Robben Island

by Marco Monteiro-Silva, 1 September 2006

We sit at a popular café in the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront and share a savoury muffin and some strong coffee. It's 9:30 on a Sunday morning and filling up with the necessary jet fuel, we are soon to embark on some prison island time travel.

Africa's Alcatraz

Robben Island has become one of the world's major historical landmarks. Often referred to as Africa's Alcatraz, the island is located 11km off the coast of Cape Town, and was the holding facility for major political figures during South Africa's apartheid era - a period of forced segregation, institutional racism, and human rights violations.

Sunshine and sailboats

Outside the mall, we walk briskly along the water's edge, passing restaurants, boats, and crossing over a swing bridge. No matter how many times I walk along the harbour, I'm always taken aback by how remarkable it is.

Tourists shop to the backdrop of commercial harbour activity. Buskers play reggae on electric guitars made from tin and wood, staring up at Table Mountain with sunglasses and Stevie Wonder smiles.

Located at Quay five in the Clock Tower District is the Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island. This impressive glass facade building is the departure point for all trips to Robben Island, and contains a museum, bookstore, and restaurant. Tours embark everyday on the hour, starting from nine in the morning, with the last tour leaving at three in the afternoon.

Museum

Having purchased a ticket for the next available tour, I wander around the museum. The Robben Island Museum is very much in character for South Africa, with extreme beauty offset against an ugly political and economic history.

On the first floor there is a multimedia apartheid exhibition. Violent images set in glass are contrasted against a beautiful view of the harbour. Posters inciting rebellion and political propaganda are suspended in floating glass, and anti-establishment stickers are also on display. Interactive screens feature the history of the island, along with samples of resistance songs and prisoner commentary.

Departure

Pulling away from the harbour, it's a perfect Cape Town day with clear skies and calm waters. I get lost in watching the rolling wake, behind which Table Mountain slowly tightens into a small postcard image - compact and beautiful.

The trip takes us half an hour and offers an unmarred view of the quintessential Cape Town image - a harbour tucked against mountains at the edge of the world. Tourists speed through rolls of film as children excitedly try to spot sharks and whales.

The island

As we step off the ferry, a voice blares over a PA system, instructing us to make our way to the awaiting tour guides and buses. A small chill crawls over me as I contemplate what it must have been like to have some invisible voice dictate your every move on the island.

We are treated to a 45-minute island bus tour by Jimmy, a husky gentleman with a warm smile. Jimmy is a well of information, and he offers up the history of the island with great charm. The island has had many incarnations: originally inhabited by seals (Robben Island is a Dutch name meaning 'Seals Island'), a leper colony, military base, hospital, prison, and now World Heritage Site.

"350 people currently live on Robben Island," Jimmy mentions as he drives us through the village. I spot the tiny junior school and a post office. There is a peaceful, small-town charm alive here, creating a slightly surreal experience when I consider just what island I am visiting.

Escape

The channel between Robben Island and the mainland is infamous for its currents and rough seas. Some twenty shipwrecks still dot the island's shores, and to this day tours are cancelled if the weather conditions are too rough. Jimmy drives along the island's rim as he tells us tales full of prison breaks, piracy, and adventure.

The first ever successful escape from Robben Island was, ironically, by its first major prisoner - A Khoikhoi leader named Autshumato. After a year and a half on the island, he managed to steal a rowing boat and escape with a fellow prisoner.

Reflecting on his time on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela has even mentioned how he drew comfort from the memory of Autshumato and his escape. Today, one of the ferries transporting visitors to the island is named after him.

We quickly drive past the lighthouse, leper church, and Robert Sobukwe's prison home. It was here that Robert, the founder of the radical Pan Africanist Congress, spent six years of his life in complete solitary confinement after having completed a three-year sentence for defying pass laws.

Afraid of his influence, the apartheid government held him unjustly under what came to be known as 'the Sobukwe Clause' - a bogus legal clause of the 1936 General Law Amendment Act, through which the minister of justice could hold political prisoners indefinitely without charge or trial.

Sticks and stones

Jimmy introduces us to the wall of white blinding light assaulting us from all sides of the bus. "Welcome to the limestone quarry," he says, shielding his eyes.

Fearful of the influence political prisoners would have on criminals, the prison was split into sections and prisoner interaction was kept to a minimum. Major political prisoners were housed in Section B, and were the only men who were put to work in this limestone quarry.

The limestone was mixed with crushed sea shells to pave the roads on the island. Working in the quarry caused blindness and respiratory problems due to the harsh glare of stone and the fine toxic powder caused by digging.

The cave of secrets

Pointing to a cave enclosure, Jimmy says, "That's the unofficial birthplace of the South African constitution." The cave was used as an on-site toilet for prisoners, and it is here they would gather in secret throughout the workday, and engage in political discussion.

