full_name: Elias Mathope Motsoaledi
firstname: Elias Mathope
description: An ANC member who was arrested and detained in June 1964 in Johannes-burg, for actively resisting the apartheid state during a clampdown on all black political organisations. He was one of the Rivonia trialists and, after being charged with treason, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island. He served 27 years and was released after the unbanning of the liberation movements and the release of political prisoners.