CHAPTER 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE

INTRODUCTION Three pre-colonial archaeological sites have been found on , two containing stone tools and the third containing fossilised mammal bones. The former are very ephemeral stone artefact scatters, consisting of quartz irregular cores and flakes. The sites with stone tools are close to each other, situated in an area west of the Maximum Security Prison (MSP). The third site, containing fossilised mammal bones of Eland and the now extinct Rhebok, is below ground level adjacent to the waste management plant in the northeastern area of the Island.

Robben Island’s history is often described as multi-layered, as different authorities used the Island for different purposes during different periods – extracting resources, imprisoning and banishing people, isolating the ‘diseased’, and as a static battleship. Despite the varied regimes and purpose Sailors sketched domestic animals of the Island, many similarities and continuities are evident, for example, the exploitation of resources, often through The first recorded landing on Robben Island in recent hard labour and segregation according to status, class, history indicates that a group of Portuguese sailors took ‘race’, or gender – often the custodians were ‘white’ and refuge there and stayed overnight in a cave in 1498. A the imprisoned or isolated ‘black’ After 1963 all the warders further visit documented by sailors, records that there were were ‘white’ and the prisoners ‘black’. ‘White’ prisoners, thousands of seals and penguins, and also many tortoises, with the exception of Tsafendas were not incarcerated on inhabiting the Island; and in 1503 sailors killed and feasted Robben Island. on these resources. This began Robben Island’s role as a source of fresh food for sailors en route to or from the East Indies. Later in the 1600s sailors left sheep to fatten Tsafendas was the assassin of Verwoerd, Prime Minister on the Island’s grass and shrubs; however human of and architect of . Tsefendas had occupation was limited and of short duration until the been classified as ‘white’ despite having a ‘black’ mother. establishment of a Dutch settlement at the Cape.3 Shortly before the assassination, Tsafendas, having fallen in love with a coloured woman, applied for reclassification as coloured. For more details see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitri_Tsafendas COLONIAL EXPANSIONISM AND BANISHMENT

Responses to ill-treatment also show continuities in the Vereenigde Oost-Indishe Compagnie (VOC) period form of resistance and attempted escapes, by struggling (1652-1795) for better conditions, by smuggling articles or messages, After the Dutch established a permanent settlement at the and by engaging in activities to organise and provide sports, Cape in 1652, they soon realised the usefulness of the education and recreation. Resistance and spirituality are Island as a place for growing vegetables, as well as for themes that recur throughout the layered history of Robben keeping domestic animals, such as sheep and cattle to Island. supply passing ships. Rabbits were also introduced to supplement the supply of fresh meat. There were attempts to control the extraction of the resources even then, as 1 PRE-COLONIAL ERA issued strict instructions that passing vessels limit their Island foraging to one penguin per two Robben Island, originally part of the mainland, forms a sailors per day. pinnacle of an ancient, now submerged mountain. Over the last 700 000 years on twelve different occasions, rising However, the Island changed over time, particularly its and falling sea levels changed the shape of the outcrop flora and fauna, as humans exerted pressure on the that became an Island. The most recent change occurred resources and brought new species as well. Many of the about 12 000 years ago after the last Ice Age when the species introduced in this way have become part of Robben sea level rose and created a channel between the Island Island’s cultural landscape as we know it today, reflecting and the mainland.2 a dynamic and ever-evolving landscape of numerous layers.

36 CHAPTER 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE

Within a few years the Dutch found a new role for Robben British occupation (1795-1802; 1806-1910) Island as a secure site for imprisoning opponents of the After the British took over from the Dutch, they continued Dutch East India or Vereenigde Oost-Indishe to use the Island as a favourite place of banishment for Compagnie (VOC) from both the Cape and the East Indies. indigenous leaders who opposed colonial expansion and These prisoners were sent to the Island for punitive exile. land dispossession both in the eastern and northern regions The earliest recorded Robben Island prisoners were slaves of the and later in Natal as well. Chiefs who and prisoners of war (POW) brought from the East Indies led the resistance against the British advancement were in 1657. These prisoners however, were soon joined in seen as a hindrance to European civilisation and needed 1658 by the earliest indigenous prisoners to be sent to the to be silenced.4 Island, namely , a leader of the Khoi, and three other prisoners. In addition, common law prisoners were For almost the entire nineteenth century, numerous leaders also housed on the Island in order to perform hard labour. of Xhosa, Khoi, Gcaleka in the , the Korana The prisoners were forced to cut stone and mine lime, in Northern Cape, and the Hlubi in Natal, were banished which was used to build some of the early structures at to the Island at different times. They constructed and lived the Cape. Later, prisoners also burnt shells for lime, lit the in crude structures in their traditional style to the north of signal fires and tended the company’s sheep on the Island. the bay, geographically separated from the village in the southeast. After 1722, political and religious leaders from the East Indies, where the VOC was fighting for control over the During the later years of Dutch rule at the Cape, the Dutch lands with which it traded, were sent in greater numbers cattle farmers trekked east and north from . to Robben Island. In order to differentiate leaders who had Initially they clashed with the Khoikhoi and San inhabitants, been exiled, from other political and common law prisoners, and later also with the Xhosa in the Zuurveld. The more leaders did not endure forced labour and were given numerous Xhosa who had settled in these areas many allowances. years earlier, were also cattle farmers. The resulting, often violent, clashes over land and cattle continued for over The Muslim influence on Robben Island is manifest in a one hundred years involving nine frontier wars, or wars of kramat and unmarked graves of Muslim exiles who died dispossession, the last ending in 1878. Under British there. A simple shrine was erected to mark the death of colonialism, from 1806, a combination of guile and warfare an Asian Prince of Madura, Pangerau Chakra Deningrat. to increase the Dutch and British settlers’ landholdings Although his body was sent back to his place of birth, the resulted in the diminishing power of indigenous leaders to burial of the Prince of Madura is currently symbolised by resist the continual annexation of land. The final annexation the kramat. There are a number of other gravesites in the of land on the East Coast was that of Pondoland in 1879, area including that of Hadjie Matarim who died on Robben giving the Cape Colony governance over the land stretching Island in 1755 over 1 000 km to the southern border of Natal.

