We were on the "fast ferry" going to the island; it only took about 30 minutes. Our return trip was on the "slow ferry," so it was about 45 minutes return.
It was a tour with lots of people, so we were herded like sheep to a waiting bus when we arrived on the island. No time for dallying.
Our first stop was the prison. Our tour guide was a former political prisoner, who was imprisoned for running guns (I believe that's what he said). He was there with Nelson Mandela. Mandela, of course, is the most famous prisoner on Robben Island but there were hundreds of political prisoners. You can see a list of the political prisoners here: http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/list-robben-island-political-prisoners
In the 1960s, Robben Island was the exclusive home for political prisoners but there also remained a prison for convicted criminals. The two were separated to assure the political prisoners would not influence those convicted of crimes. Parties and individuals representing freedom and democracy were imprisoned; two of the most active political movements of the time were the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).
The maximum-security prison for political prisoners closed in 1991. The medium-security prison for criminal prisoners was closed five years later.
Let's back up - prior to the Europeans arriving in the mid-1400s, Robben Island was inhabited by a variety of wildlife including birds, penguins, seals and tortoises. For instance, when we stopped for our "snack break," we spotted tons of birds congregating on a hillock far from us. We inquired of one of the employees, and he indicated it was the Egyptian Ibis. That may mean the same as what my research indicated: they were African Sacred Ibis who were first recorded breeding on Robben Island in the 1991 breeding season. The peak breeding season for the African Sacred Ibis in the Western Cape is from August to January. The birds are part of a heronry on the island that incudes Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Black-crowned Night Herons and Crowned Cormorants. I think we saw the cormorants but, again, we didn't have time to actually stop and photograph them or enjoy their presence.
The term Robben Island comes from the Dutch word Robbeineiland, which means Seal Island, probably because of the high seal population that was found around the island.
The island had a plentiful supply of fresh water available from a number of springs, and it was "discovered" in 1488 by Bartolomeu Dias, a Portuguese explorer who anchored his ship in Table Bay.
Robben Island is designated by UNESCO as a world heritage site, and it has quite a history. Our tour focused solely on the political prisoners because it is most famously known as the place where the late President Nelson Mandela was jailed for 18 of his 27-year sentence. Prior to that, however, Robben Island was the place where a number of Namibian criminals were incarcerated including Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, who was a founding member of the Ovamboland People's Congress.
The Dutch were the first to use the island as a prison. The island, in the 1840s, was used as a leper colony but it also was used to imprison political dissenters. During WW II, the island was fortified and BL 9.2-inch guns and 6-inch guns were installed as part of the defense for Cape Town. But the island also held criminal and political prisoners until 1961 when it became a maximum security prison for political prisoners.
We visited the cell in which our tour guide was imprisoned for eight years before proceeding to the cell in which Mandela was imprisoned. It was a rectangular cell that held 40 prisoners, first on thin mats on the floor, then on triple-decker bunks.
We briefly glimpsed a kramat on our way to the prison. A kramat is a shrine and, apparently, there are several kramats in the Bo-Kaap section of town. The kramat on Robben Island was erected in 1969, and is the Moturu Kramat. It is a sacred site for Muslim pilgrimage on Robben Island and was built to commemorate Sayed Abdurahman Moturu, the Prince of Madura. He was one of Cape Town's first imams and was exiled to the island in the mid-1740s. He died there in 1754. Muslim political prisoners would pay homage at the shrine before leaving the island.
We also heard about the story of Robert Sobukwe, who was a professor at the University of Witwatersrand and an Africanist who believed the future of South Africa should be in the hands of Black South Africans. He was instrumental in initiating an African breakaway from the ANC in 1958, which led to the birth of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC).
The PAC initiated a campaign against the pass laws with the aim to free South Africa in 1963. He encouraged non-violent protests and called for those protests at police stations across South Africa. He was arrested and charged with sedition in a march at the Orlando Police Station. When a group of 5,000 marchers reached Sharpeville police station, the police opened fire and killed 69 people and injured 180 others in what now is known as the Sharpeville Massacre.
Sobukwe was banished then sentenced to three years in prison for inciting Africans to demand the repeal of the pass laws. At the end of his sentence in 1963, Parliament enacted a General Law Amendment Act that included what was termed the "Sobukwe Clause," which empowered the Minister of Justice to prolong the detention of any political prisoner indefinitely. Subsequently, Sobukwe was moved to Robben Island, where he remained for an additional six years.
While on Robben Island, Sobukwe was kept in solitary confinement. We viewed his living quarters, which were separate from the main prison. He had no contact with any prisoners nor with family, and he was forbidden to read anything until a few years after he came to Robben Island. Then he studied and earned a degree in economics from the University of London. He was released from prison in May 1969, and successfully applied for a teaching post at the University of Wisconsin but the apartheid government refused his request for a passport despite assurances he would be given a visa by the US government. You can read more about Sobukwe here: http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/robert-mangaliso-sobukwe
Before we viewed the building in which Sobukwe was held, we stopped briefly (we didn't get to get off the bus) at the Limestone Quarry on the island. The prisoners who worked at the quarry over the centuries included Nelson Mandela, who worked there for 13 years. There was no real need for the island's limestone during the time of Mandela, although they said it was used for roadways. Prisoners would break up the stone and carry it to one end of the quarry one day and then back the next - the work was really just to keep them busy. As a result of working with the white limestone every day, Mandela suffered from eye problems.
