Up to 20 members of a white extremist group have been jailed from five to 35 years in the country’s first post-apartheid treason trial.

A South African court began sentencing 20 right-wing extremists convicted of high treason for a plot to kill Nelson Mandela and drive black people out of the country.

Twenty-two white men appeared in a South African court amid tight security today in connection with a plot to kill Nelson Mandela and overthrow the government.