Anti-Apartheid hero, Denis Goldberg, dies aged 87

South African anti-apartheid activist Denis Goldberg, who was tried alongside Nelson Mandela, has died at the age of 87.

Goldberg, a member of the ANC’s military wing, was convicted of armed resistance to white-minority rule and sentenced to four life terms in 1964 – leading to his imprisonment for 22 years.

On his release in 1985, he went into exile in the UK, but returned home to South Africa after the abolition of apartheid.

His niece, Joy Noero, confirmed the news of his death on local media,  saying he had been suffering from lung cancer.

He “died peacefully” at his home in Hout Bay, near Cape Town, just before midnight on Wednesday, she added, saying that he “never stopped believing in his ideals”.

A son of English migrants, Mr Goldberg was a lifelong supporter of the African National Congress and became a member of the armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, when it was formed in 1961