Justice Ludorf convicts thirty men accused of conspiring to overthrow the SWA administration

Updated: 30 Sep 2019

The presiding judge in the Pretoria terrorist trial, Justice Ludorf convicted the thirty men accused of conspiring to overthrow the South West Africa administration (now known as Namibia). All accused were handed prison sentences ranging from five years to life. Nineteen were sentenced to life imprisonment, while nine and two others were sentenced to twenty and five years respectively. At the time of the trial the country was under South African administration, placed by the League of Nations at the end of the First World War in 1919. In 1990 Namibia became the last country in Africa to gain independence.

How we know this

01O’Malley, P. ‘1968’, from Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Dialog, [online], Available at www.nelsonmandela.org.za [Accessed: 08 January 2013]
02SAHO, ‘German South West Africa is put under South African administration’, from South African History Online, [online], Available at www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed: 08 January 2013]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2019, May 2). Justice Ludorf convicts thirty men accused of conspiring to overthrow the SWA administration. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129916

South African History Online (2019) 'Justice Ludorf convicts thirty men accused of conspiring to overthrow the SWA administration', South African History Online, 2 May. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129916 (Accessed: 13 October 2026).

South African History Online, Justice Ludorf convicts thirty men accused of conspiring to overthrow the SWA administration [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129916, (accessed 13 October 2026).

"Justice Ludorf convicts thirty men accused of conspiring to overthrow the SWA administration." South African History Online, 2 May 2019, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129916. Accessed 13 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Justice Ludorf convicts thirty men accused of conspiring to overthrow the SWA administration." South African History Online. May 2, 2019. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0129916.