Another event that marks Muslim history in South Africa was the writing of an important text on Islamic jurisprudence It is interesting to note that the people of Pondoland engaged by Tuan Guru, a prince from Tidore in the Islands, in one of the most extensive revolts against the apartheid who was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1780 until system in 1960. 1793. The imprisonment of Muslim leaders from the East on the Island has therefore left an indelible mark on the people of the Cape.

Diagrams illustrating the expansion of British colonialism

Clashes between the British and Khoi led to the arrest and imprisonment on Robben Island of David Stuurman in 1809. This was followed by the arrest and banishment of , an important Xhosa leader, and a number of his followers in 1819.5 Another group of Xhosa chiefs including , Fadana, Stokwe and others, were sent to the Island in the 1850s.6 After the last war of dispossession in 1877-78, fourteen Xhosa leaders, including the sons of Maqoma and Sandile were imprisoned on Robben Island. They were separated from other prisoners in a wooden hut near Murray’s Bay.7 The kramat as it is today

37 CHAPTER 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE

There are incidents of descendants of Xhosa chiefs who were banished to the Island in the late 1800s being imprisoned there under apartheid over one hundred years later.

In the northwestern borderlands of the Cape Colony, white farmers living south of the Orange River came into conflict with the Korana people as their encroachment deprived local inhabitants of their grazing land and sources of water for their livestock.8 This sparked confrontation and resistance from the Korana people who, under their chiefs, waged war against this colonial intrusion. By 1870 the conflict resulted in the capture of several Korana chiefs, three of whom were seen by the colonialists as the most dangerous – Jan Kivido, Piet Rooy and Carel Ruiters. They were Nursing staff of the Female Mental Asylum convicted and banished to Robben Island where they this period is remembered primarily for the isolation of served their sentences.9 people with leprosy. While introducing progressive methods of treating mental illness, forms of punishment were at In 1879 another Korana chief named Lucas, with a number times extremely harsh. Patients were segregated on the of other leaders captured by the British, were also sent to basis of race, class and gender, as Robben Island reflected the Island. Lucas died on the Island in 1880 while serving the predominant attitudes and values of the time. This his sentence.10 Most of the Koranas were categorised as subsequently led the way to implementing a policy of formal convicts and were housed in a room adjacent to the convict racial segregation in the wards at various stages from the station on the edge of the Village.11 These were, however, 1860s, and provided an example of racial segregation that not the only chiefs imprisoned as there were others was followed by many other Cape institutions in the 1890s. imprisoned on the mainland as well. In addition, the British conflict with the Hlubi in Natal led to the banishment of By accepting the patients least likely to be cured, the Chief Langalibalele to the Island in 1874. Robben Island Infirmary smoothed the work of hospitals and gaols on the mainland, and removed from the streets those people whom middle-class Cape Town found most threatening to their social order. The social and medical profile of the Robben Island patient made the General Infirmary more of a place of exclusion for those who weighed heavily on the hands of government, than a place of healing. Another motivation for the establishment of the General Infirmary on Robben Island was for economic reasons, being a place with “an abundance of stone, lime and labour”.14 Putting the chronically ill, those with leprosy and the mentally ill together in one place as opposed to being scattered in hospitals on the mainland would relieve the tax burden.

Maqoma Langalibalele

Between 1880 and 1884 all the indigenous leaders banished or imprisoned on Robben Island, were either pardoned and released or transferred to the Breakwater Prison at Harbour where they worked in the docks.12 Male leprosy patients celebrating Female leprosy patients celebrating GENERAL INFIRMARY Christmas Christmas – ROBBEN ISLAND AS A PLACE Major changes occurred in the 1890s, as, in the context OF EXCLUSION (1846-1931)13 of xenophobia in western countries, there was growing fear that the disease of leprosy was spreading at the Cape. In 1846 a General Infirmary was established on Robben An outcome of this fear was the enactment of the Cape Island to cater for three specific categories of the sick in Leprosy Repression Act of 1891, which required that all the colony who were poor – the insane, the chronically ill, sufferers from this disease be isolated from society in and those with leprosy. As new facilities were developed leprosaria. The choice of compulsory segregation as the for the mentally ill and the chronically ill on the mainland, primary solution to the problem was specifically related to the Infirmary was gradually reduced in scope. However racist fears that the spread of leprosy, largely identified as a ‘black disease’, would not be halted by education or

38 CHAPTER 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE

voluntary measures. This compulsory segregation was Reformed Church and Roman Catholic Church. In addition, rarely implemented in other countries. pastors representing the Moravian and other church denominations visited the Island regularly to conduct At this time Robben Island was the only leprosarium in the services and to provide pastoral care. A number of churches colony and it was swamped in 1892 by the unexpectedly were constructed at different times on the Island, including large number of people with leprosy, black and white, who those built for specific groups, such as women with leprosy. were classified under the Act. When other leprosaria were Most of the churches were constructed in the leprosaria built in that decade, Robben Island continued to house the and, with the exception of the Church of the Good Shepherd, majority of the patients (close to a thousand at any one were demolished in the early 1930s, along with the wards, time). It was specifically used to detain escapees or patients houses and other structures of the leprosaria. who protested in other ways against their incarceration in mainland hospitals. The construction of separate churches for Dutch Reformed, Catholic and Anglican congregations suggests a degree of interdenominational rivalry at the time. That separate churches were built for men and for women in their respective settlements, illustrates the strict segregation of male and female leprosy patients.15

