Robben Island

On Sunday morning I took the ferry to Robben Island. The island is located about 12km off the shores of Cape Town, while its has had many uses in the past 400 years; as a training and defence station during WW2 and a former leprosy colony, its most famous resident was Nelson Mandela, who served 18 years of his life sentence at the brutal Robben Island prison. In 1997 the island was listed as a world heritage site and now serves as a museum.

Our tour began with a bus trip around the island taking in the sites; the former townships used to house service personnel, the leper colony & graveyard, and the gun built to protect Cape Town during WW2, which was completed 4 months after the war finished, and has never been fired. Our tour guide pointed out Whale rock, the site of Robben Island’s only bus crash. In 1995 a function was held on Robben Island, and Hillary Clinton was invited. But her people declared that the buses on the Island were not fit for the First Lady and alternative arrangements would have to be made. A late decision by the South African government to buy a bus for the sum of 1.3 million rand meant that on the day before the function, there was no sea transport to bring the bus over. Instead they used a helicopter to transport the bus. A cable broke and 1.3 million rand came crashing down into the sea below.

Once we arrived at the site of the prison, our tour guide introduced himself. His name was Sahed. He had been a political prisoner of Robben Island for 20 years. But he bid us farewell. He had vowed never again to step into the prison, and he would take us no further.

He introduced us to Eddie Daniels who would take the rest of the tour. Eddie, an Englishmen, had been involved in the anti apartheid movements for quite some years, in protests and the like when he determined that the situation had worsen to the point where much more dramatic measures were required. In 1961 Eddie formed the African Resistance Movement, which operated illegally under his instruction for 3 years until he was imprisoned in 1964, for 15 years, for opposition to the Government policy. He was sent to Robben Island to serve for the duration of his sentence.

Robben Island was home to the worst of South Africa’s prisoners, rapists and murderers exiled to the Island for bad behaviour in mainland institutions. Prisoners were classed according to their crimes as status A-D. A represented the less serious crimes or was a reward for good behaviour. C was the entry category for transferred prisoners. D was reserved for the perpetrators of political crimes, who suffered under the worst conditions.

It took Eddie 5 years to be promoted to category C. Six months later he was downgraded again to D. The prison wardens explained “We are trying to rehabilitate you”.
“No. You are the ones that need to be rehabilitated” replied Eddie.

For 15 years the only people Eddie had contact with was the 30 other political prisoners he was interned in Section D with, one of which was Nelson Mandela. “Aside from religious leaders, I believe Nelson Mandela was the greatest man ever to walk the face of the Earth.” says Eddie “After the years of torture, brutality and oppression he suffered, he embraced his enemies and forgave”.

The psychological pressure inflicted on these strong protestors was extraordinary. They were kept separate from the other prisoners, and banned from the hospital no matter how sick they became. Apartheid was still practiced in the prison. Only non African prisoners were given bread. The few prisoners with this privilege, including Eddie, would cut all the bread into 21 thin slices. Among 30 prisoners, everyone took turns in missing out on bread each day. In winter, the Africans were not given warmer clothes. They appealed to the wardens and this was changed eventually.

Eddie took us through the prison showing us the different sections. He took us to Nelson Mandela’s cell, a tiny 2 x 2 grey block, and then his own, identical, just a few doors down.

When Eddie was finally released in November 1978, for 15 years he had not seen anyone expect the 30 interned with him. It was a summers day when and he remembers the sight of the first woman he had seen in 15 years, in a floral dresses. And babies. In 15 years he had not sighted a baby. To this day he holds these images in his mind as the most captivating he has ever witnessed.

Today Robben Island is a symbol of reconciliation. Both former prisoners and wardens work together operating the museum and tours.

In 1995 there was a reunion held on Robben Island for all South African political prisoners of this time. Nelson Mandela spoke and as he left the quarry where the prisioners had toiled under hard labour and he put down a stone. Everyone followed. This pile of stones is the only memorial on the Island, dedicated to the struggle against the oppressive regime, the different shapes and sizes of the stones representing the different colours and creeds of the people and Nations that fought against it, and different people that form the free South Africa today.