The trial ran from 31 January 1975[2] to 21 December 1976 in the Pretoria Supreme Court.
They were Zithulele Cindi, Saths Cooper, Mosioua Lekota, Aubrey Mokoape, Strini Moodley, Muntu Myeza, Pandelani Nefolovhodwe, Nkwenke Nkomo and Gilbert Kaborone Sedibe.
[1][2] They were first arrested, with four other Black Consciousness activists, by the Security Branch in September 1974; they were charged with treason for organising pro-FRELIMO rallies in Natal to celebrate Mozambican independence, in defiance of a police ban against the gatherings.
[1][3] In one of the longest political trials of the apartheid era,[1] witnesses for the defence included Steve Biko[5] and Rick Turner.
[3] The detention of the SASO Nine depleted the leadership ranks of the Black Consciousness movement.