The role of the Christian church in the history of Robben Island, however, is an ambivalent one. On one hand, the church was an important source of spiritual comfort to those who were forcibly moved to the Island and to their custodians. On the other hand, the church was seen to be an extension and a partner of the colonial administration, as it was perceived to do little to challenge the authorities or champion the rights of patients.16 There are some chaplains who are said to have actually sought biblical justification for the continued isolation of those suffering All leprosarium wards were demolished in the 1930s because of a fear that the disease would spread and contaminate people moving into the buildings from disease, for instance, the church did not speak out against the segregation of people with leprosy from society. However, as treatment improved over time, a growing In one case, individuals with leprosy refused to listen to number of people with leprosy were diagnosed as non- their ministers sermonising about ‘lepers’ in the bible. infectious and were allowed to leave the Island. The leprosaria were closed in 1931 due to rising costs and However to simply dismiss the importance of the church decreasing caseloads, thus ending Robben Island’s many in providing spiritual strength to leprosy patients is as years as a place of exclusion for those who were sick and dangerous as to completely embrace it without critical marginalised by South African society because of their evaluation. Thus despite the church at times collaborating disease. with the state, it was an important institution that played a major role in the lives of the people of the Island in different The Role of the Church periods of time. During the period of the General Infirmary when hundreds of people with leprosy were isolated on Robben Island, the Christian church was very active and became an important MILITARY DEFENCE (1939-1945)17 source of spiritual comfort. At the peak of the involvement of the church, there were as many as seven consecrated During WW2 Robben Island was chosen as the key site churches on the Island, representing the Anglican, Dutch to protect Table Bay and Cape Town from threat of enemy

Leprosarium ward c1900 In 1939 150 000 tons of equipment was transported to the Island

39 CHAPTER 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE

attack. Its role changed during the war from that of a static As white male soldiers departed to serve in North Africa, battleship and a battery of 9,2” guns to an anti-submarine many opportunities arose for white women by the creation detector station. Artillery training took place through most of new units, including artillery specialists in the Women’s of the war. To facilitate these varied functions, gun batteries Auxiliary Army Service (ASWAAS) and harbour defence and related fortifications, new buildings for accommodation, operators in the South African Auxiliary Naval Service storerooms, an airstrip and numerous other structures were (SWANS). Training of over four hundred women in the built. This required the landing of 150 000 tons of equipment ASWAAS took place at the artillery school on Robben and material on the Island. To cater for this, the first priority Island, after which a number of these women continued to was the construction of a harbour capable of landing the serve in the batteries on the Island. The SWANS played material. A large labour force was required for the building a key role in operating the various detection systems. of the harbour and other structures, and approximately 2 000 workers, possibly rising to 5 000 at times, were Conditions on the Island during this period continued to engaged in this major project. be more difficult for black people who were segregated and housed in inferior accommodation – the Cape Corps were housed in a derelict building and then in tents in the northern region of the Island close to the Cornelia Battery, and African workers engaged in construction were housed in a ‘native compound’ on the site of the present-day Maximum Security Prison (MSP), just west of the harbour. In contrast, white women were housed in the Village or ‘Logistics’ and were closely guarded at night. White soldiers and engineers were in barracks in the Village or in the southern region of the Island, thus continuing the geographic separation according to race and gender, to a degree.18 This institutionalised racial segregation on the Island, ironically, took place during a war against Fascism and Nazism.

Manning the guns

Although the 9,2” and 6” batteries were never used against enemy craft, they played a crucial role in training coastal and anti-aircraft gunners, many of whom served in North Africa. A majority of the people, including black men and white women who served and were trained on Robben Island during the war, were trained out of public view to abide by the official position that black men should not be armed. Unofficially, many men of the Cape Corps, a black unit, were armed and trained in order to perform duties in the rear, including the guarding of prisoners of war. However, 2 000 men of the Cape Corps were trained in gunnery on Robben Island and did duty as coastal gunners on the Island or engaged in active combat with anti-aircraft SWANS at work in North Africa. Another continuity was the use of the Island as a place of imprisonment – a group of Vichy prisoners of war were housed on the Island after they were captured during the interception of a Vichy fleet that sailed from Madagascar and attempted to reach West Africa.19 After WW2 a small prison holding approximately 60 long-term prisoners sentenced to hard labour was established on the Island. These common law prisoners maintained the roads and kept the Island clean, and were also available to work for the Island’s residents as gardeners or domestic workers.20 Thus imprisonment, segregation and discrimination remained part of the daily life of the Island even during times of war against others who also committed social injustices. The large Island population at this time also brought with it its negative environmental impact, including a near decimation of the penguin colony. SWANS training

40 CHAPTER 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE

APARTHEID PRISON (1961-1994) In March 1960 the apartheid state responded violently to protests against ‘pass laws’ in various places, including Sharpeville (south of the city of Johannesburg) and Langa (in Cape Town), as well as in Pondoland (in the former ). The Pondoland revolt against the imposition of Bantu Authorities and control over land, was a widespread uprising in 1960 in the Transkei area of the Eastern Cape. In crushing the uprising many hundreds of men were arrested and a number were sent to, and imprisoned on, Robben Island. Despite being charged with offences under the common law, these men can be regarded as the first political prisoners on the Island under apartheid.

Arrival of a group of common law prisoners

The South African Navy handed control of Robben Island to the Prison Services on 24 March 1961. This was to mark the beginning of the most notorious period of the Island’s An example of a pass book Burning the passes history with the establishment of a Maximum Security Prison (MSP). Pass Laws were used by colonial authorities and again by the apartheid regime to control movement of people. After the discovery of gold and diamonds, pass laws were implemented for those men classified as African in order to minimise the extent of urbanisation and restrict the majority of Africans to rural areas. Passes were one of the most hated of the apartheid laws and thus a key target of protest actions in the 1950s, especially after the state extended the pass laws to include African women.

