Cape Town Dispatch
The best view of Cape Town was from the deck of the ferry to Robben Island, Nelson Mandela’s home for 18 of 26 years he spent in prison. Table Mountain dominates the landscape, with multi-coloured buildings reminiscent of rock gardens dotting the land below. The long, gray peak is bookended by two other outcroppings of equal size. The scene looks like a table and chairs set for 2500m tall people. The weather is unseasonably warm and clear.
Approximately 150 people live in Robben Island, as employees of the site and their families. It is also home to approximately 3500 penguins and a massive infestation of rabbits. The guide was a former inmate, housed in F Block from 1983 to 1987. He was imprisoned because of his “terrorist” activities against the apartheid government. In an insurgency, work is done by teams of three or four. It was our guide’s job to show people where various weapon caches were. At some point, he was ratted out and caught by the police. They beat him up at the police station, but he didn’t talk. They brought him down by a river, had lunch, a couple beers, hung out and talked about their wives and girlfriends, then dunked him in the river. But he still didn’t talk. Then they brought him to another police station where they hooked him up to an electric chair. Then he talked. His job on Robben Island was to work in the kitchen. This was an extremely important position, because the cooks were the only other prisoners that had interaction with the ANC and other resistance leadership in the prison, held in D Block. In 1987 he was moved back to the mainland, and finally released in 1990 with other political prisoners.
On the tour, they brought us to a lime rock quarry where the men were made to do hard labour, five days a week, eight hours a day, without a break. Off to the side of the quarry was a cave, where the men were allowed to piss and shit during the day. This was also where they would be allowed to eat lunch by the guards. This was also the place where the literate prisoners taught the illiterate ones to read and write. The guide retold the story of Nelson Mandela’s return to the island in 1995, with other prisoners. After the photo op in the quarry was completed, Mr. Mandela picked up a stone and brought it to a certain spot in the quarry, placed it down, and stood back. The other ANC and resistance leaders followed suite, picking up a rock, placing it down, and stood back. After a decent sized pile had been erected, Mr. Mandela told the press that where he had laid the rock was the spot where South African democracy had begun.
