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A.O.S.A. 2002 ANNUAL REPORT |
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This Magazine
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I arrived on Robben Island fully aware it had been the place of banishment, exile, isolation and imprisonment for political prisoners for over 30 years of the apartheid era. I didn’t know that Robben Island’s history as a prison site stretched back some 400 years. Its unwilling inhabitants have included slaves from various parts of Asia and Africa, political and religious Muslims opposing Dutch colonialism, Khorkhoi and African leaders resisting British expansion, leprosy sufferers and the mentally disturbed.
Those not in the secure block lived in a bleak concrete room, furnished only with rows of double tier cots and microphones set in the walls so the wardens could hear all their conversations.
My former political prisoner guide told of intolerable conditions and practices, which are to most people, beyond human comprehension. Letters to and from prisoners so heavily censored that frequently all the recipients received was the salutation and the signature, the bulk of the letter blacked out. For years their food consisted only of maize, ground and made into porridge and drinks……?… and more maize. Family visits, of just 30 minutes, were allowed very infrequently and often vetoed by the prison authorities. When they were permitted the family and prisoner had to shout to each other through a glass screen. It was known for the family to be told on arrival that the prisoner did not wish to see them, and the prisoner told their family had not turned up. Warders went so far as to tell wives that their spouse knew they would be imprisoned for years and asked for a divorce so their wife could start a new life. The doctor visited once per week. If a prisoner felt ill the following day – tough luck they had to wait for the next weekly visit. One prisoner, who could not find a prison uniform to fit was told not to worry, one would fit in three weeks. It did – he was so excessively exercised and worked.
Like Nelson Mandela, my former political prisoner guide showed no signs of bitterness or injustice. He answered questions positively and talked of his and others’ experiences without bitterness and rancour. He was also fair, in that, while defining the many injustices, he also talked of the fairer warders and many favours some of them performed. I found my visit to Robben Island a very sobering experience. But, at the same time, it was exhilarating. Reliving the optimism of those imprisoned, their remarkable good spirits and comradeship and their positive way of living. All of which resulted, in the early 1990s, of messages of tolerance, reconciliation and democracy. Waiting to board a ferry back to the mainland, in a silent and thoughtful line, one woman dared to speak. “I cannot believe”, she said, “that such terrible atrocities could be committed on this beautiful island”. Just one person responded. “Yes, and only because of the colour of their skin. “Yes”, said the women, stroking the skin of her arm, “Because of the colour of their skin”. Every one in line silently nodded, and resumed their thoughtful wait. Robben Island was created a World Heritage Site in December 1999. “ While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid, we will not want Robben Island to be a monument to our hardship and suffering. We want Robben Island to be a Monument …… reflecting the triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil. A triumph of non-racialism over bigotry and intolerance. A triumph of a new South Africa over the old” (Ahmed Kathrada 1993. A former political prisoner). Helen Watson (Woollam 1947-54) |
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Shown around by a former political prisoner, I saw
the austere secure prison block, with its bleak corridor of cells built
totally of concrete, with double steel doors, so small a tall man would
find it impossible to lie stretched out on his concrete floor with a
thin straw mattress for a bed. Stretching my arms across the width I
touched each wall. The exercise yard beyond is bleak and where the
prisoners spent endless days sitting on the concrete base, in the
blinding sun, sewing mailbags and prison uniforms. It is here Nelson
Mandela famously created his garden in the narrow earth border left
between the concrete base and high walls. Even the hospital block had a
solid steel door.
How the prisoners were made to work daily in the Lime
and Stone Quarries is well documented. It was only standing there that I
really understood how the harsh sunlight and heat of the summer must
have made working there a most uncomfortable experience. Indeed some
prisoner’s eyes were burned. Sunglasses were only allowed after some
years and then only if the prisoners bought them themselves.
While it was the duty of those who ran Robben Island
to isolate and crush morale, those imprisoned succeeded in turning their
time into positive action. Educated prisoners took classes in their
subjects, to such an extent some gained three or more degrees. Those
with skills passed them on and the educated taught the illiterate to
read and write. Talking in their own coded language they communicated
and planned for a future, different South Africa. Many learned tolerance
and to negotiate and debate which would stand them in good stead in the
future.