On the way out of the quarry a mound of small rocks garners attention. More than 1000 former political prisoners visited Robben Island in 1995. Upon visiting the quarry, Nelson Mandela broke away from the group. Wanting to commemorate his 18 years of hard labour in this quarry, he quietly placed a stone near the entrance.

Others followed suit, and now the pyramid of rocks serves as a humble monument to the mental and physical struggle that went on in this very quarry.

Rogue tortoises and jackass penguins

In the nature reserve, we have to stop twice for what Jimmy calls Robben Island traffic cops - rogue tortoises who amble along the road every now and then. I spot a large buck lying idly in the bush, and penguins hiding in the shrubs.

Plant and animal life on the island have been greatly altered by human intervention, and alien vegetation and animals have imposed upon the hospitality of the original residents. Antelope, sheep, cattle, and rabbits now reside on the island, along with some 132 bird species.

Religious persecution

Parked alongside the prison, Jimmy draws our attention to a square building with a dome cap. "Many people mistake this for a mosque," Jimmy says. "But this is a Kramat - a holy place built on an Islamic spiritual leader's burial ground."

The Robben Island Kramat was built in 1969 to commemorate Sheikh Madura, one of the founders of Islam in South Africa, whom the Dutch exiled to the island in the mid 1740s, until his death in 1754.

Doing time

At the entrance to the prison we are greeted by a broad shouldered man wearing dark glasses. I've been anticipating this portion of the tour with a little nervousness. The prison tour is always guided by an ex-political prisoner of Robben Island.

Jimmy's easygoing nature is replaced by the intimate, first-hand account of a man who spent 12 years of his life imprisoned in this very building, and who now works to guide people through Robben Island's past as well as his own personal history.

Our guide stands on the steps leading to the prisoner's administration office as he tells us of the history behind his imprisonment. He was jailed for being a part of Umkhonto we Sizwe (the spear of the nation). This military wing of the ANC bombed various government, military, and civilian buildings through the 1980s.

There is an unrelenting honesty that shines through this man's awkward speech, and I can only wonder how the political prisoners of Robben Island managed to live in an environment so void of humanity without losing theirs.

Buried treasure

In the prison courtyard, we gather around three photographs. In this very garden, Mandela and his fellow inmates buried portions of his "A long walk to freedom" manuscript, going so far as to fertilise the garden with their own excrement. Pages were later smuggled off the island with those prisoners who had served out their sentences.

In the 1980s cameras were even smuggled onto Robben Island, and some of the pictures on display throughout the tour are the fruits of this covert convict activity. There is a smuggled camera exhibition in Section D showcasing this, but you won't see it on the standard tour.

The walk back to freedom

We walk through the Section B cells briefly. Tourists huddle to get a decent photo of Nelson Mandela's cell, of which the museum gift store has a much better copy, costing a mere R5.

Following the tour out of the cells and through a tight ally, I watch a girl scratch the surface of a prison wall while lost in thought. The tour is emotional, but an underlying hopefulness pervades it. For all the wounds it seems to open up, there is the intangible feeling of healing that accompanies it.

Cell stories

On the standard tour, you won't be able to visit the cell stories exhibit of Section A. In each of the forty solitary cells, small personal artefacts and stories are on display.

Recordings, photos, chess pieces and even a makeshift saxophone made of odds and ends are displayed here. When booking a tour, ask for a time extension so that you may visit the intimate Section A exhibition.

Boat Ride

On the ride back to the mainland, I watch Table Mountain grow in size and think about one of Jimmy's many stories: In 1690 a convict named Jan Rykman escaped by swimming to the mainland from Robben Island.

Nowadays, accomplished swimmers gather each year to attempt the same feat, and even though the distance is not that great by a strong swimmer's standards, the cold thrashing waters of the Atlantic still manage to sieze the limbs of the most resilient athletes.

As I gaze at the water and wonder if I would have had the courage to brave these waters and the 11km swim to Cape Town, I keep mistaking seaweed for shark fins.

Getting off where we left off

Getting off the boat, we sit alongside the jetty at one of the many restaurants along the water's edge. This one offers long pints of beer and a view of the resident seals, content with lying in open-air enclosures, and tanning their jelly rolls in the sunshine.

Surprisingly this three-and-a-half hour tour has been effortless, offering scenic views, wildlife, and a powerful history lesson in one neat package.

Despite the heavy subject matter it's been an incredibly enjoyable morning. Although disturbing in parts, the tour has left me wrapped tightly in the knowledge that sometimes the cruelest odds are surmountable, and even the coldest environments can be warmed by the fire of the human spirit.

Tickets for this trip are R150 for adults and R75 for children from 4-17 years old. Kids under 4 can visit at no charge, but must be included when booking.

For bookings, phone the Nelson Mandela Gateway on +27 021 413 4200

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