There was a stack of rocks which I photographed from the far side of the bus through the window, and the pile of rocks was started by Mandela when there was a reunion of former prisoners in 1995. Former prisoners of Robben Island add to the pile of rocks when they visit.
We both found the visit to be a moving experience and reminder of how horrifyingly cruel people can be.
After we returned to the mainland, we enjoyed a lunch of seafood and purchased some electrical converters since the ones we brought were the incorrect converters.
Then we called our new best friend, Gilbert, who drives a taxi and he drove us over to the District Six Museum. We only got about 30 minutes to browse because it closed at 4 p.m. - on the dot!
District 6 was a multi working-class area to the south of the Castle. Before being torn apart by the apartheid regime during the 60s and 70s, it was an impoverished but lively community of 55,000 of predominantly coloured people. In the 1940s, plans were formed by the Cape Town municipality to demolish houses under slum clearance ordinances, but it was only after the declaration of District Six as a white area under the Group Areas Act in 1966 that extensive demolition began. Resistance by inhabitants was intense and the last residents only left in the mid-1970s. More than 250,000 were forcibly removed from various areas in the Cape Peninsula to the Cape Flats where the townships now are located.
It now is home to the police and armed personnel as well as a Cape Technical College. After the 1994 democratic election, claims for restitution were made by families forced from District Six, and a large number of them have been given the option to resettle in District Six, or accept financial compensation.
There were numerous stories from District Six residents as well as a cloth on which former residents wrote their stories.
There actually were 42 areas of forced removal including Simon's Town and Constantia where we're going on Monday. Constantia is a wine region.
What caught my attention, of course, was a brief panel describing the newspapers that were published in the area. The Guardian was published in 1937, and The Torch, the paper of the Non-European Unity Movement, advocated non-collaboration as the cornerstone of resistance.
The name Ruth First prompted me to do some research, and she was an amazing woman. She was the daughter of Jewish immigrants and became the Johannesburg editor of New Age, the successor to The Guardian. She wrote South-West Africa, a book that remains the most incisive history of early Namibia. She also helped organize the first broadcasts of Radio Freedom from a mobile transmitter in Johannesburg. She was, of course, arrested in 1963 after the arrests of Mandela and others in the underground ANC, and during her confinement, she attempted suicide but eventually left with her children and joined her husband in Britain. For more on Ruth First:
http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/ruth-heloise-first
We hung around the steps of the museum for about a half-hour before Gilbert picked us up to return home. It was an interesting 30 minutes. There was a group of young men who were videotaping themselves rapping and a woman down the street who was homeless and had her home set up. We watched as she undressed, cleaned herself and put on different clothing.
We also learned that Gilbert, who is from the Congo, is on some kind of committee that is meeting with South African Parliament in the near future. But we weren't exactly clear about the issue; we know it's political. He also advised us that he views Trump as "normal" - now, remember that's coming from a black person from the Congo who now lives in South Africa, and is used to the corruption and such. Ha!
It's been an educational adventure in Cape Town. We're picking up our car tomorrow and going to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden since it's supposed to be nice. We're also going to attend an avant garde performance at the Artscape Theatre Centre.
Sunday is supposed to be rainy - again - so we're doing laundry and lying low, as we're taking off on Monday in our rented vehicle to Simon's Town via Constantia, the wine region.
It will be nice to get out of the city!
Robben Island as we approach on the ferry.
This is the cell in which our tour guide was imprisoned for eight years. The mats in the foreground were what they slept on for years until the bunks (in the back) were installed. The room housed 40 prisoners.
This is our tour guide. We think his name was Albert. The photo to the left is a propaganda image in which the convicted criminals are seen doing "hard" labor and the political prisoners are doing "soft" labor so as to show that the political prisoners were being treated better. To the right is a photo of a young Nelson Mandela.
This is one of the cell blocks that was built with the limestone that was quarried on the island. The rain barrels provided some fresh water to the prisoners.
This is the cell in which Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years.
This is the leper cemetery on the island. Lepers were quarantined on Robben Island.
This is the pile of rocks started by Nelson Mandela in 1995 when former political prisoners convened for a reunion on Robben Island. Former political prisoners continue to add to the pile.
Just one of the displays/exhibits at the District Six museum.
Our friends who rapped on the corner where the museum is located as we were waiting for Gilbert to pick us up. Notice, he has a Minnesota sweatshirt on. :)
Gilbert, the taxi driver who took care of us for a couple of days. He's from Congo and is an activist for the Congo here in Cape Town.
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