The Maximum Security Prison

The years 1960 and 1961 were a key turning point in South Africa’s recent history, after a decade of peaceful protest and mass actions during which the principles of Gandhi’s satyagraha protest action held sway.

PAC march in Langa, Cape Town In an attempt to defeat the liberation struggle, the apartheid regime created numerous laws with the result that large numbers of Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), African National Passive Resisters, 1908 Congress (ANC) and South African Communist Party (SACP) members (cadres) were arrested, tried and Satyagraha is roughly translated as non-violent force. It is sentenced to different periods of imprisonment. The interesting to note that Gandhi developed his ideas of apartheid regime moved swiftly to ban organisations passive resistance or non-violent force in South Africa while opposed to it and introduced legislation that outlawed even struggling to improve the civil rights of Indians in South discussion of opposition to the state through armed struggle. Africa. The Natal Indian Congress formed in 1894 became After being banned, both the ANC and the PAC re- an ally of the ANC in the 1950s and a number of their established themselves clandestinely and formed armed members were incarcerated on Robben Island. , President of the ANC in the 1950s and awarded wings, (the ANC established uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) and The Nobel Peace Prize, as well as other members of the the PAC set up Poqo in 1961) to continue the struggle were very influenced by Gandhi’s ideas. against the regime and its harsh, discriminatory laws.

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Only black men were imprisoned on Robben Island and, after the transfer to the mainland of coloured warders, all the warders were white males. The segregation of blacks to the northern part of the Island continued, with prisoners initially housed in the Ou Tronk (Old Jail) and then also in the Zink Tronk (Zinc Jail) while the prisoners built the new MSP in which they were then incarcerated. Relations between the prisoners and the warders were exacerbated by differences in age, education and even class – many political prisoners were older, well educated and from middle-class backgrounds, whereas the warders were often from poor working-class backgrounds and had little education. The latter had been indoctrinated into believing that the political prisoners were terrorists, murderers and rapists. The brutal treatment meted out by some guards

MK cadres training was partly a result of what they perceived black men to be.

South African Communist Party meeting 1945 Rivonia Trialists

Despite three members of the SACP’s central committee Isolation, so symbolic of Robben Island, was continuously being imprisoned on Robben Island, the SACP took a put into practice; however from the 1960s until the recent decision not to establish party structures on the Island in political dispensation, it was more widely enforced. The order to minimise conflicts in the ANC’s ranks. prisoners who were regarded as political leaders or seen to be influential were isolated from the general prison population and placed in single cells in B-Section. This By the end of 1964 hundreds of political prisoners had section became increasingly well known as the leadership been shipped to Robben Island and placed alongside the section, as leading figures from all the liberation movements common law prisoners previously held on the Island.21 were placed here – leaders of the ANC, the PAC, Yu Chi Hardened criminals were also introduced and used by the Chan Club, African People’s Democratic Union of South prison authorities to engage in brutal acts to subdue and Africa (APDUSA), as well as from Namibia’s South West break the spirit of the political prisoners. Many of the African People’s Organisation (SWAPO). The following warders were cruel, barbaric and participated in acts against leaders, for instance, shared this section – four members the political prisoners, encouraging the criminals to do of the ANC’s executive, including and Walter likewise.22 This made life and the already-harsh conditions Sisulu; leading figures of the PAC, such as Zeph Mothopeng, even more difficult, for example, the poor food and sparse and Jeff Masemola; Toivo ya Toivo of diet was worsened by common law prisoners who worked SWAPO; Neville Alexander of the Yu Chi Chan Club; Kader in the kitchens smuggling out the food meant for political Hassim of APDUSA; and Eddie Daniels, the solitary member prisoners; prisoners were given minimal clothing, for of the Liberal Party on Robben Island. However, some example, the African majority were only given short pants very influential figures, including and Johnson and no underwear. In addition there was a total lack of Mlambo, remained within the general prison population.24 regard for basic human rights, for example, there were no beds – only thin mats that were placed on the cold cement floor; forced hard labour was often accompanied by beatings , the charismatic leader of the PAC, was and torture; there was a news blackout – no radios or held in solitary confinement in a house some distance newspapers were allowed; and many other petty regulations away from the MSP. He was not allowed to communicate were enforced that made prison life extremely difficult.23 with anybody including his warders who were ordered not

42 CHAPTER 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE

to speak to him. Sobukwe could only communicate symbolically with other prisoners by using various gestures. A key trigger to the student uprisings of 1976 was the further implementation of the apartheid government’s Bantu Education policy in that school subjects had to be taught through the medium of and English despite the lack of teachers who could teach in Afrikaans.

As a result of their activities, there was an influx of new militant prisoners to the MSP on Robben Island. They introduced ‘black power’ slogans and symbols of resistance and refused to accede to warders’ demands. Thus they had a considerable impact on the prevailing atmosphere, where the long-term prisoners had adopted a more conciliatory approach. The prison authorities responded by isolating many of the South African Students Organisation (SASO) and Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) leaders, as well as captured MK guerrillas, in A-Section, Robert Sobukwe on Robben Island and built high walls between many of the sections in order to minimise contact between the prisoners. Some of the conditions improved due to the struggles described below, and in conjunction with outside As time passed, there was much pressure from within the organisations and even legal actions – better quality food, prison and from the outside world for change in conditions especially after the common law prisoners were removed inside the prison as well as in South Africa, and subsequently from the kitchen, study opportunities, and, in the mid-1970s, the lives of prisoners improved – hard labour was ended, hot water for showering, and beds were introduced. skills training was introduced, and access to news Changes and improvements were, however, not a smooth broadcasts and newspapers was allowed for A category progression, as a new prison head or a change in the prisoners. government’s approach could turn the clock back. Continual shifts in the regulations resulted in the suspension of studies, often preventing new arrivals from studying at university or post-graduate level. From 1975 visits were restricted to first-degree relatives only, thus impacting considerably on many prisoners who relied on other family members and were now further isolated from the outside world.25

