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Nicole's
Travelogues and Budget Travel Tips..
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ROBBEN ISLAND (CONT.), SOUTH AFRICA
After a fascinating question and answer period with Eugene in the 'mess hall,' we had 1/2 hour to get back to the ferry. Now that's what I'm talking about! I stayed back and talked to some other guides for a while and went back to gift shop to see if the tshirts had come in. Nope not yet. Uh how can you be sold out of Nelson Mandela tshirts? And how can you sell a 2002 Robben Island calendar in 2004? Ha ha anyway, I'm sooo glad I went on the tour again. If you go on the tour, don't take the last tour of the day - you'll be rushed and might not get an ex-prisoner (apparently some leave early so there's a higher chance you won't get one if you take the last tour). |
Robben Island's Mandela's prison ID number was 46664 ('466' because he was the 466th prisoner and '64' because it was 1964). Mandela was released on February 11, 1990. In a life that symbolises the triumph of the human spirit over mans inhumanity to man, Nelson Mandela accepted the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. He was inaugurated as the first democratically elected State President of South Africa on 10 May 1994. One of the most special things about Mandela is that he has never answered racism with racism. He chose forgiveness over hatred. Eugune said that "Mandela's policy of forgiveness" is contraversial among the other militants - especially the younger ones. He said that many are not satisfied with the Truth & Reconcilliation Commission. ''The anger is simmering. I think there is one more crisis awaiting us, and that is the death of Nelson Mandela." He said that if they didn't have a plan to address the injustices of the past, things would take a more militant approach. |
"Even if I went to the sea for a swim, I had to go to the blacks-only portion of the sea. At an early stage you learned to fight for survival. I was fighting in the streets and ended up here as a terrorist, locked away with no access to a lawyer. Some never made it home like Steve Biko [the Black Consciousness leader who was murdered by police]. They beat you up, messed you up. In common parlance, it's known as torture. Some of us fought, and that's why they labeled us terrorists," said Eugene.
Eugene told us about the brutal conditions that the political prisoners faced at Robben Island - with the treatment varrying according to the race of the prisoner. Black prisoners were issued short sleeved tops, shorts, and were denied shoes - this was to reinforce that they were seen as 'boys' not men. White guards were changed every 2 years so they wouldn't get 'soft.' When the Red Cross visited the island, the prisoners were given warm clothes to wear for that day only. When reporters came to check on Mandela, they would give him clothes to mend pretending that it was the labor given to political prisoners (didn't talk about quarry). There were no beds, only mats on the floor, and no hot water. Diets varied according to race of prisoner (Bantus was what they called blacks):