  There is one witness however, English Tolo Mashiloane, who may be important as he is referred to both in Dr Yutar’s final address and in the Court’s judgment.  Apart from the fact that he is described as a herbalist not a word of his evidence appears anywhere in the record.
The documentary exhibits are all copies; there are no originals.  There are references to a number of text books, for example, Che Guevarra on the Cuban Revolution, and to pocket books, but none of these is included in the papers. There are 3 volumes of Rivonia exhibits totalling no less than 740 pages, which we think would be of great assistance to a researcher - particularly documents like Mandela’s Diary of his African Tour – TS, 25 pages [Ex.R.17] and “How to be a good Communist” – TS, 21 pages [Ex.R.21], with a note in the Index that the originals were in Mandela’s handwriting.
The most interesting document in the collection is undoubtedly the Judge President’s 70 page judgment analysing the evidence given at the trial.  The sentence is a brief 3 pages but obviously caused the Judge great concern as to whether or not he should impose a death sentence.  In the event he imposed one of life imprisonment on each of the convicted accused.
MS.385/23-MS.385/28 contain statements by State witnesses to the Police.  These statements do not form part of the trial record as these witnesses were not all called to give evidence, but Dr Yutar informed Mr Fryde that these 6 volumes were “a unique collection” as the Police in all concluded cases destroy their dockets after a lapse of 5 years.