My Mother's First Visit to South Africa: Robben Island

It is Mom's first trip to South Africa and a visit to Robben Island is a must while we are in Cape Town.

Before boarding the ferry Mom and I stopped at a small cafe on the waterfront for breakfast.  Mom and I enjoyed the most delicious bacon and cheese croissant.  Mom enjoyed a white hot chocolate while I enjoyed a vanilla rooibos tea. 

We board the ferry and start the 25 minute journey across Table Bay toward Robben Island.  While on the ferry they play a short video giving all of us on board a short history of the island.  To Mom's surprise it was not always used to imprison political prisoners.  It was a training and defense station during World War II (1939-1945).   As there was no cure and little effective treatment available for leprosy, mental illness and other chronic illnesses in the 1800s, Robben Island was also utilized as a place of quarantine for such patients (1846-1931).  Eventually Robben Island began to be utilized for criminal imprisonment.  And during apartheid enter political prisoners.

The first part of the tour takes place at the Robert Sobukwe house.  Robert Sobukwe was not considered a prisoner, but instead the only “detainee” of the island. Sobukwe's powers of persuasion and political leanings frightened the authorities  and therefore, during his time in jail, a new law,  'Sobukwe Clause', was enacted allowing the Minister of Justice to renew his imprisonment each year at his discretion which he did for the next 6 years.  The 'Sobukwe Clause' was never used on anyone else.  During his solitary confinement Sobukwe had a small house, but also two wardens.  He couldn’t speak to anyone, and could only walk between the four fences.  The solitude eventually affected his ability to talk but he continued to write letters to his wife.  When allowed his wife and children were able to visit but this was not always permitted. 

Bed and bedside table of Sobukwe

Photos of Sobukwe's four children and the beds they slept on during visits to their father.

Mom reading the history of Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe

View of Table Mountain from Robben Island

After the visit to the Sobukwe house, we were given a tour of the prison.  As we circle the island we learn more about the history of the island.  In the distance prisoners were able to view Table Mountain.  This view provided hope for the prisoners, hope of being able to again be free on the mainland.

The tour is given to visitors by ex-political prisoners. Our tour guide was a political prisoner for 9 years for the crime of recruiting young men and women to fight verbally, and with arms if necessary, against apartheid.  He spoke slowly and every detail was animated with his hands.  He was a prisoner in the maximum security prison, Block F.  He received a special ration of food especially measured for the political prisoners.  He was only allowed 30 minutes activity time which he spent playing soccer in a worn field where rocks were more abundant than grass.  He spent his days in the hot sun in the limestone quarry utilizing worn tools to break down the rock every day with little rest or water to

Our tour guide

quench his thirst.  Grown men forced to ask for a bathroom break (which could have been refused) and then relieve themselves in a bucket within a cave located in the quarry.  However, a 'university' was born in that quarry.  Political prisoners on Robben Island working day to day in a quarry that was meant to break them down mentally became place of education.  Political prisoners included judges, lawyers, professors and other educated minds.  Prisoners in the quarry became thirsty to learn.  Sticks for pencils, the sand their chalkboard, prisoners learned math, reading and writing in this hot limestone quarry.  And it was not only the prisoners taking advantage ~ guards also took advantage of the lessons taught by these brilliant minds.  Prisoners entered Robben Island illiterate or with basic literacy abilities and left with the ability to read and write. 

Limestone quarry

Our tour guide described his experience as a prisoner in Block F:  their beds were meager mats on cold, hard floors; windows with cracks allowed cold, rain and heat into the large, crowded room; Black prisoners' wardrobe which consisted of shorts, short sleeve shirts - no socks, no jackets and no shoes.  Their body exposed to the cold winter kiss or hot suffocating summer hug from Mother Nature.  

Mat on the floor which served as a bed for prisoners in Block F.

After sharing his experience, our guide led us to  Block B which housed prisoner 466/64, otherwise known as Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, for 18 years.  In the winter of 1964, Nelson Mandela arrived on Robben Island.  This powerful, charismatic political prisoner was confined to a small cell - a thin mat on the floor was his bed, a bucket his toilet and he too was forced to do hard labor in the limestone quarry. Nelson Mandela was allowed one visitor a year for 30 minutes.  He could write and receive one letter every six months, letters which were heavily edited prior to being sent or received.

Prison cell of prisoner 466/64 - Nelson Mandela.

The cell is kept closed and locked.  Photos are taken through the bars.  The only tourist allowed to enter the cell, take a moment and then a photo inside this historic location is President Obama.

There is not much to say after a tour of Robben Island.  The ferry ride was silent and pensive.  It is my second tour of the island and I am still taken aback by the cruelty and degradation the political prisoners experienced.  On our way out of the prison I shook the hand of our tour guide and asked him how it felt to be back and give daily tours.  I was ignorantly under the impression he too left the island to go home to his family after a day of tours.  He informed me that he now lives on the island in a small house afforded him as a tour guide.  The same island on which he was a prisoner, held there legally and by force, is now his home.  He lives alone, no family.  His neighbors are other tour guides, other ex-political prisoners.  He wakes up every day to share his experience with tourists who flock to the island.  Tourists who will never truly "experience" the island - who arrive willingly and leave for the mainland once the tour is complete.  If you're ever in Cape Town, take the time - take the journey to Robben Island, "island of seals" and the home of numerous ex-political prisoners who sacrificed their freedom for the freedom South Africans, of every color, experience today.

Ariel view of Robben Island