The 1970s witnessed a new wave of resistance against apartheid led by black consciousness activists and supported by a vast number of black school and university students and workers. Student and community organisations such as the Student Representative Council (SSRC), South African Student Movement (SASM) and the Black Parents Committee (BPC) among others, all raised the political temperature through their opposition to apartheid. United Democratic Front rally

In the 1980s many of the long-term prisoners were released or transferred, including the release of the Namibian political prisoners and transfer to of most of the Rivonia trialists. There were however, new arrivals of prisoners who now included more captured MK guerrillas and, after the Vaal Uprising and general unrest from 1983 onwards, a steady flow into the prison of young United Democratic Front (UDF) and Azanian Peoples Organisation (AZAPO) activists. Several ex-political prisoners received second periods of imprisonment on Robben Island, including Zeph Mothopeng and Harry Gwala. At the same time, hunger strikes continued to play a role in the struggle to improve prison conditions. Meeting of Black Consciousness students and parents

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During their incarceration most prisoners engaged in activities that were meant to equip them with tools for the future. These activities were carried out as part of the political agenda and included debates, studies, organisational activities, and training. The results of this ‘training’ can clearly be seen in the present free South Africa where, upon their release, many ex-political prisoners engaged in struggle activities, often taking leadership roles. Thus during and after the transition to a democratic society, many ex-prisoners played, and continue to play, key roles in many sectors of society. This has particularly been epitomised by when he assumed the mantle of president of the government of a free South Africa in 1994.26

Soccer became one of the most popular sports to partake in. The soccer trophy was designed by Thabo Ngcobo and by D.J. Mpahlwa in the Prison Workshop in the early 1980s

Sport and cultural activities were encouraged by the leadership of the prisoners and played a major role in the prisoners’ lives, while studies, formal and informal, continued to mould and shape many within the confines of the Robben Island prison. After the unbanning of political and other organisations in 1990, groups of prisoners were released, until the last political prisoners departed from the Island in 1991. Jeff Masemola, a craftsman and an artist, was the longest serving political prisoner on Robben Island who spent 26 years of his life imprisonment sentence in the MSP. Others who were sentenced to life imprisonment included the Rivonia Trialists, Petros Mashigo, Johnson Lubisi, Neph Manana, David Moisi, and numerous others. Mandela and Sisulu in the Isolation Block courtyard

A powerful symbol of humanity and a product of Robben Island, Nelson Mandela and his comrades Govan Mbeki and , among many, were victims of discrimination, incarceration and isolation. These were people denied their rights for over a quarter of a century. Together, and jointly with their comrades and all those who were jailed in Robben Island and other , they all suffered. They all never gave up, but came out fighting, preaching and practicing forgiveness and reconciliation. Despite all the difficulties there was a creation of a ‘rainbow nation’, South Africa. Robben Island therefore stands out as a symbol of suffering, truth, as well as forgiveness.

RESISTANCE TO OPPRESSION Jeff Masemola on his release in 1989 THROUGH THE NINETEENTH AND There were of course conflicts that occurred between TWENTIETH CENTURIES organisations, between generations, and between individuals, for example, over strategy and tactics in the One of the underlying themes of the history of Robben prison and the wider political struggle, or over ideological Island in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is and other differences – something that would be expected that of resistance to oppression. To end this chapter this in any dynamic society. However, the overriding solidarity theme is analysed in more detail. of prisoners to organise themselves against a common ‘enemy’ is an important legacy of this period in the life of The underlying reason for the banishment of indigenous the evolving South African political landscape. leaders to Robben Island in the nineteenth century was

44 CHAPTER 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE

their resistance to colonial expansion. This often took the quality of food and water. Thus there has been resistance form of skirmishes, battles and even lengthy wars against and protests at all stages of the inhuman treatment that the colonial powers. By banishing or imprisoning such has been meted out to people on Robben Island. leaders on Robben Island, the colonial governments hoped to isolate leaders from their people and break their spirit A spirit of resistance was again manifest in those who of resistance. Their imprisonment failed to achieve this as, fought against apartheid in the 1960s and were imprisoned whenever possible, they returned to rekindle the flame of on Robben Island. Activists and leaders of various liberation anti-colonialism. Resistance to banishment and movements and anti-apartheid groups were arrested and imprisonment down the years took various forms with transported to Robben Island to serve their sentences, escape being the predominant form in earlier years. often for ten to twenty years, including some sentenced to life imprisonment. Political prisoners refused to allow the Escapes in the nineteenth century included that of David prison system to break their spirit and engaged in a wide Stuurman, who, with Hans Trompetter, had been in the range of activities that challenged it and the apartheid forefront of the Khoi-led war of 1799 to1803. Stuurman authorities. successfully escaped in a rowing boat four months into his imprisonment on the Island. He was recaptured only ten The political prisoners organised hunger strikes demanding years later and shipped to the Island with the first group better treatment, formed clandestine prison cell and party of Xhosa prisoners. Stuurman escaped for a second time political structures, held political discussions to sharpen in 1820. Makhanda who arrived on the Island in 1819 spent their political consciousness, developed secret less than a year there before attempting to escape. communication channels to overcome the gap between the isolation and general sections of the prison, and challenged arbitrary rules and punishment. There were other forms of resistance that included, fighting for the right to pursue academic studies through correspondence, petitions, and the use of legal channels to change prison conditions.

