As I Like It: South Africa Sojourn Robben Island 3rd Feb

Who do you vote for when asked which political figure did the most good for mankind in the C20? Without doubt my answer would be Nelson Mandela. In a very real sense Robben Island has become emblematic of the man. He is the reason why everybody goes there and when you visit, in a real sense you feel that you are there with him.
So I make no apology for feeling emotional about this visit nor for seeing this as the high point of my African experience, amazing and diverse as it has been.
Robben Island originally got its name from the Dutch, meaning seal island. It is now a World Heritage Site. Mandela spent 16 of his 27 years of incarceration there and suffered extreme deprivation, but you don't need me to tell you all this.
It's a 4 hour trip in total and as we are leaving at 11-00am it is going to take up most of the day.

Appropriately for our trip to Seal island here's one next to the ferry sunning himself.

One of the first sites we see on the island as we bus around the site is the limestone quarry where Nelson spent time, bare footed and handed breaking rocks. The cairn in the foreground was put there when Mandela and a number of ex-political prisoners revisited the island when the museum was opened. They each placed a stone to make the pile you see.

Another would be escapist, this two foot tortoise was just beside the road.

These frames are placed in various locations around Cape Town, always framing Table Mountain. They are all coloured yellow except for this one, the only blue one and the only one on the island. The Cape doctor is blowing today hence the table has its cloth on.

Part of what makes this experience so powerful is that you are shown around by ex-political prisoners, who are very frank about their experiences and why they ended up on the island. This gentleman, whose name I am ashamed to say I can't recall was our guide. He spent 8 years in the maximum security prison for terrorism. He is now aged 57. Firstly he showed us F section where 40 prisoners share one largish room with "en suite" facilities.

The facilities

This is the great man's cell. No bed no facilities, those are separate and outside. These cells are for the Section A prisoners who were kept in isolation.

This is the walled in enclosure where again he broke stones bare-handed, proving to point that walls always solve problems. The bigger the problem, obviously the bigger the wall.

Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment for sabotage in 1964 after the Rivonia trail. This is what he said at the end of his 3 hour defence speech.

"During my lifetime I have dedicated my life to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and see realised. But, my Lord if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die".

The final thing which our guide wanted to talk about was forgiveness. This was not something that one gives for the sake of others. It was something that was necessary for one's own sake. This is why I believe that South Africa did not end up as a blood bath of recrimination. People were persuaded that forgiveness was stronger than the crimes. On that more serious thought we will leave Robben Island.