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Politically, the conclusion of the Rivonia Trial in the mid-1960s followed a period now known as the exile years. These years were characterised by the banned parties setting up bases outside of South Africa and mounting resistance against apartheid externally. During this time, the SACP and the ANC developed close relations. It was through the former that the ANC forged ties with the Soviet Union of Socialist Republics and the Communist Party of Russia.
The ANC’s bond with the Communist Party informed the former’s ideology of nationalising the economy and central planning. This cross-pollination of ideology would later become important when South Africa’s new Constitution was being negotiated, which included consideration about the SARB’s role in a newly imagined democracy and the institution’s independence.
Nelson Mandela (third from right), Patrick Molaoa and Robert Resha walking to the room where their Treason Trial, which preceded the Rivonia Trial of the mid-1960s, was heard at Drill Hall, Johannesburg, South Africa. /API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images