Prisoners managed to engage in less direct forms of resistance that were designed to keep their morale up and break the feeling of imprisonment. ‘Struggle songs’ sung rhythmically with work, sourcing food from alternative sources other than that provided by the prison system, and developing prison language with terms that were not understood by warders, are examples of this indirect resistance.

Thus in the process of attempting to break the morale of the political prisoners, the prison system became a coarse stone against which the prisoners sharpened themselves and their resolve to liberate their country from an oppressive and discriminatory system of government. In these ways the survival and growth of the prisoners and their organisations defeated the apartheid government’s aim of destroying opposition to apartheid.28

Xhosa chiefs on Robben Island

Apart from indigenous leaders imprisoned on the Island, other people held on the Island against their will, such as those with leprosy, also expressed their discontent in various ways. In 1892 men with leprosy, led by Franz Jacobs, a former teacher from Cape Town seriously challenged the Leprosy Repression Act of 1891 and drafted a petition to the authorities challenging their authority to isolate people with leprosy on Robben Island. They also demanded an improvement in their conditions. Later in 1893 women with leprosy went on strike, refusing to assist in any kind of sanitary work including cleaning their wards Release of political prisoners in 1991 or sending their washing to the leprosarium laundry.27 PLEASE SEE FOLLOWING TABLE SHOWING THE Others wrote to local newspapers complaining about the CHRONOLOGY OF ROBBEN ISLAND

45 CHAPTER 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE . r s n e n i n e r e

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o d b o n

n l i i i t o a n u u a b R o t g i

i b

i t

n o o l o y a t l e

c p h i p p d x k

i n p e e d o u

u h n h s d s

m i a n

K o n ,

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p a o e n e e b c

h

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h t r o b s t s a a b t s o e u o u r o to the mainland. by the Khoisan living in region. ago, indicating Khoisan habitation of the area. & eggs) and fresh water. fresh meat. passing ships. intermittently. Island. 1658. prisoners from c1657. she died in 1674 at the age of 31 years. Q A K R P M

ROLE OF AND KEY EVENTS ON ROBBEN ISLAND • Due to rising and falling sea levels, at times the Island was linked • • Stone-age artefacts used on Robben Island around 16 000 years • Robben Island functioned as a source of food (seal, penguin meat • Used as a place for fattening sheep to supply passing ships with • • 1632-40 – Autshumato and other Khoi stayed on the Island • • • Robben Island functioned as a prison for common law and political • • East Asian exiles imprisoned from 1682. • • Robben Island functioned as a prison mainly for military prisoners. • Island used as quarantine site for those with smallpox. • Whaling rights granted to John Murray. • Convict prison re-established. • Hans Trompetter banished to the Island. • John Murray forced to close the whaling station on Island. . . s h o t s t t d l

r 0 e u s o r 9 r s n u 7

e e t r 1 e d

p

h s a a e l t

e c h e l

t o

,

v t f r

e o l m e n

t t o t a w r n f e e o

e p s n T

m o n m i e h o o s p

r s s i a d T e n

e C t s

a s c s b n m a

o a o p e p r f H s h i

m t i ,

d n r

o f e o e t i

o g d s

d A s n a

e r l a e e l

a

p c i a I w i x

o f s e e

h o r

A h t

K t e t

l c t s d d t e f a n n e f in changing coastlines, 20 000 to 4 before the present least 16 000 years ago. Gama’s fleet. station for Dutch sailors. and Africa to the Cape in 1658. E Robben Island. and east led to strong resistance in the a strategic position. Batavian Republic. a S E

KEY EVENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA • • Cape inhabited by Khoisan groups from at • Passing of European ships. • 1498 – First recorded landing by Vasco da • Establishment of a permanent refreshment • Dutch began transporting slaves from Asia • Resistance to Dutch expansionism in South • • British annexed the Cape because of its • Peace Treaty of Amiens returns the Cape to • Khoi lost third war of dispossession in 1803 e g d h c tip n n i t m i r a t u

i u r n D the d

a

o i e t – m

h

a t n r

f w o o i l o e t

p n a n

x passing p o a e i

u

f s c g o n c

n t i a o r

n p ships u h e x d s i

e m t

i l a p r c a i i o B l r

n f t e o s v A l

r i f e o HISTORICAL PERIOD Pre-colonial European o d trade route to Asia. VOC period – c in South East Asia. Resistance struggles led to leaders being captured and exiled. F British / French war. Batavian period DATE Pre- 1488 1488- 1652 1652- 1795 1795- 1802 1803- 1806

46 CHAPTER 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE l l i . , k e h e d e g r y l a a a t r c t t t i n d n e i b i i d t u s a a a t t s w v a n l n

a r K e p N o r s a T y

o I r

l u . , p a a l

t h c p s b c e

c k e a n

r m e p d y c e a e o e e i r o

t t a

n r

b n n e o M m d a

r i n T b C o

o l

n

g m r p o o s g i

n d i a d n t a h r r i n

R o n i s c n

t a e p d

e

t a t n

a n

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m o n a a t h g n h

a c r t t o , c a c t

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i n i

E l i s i d t

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p

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m n t e p a a u r l b s e o o

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s s s q i s e n i

i s h r l r

e r a e n

e g e e

i b d h p r a t d n t

n M d a i

n

r g t a n m n o r y d i a h s e p a l

s a t t l o

b u i i

e t l

l s

n r l

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d w a p s

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n p n l e n i y e i n i s l o m

l s a e r c r e i m p b e c a r n b a i u b t o u a t p l p r e b e i b u c

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R

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)

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l i n 5 9 6 5 0 4 9 0 u t m e 5 0 6 4 2 7 3 2 u n t o p 8 8 8 9 8 8 9 8 u r others. law and political prisoners. f S of others. minimise opportunities for escape. resumed. About 10 per cent of the imprisoned are women also do hard labour. teaching of literacy and numeracy. ( (until 1891). s after his banishment to the Island. labour for the Infirmary and later construction of new leprosaria. and Northern Cape. house large influx of people with leprosy. leprosaria on mainland. Bay; training for women auxiliaries and Cape Corps. defence. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

ROLE OF AND KEY EVENTS ON ROBBEN ISLAND • 1806 – Whaling station re-established. • • 1808-1846 – Robben Island used as a prison for military, common • 1819 – Large group of political prisoners brought to Robben Island • • Whaling station closed and restrictions placed on fishing vessels to • • Religious instruction for convicts began in late 1820s, followed by • 1846-1931 – Robben Island as an infirmary for people with leprosy • • • • 1880s & 1890s – Construction of women’s and men’s leprosaria to • 1921 – Convict prison closed. • 1921 – Mentally ill are transferred from Robben Island to mainland. • 1931 – Leprosaria closed and people with leprosy transferred to • • r y i a d u h t r

i g n e a n i a a h w t

t

, m

s n r e t i 9 l l o f m p 1 u n o M i o 8 s r

f , e 1

e n

n r p y

a

n ,

i , w s l

l 2 h o o i n

r s 0 T i o

y l p i l 9 l e b e s 1 l a p - a

s t c a 9 i h e s t n i 9 s C e

s o 8 w n r

i o o 1

t

h e

p , y l c r r s u

p i a a e g t d o

h a e f e W t t r

o p n r r c

r o o e e e f t a

o S M

a d

l w l B

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i f i

s o g n f l I

o

n o t o i g

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n d h

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e e e s u n h h of Batavian soldiers at Battle Blouberg. d many warriors captured. introduced system of convict rehabilitation. o leprosy and the mentally ill. north sparked resistance by indigenous leaders. u families and communities. new constitution that gives self-rule to South Africa with a heavily qualified franchise. South African Native National Congress. of the Allied Forces in WW2. led by the ANC. T D T

KEY EVENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA • Britain reoccupied the Cape after defeat • Xhosa and Khoi lose Battle of Grahamstown • • • Further colonial expansion to the east and • Leprosy Repression Act passed in 1891 was • • Discontented Africans react by forming the • 1939-1945 – South Africa fought as member • 1950s – Mass campaigns against injustices e l p o e p

g n i t a l o s i

o t

d e l

n o i g a t n o HISTORICAL PERIOD British colonial period – peace ended as Britain and France engage in Napoleonic wars. Growing fears of leprosy and c with leprosy in many countries in 1890s. Union of South Africa. South Africa granted partial independence by Britain. 1939-1945 – WW2 between Allies and Axis countries. DATE 1806- 1910 1910- 1961

47 CHAPTER 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE l l y e n a t a i e n c v r i b o t a u t i l b c s N o

o

e y p a R

r S

r f y n a o b m

o u t

u n q a d

o m h e i o s t t i t

x

r a a r d m P

e e o M y c

r c t r f i r e

r a o h d f u c t

n c n i d o a e

t l n

s s S r a d

I

e e d m e n v e u h o o t s

s i m f i l m i r

o a x

t p s

a r l e u l r e a M o

b n c r

i

e t o i s l e s h r i t o h r

e t f p

p n

o f e

o w o g n s

i a n o r l e i

t a p v

n c l h a o u c a r

w t c

m i o s t t d i

r l m n i n o o o h o P i C C T

s i – – – –

c 7 6 4 9 e 7 9 6 8 D 9

9 9 9 1 – 1 1 1

- - - - 0 2 1 2 4 6 6 9 6 8 9 9 9 9 9 training base to a maximum security prison. imprisoned on the Island. Prisons on 24 March 1961. Poqo activists, followed soon after by ANC and MK activists. and common law prisoners. and lime, undertake other hard manual labour. established on Robben Island. B Security Prison. young radical group to Robben Island. Island. Prison. mainland. democratic South Africa that the Island becomes a museum declared a National Monument. agreement with UWC. 1 1 1 1 1

ROLE OF AND KEY EVENTS ON ROBBEN ISLAND • c1956-1960 – Common law prison under navy control. • • 1960-1961 – Increase in the intake of common law prisoners • Official handover of the Island by Navy to Department • 1962 - First wave of political prisoners comprising mainly PAC and • • • 1962-1991 – Maximum Security Prison for political prisoners • 1974-1991 – Common law prisoners housed separately in Medium • 1976-1980 – Wave of trials youths from BCM and MK brought • • 1990-1991 – All political prisoners released from Robben Island. • • 1996 – Common law prisoners transferred to other prisons on the • 1994 – Five former prisoners are appointed to the first cabinet of • 1995 – Reunion of ex political prisoners on Robben Island advises • 1997 – RIM takes over management of the Island, and Island • 1999 – Robben Island granted WHS status. • 2000 – Mayibuye Centre becomes part of RIM through a 99-year • 2006 – SAHRA declares Robben Island a National Heritage Site f . . t . s t s s o o i t

t m l s n e e u a e t r e n e w r a s t o m a o i

t u , S e S

a

v n m a

n o N o

i i

t e g e m n n

h n h t i e a t n

r

t o g o a s i e t l t e e d c i n a

b i f r i

e n t i e n

d d a t

b l r o e i

i y l t u t

b a s m a g

r e c u n s o i r

u d d n p y n d r n n c e e o o a

r n c p b e u e

f n t s i g d

e n e r r r n e

a e

t a y b

l B

m n

y n f s e E c o

o n f -

n m o s o s e i

t n t e g r s t c c r i e e e e e t h l v l p a w o t m s o

Sharpeville massacre. E government decision to become a republic. and SACP activists, Poqo linked to the PAC, engage in armed struggles against the government. political imprisonment. a organisations led to general uprisings, and S and trials of many activists. agreements led to organisations being unbanned, political prisoners released and exiles able to return. into power. Island a national monument to be managed as a museum, and the Mayibuye Centre’s c G A

KEY EVENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA • 1960 – PAC anti-pass protests result in the • • • 1961 - Formation of MK comprised ANC • Trials of activists result in rapid increase • 1976 – Uprising of youth protesting against • 1980s – Reforms and new opposition • 1990-1991 – Negotiations and initial • Democratic elections vote ANC government • 1996 – Cabinet decides to declare Robben HISTORICAL PERIOD Union of South Africa. South Africa granted partial independence by Britain. 1939-1945 – WW2 between Allies and Axis countries.[cont] Apartheid Republic of South Africa Democratic South Africa DATE 1910- 1961 1961- 1994 1994

48 CHAPTER 4 HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE

CONCLUSION

This chapter has discussed the historical layering of the different periods; the continuities of imprisonment and banishment; of isolation and segregation; of hardship and punishment. An enduring aspect of the history is that in this context of hardship, an element of resistance has been present. The forms of resistance in the era of the apartheid prison were such that that those released were regarded as graduates of Robben Island. The refusal by those imprisoned to give up their dignity in the face of oppression and their attempt to reach out even to those oppressing them, testifies not only to the resilience of the human spirit under trying circumstances, but also to the building of a culture of tolerance and reconciliation.29

Robben Island’s symbolism of freedom and resistance to oppression of both colonialism and apartheid therefore becomes a beacon of hope for those who face oppression, discrimination and torture in all its various forms.

ENDNOTES

1 - Hart, T., Halkert, D. and Mutti, B. ’Baseline Archaeological 15 - Deacon, H., ’Patterns of Exclusion on Robben Island, 1654- Assessment of Robben Island’, Report prepared for RIM as input 2000’ in A. Bashford, and C. Strange, (eds) Isolation. London: to the Environmental Management Plan, Robben Island, 1998, Routledge, 2003. pp. 3-4. 16 - Ross, N., ‘Robben Island, 500 Years of South African History’, 2 - Deacon, H. et al, ‘The Robben Island Timeline’, in A. Kathrada, unpublished manuscript, c1999, p. 146. The Robben Island Exhibition Esiqithini, Cape Town: South African 17 - Much of this section is drawn from Marinda Weideman’s Museum and Mayibuye Books, Cape Town: SA Museum and masters thesis, ‘Robben Island: Coastal Defence 1931-1960’, Mayibuye Books, 1996, p. 13. University of the Witwatersrand, 1998. 3 - Penn, N., ‘Robben Island 1488-1805’, in H. Deacon (ed) The 18 - Weideman, M., ‘Coastal Defence’, 1998, p. 68. Island, A History of Robben Island 1488-1990, Cape Town: Mayibuye Books and David Philip, 1996, p. 11. 19 - Weideman, M., ‘Coastal Defence’, 1998, p. 62. 4 - Knight, I., Warrior Chiefs of Southern Africa, Riverside: Firebird 20 - Weideman, M., ‘Coastal Defence’, 1998, p. 106. Books, 1994, p. 176. 21 - Buntman, F, Robben Island and Prisoner Resistance to 5 - Hodgson, J., ‘Xhosa Chiefs in Cape Town in the Mid 19th Apartheid, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 19. Century’, Cape Town: , 1984, p. 45. 22 - Dlamini, M., Hell-Hole, Robben Island, Trenton: Africa World 6 - Hodgson, J., ‘Xhosa Chiefs’, pp. 45-51. Press, 1984, pp. 29-41; Babenia, N., Memoirs of a Saboteur: Reflections on my Political Activity in India and South Africa , 7 - Deacon, H. 1996 ‘The British prison on Robben Island 1800- Cape Town: Mayibuye Books, 1995, pp. 126-7. 1896’, in H. Deacon (ed), The Island, A History of Robben Island 1488-1990, Cape Town: Mayibuye Books and David Philip, 1996, 23 - Conditions are described in all the prison writings by political p. 55. prisoners – sources include Mandela, N., , London: Abacus, 1995, pp. 455-6; Kathrada, A., Memoirs, Cape 8 - Strauss, T., War Along the Orange: The Korana and the Town: Zebra, 2005, pp. 197-8, 237 and 301; Dingake, M., My Northern Border Wars of 1868-9 and 1878-9, Cape Town, Centre Fight against Apartheid, London: Kliptown Books, 1987, pp. 204ff for African Studies, University of Cape Town, 1979. and Dlamini, M., Hell-Hole: Robben Island, Trenton: Africa World 9 - Deacon, H., ‘The British Prison’, p. 54. Press, 1984, pp. 25 and 121. 10 - Strauss, T., ‘War along the Orange’, p. 115. 24 - Buntman, F., Robben Island and Prisoner Resistance, pp. 39-40. 11 - Deacon, H., ‘The British Prison’. p. 56. 25 - Kathrada, A., Memoirs, pp. 269-70; Buntman, F., Robben 12 - Deacon, H., ‘The British Prison’, pp. 55-56. Island and Prisoner Resistance, pp. 38-39. 13 - This section is a reworking of pages 19-20 of the Robben 26 - Buntman, F., Robben Island and Prisoner Resistance, pp. Island ‘Nomination Dossier for World Heritage Site Listing’ which 146ff. draws on the works of Harriet Deacon for its history of the Infirmary. 27 - Deacon, H., ‘Medical Institutions’, 1996, p. 70. 14 - Montagu quoted in Deacon, H. ‘The Medical Institutions on Robben Island 1846-1931’ in H. Deacon (ed), ‘The Island, A 28 - Buntman, F., ‘Resistance on Robben Island’, in H. Deacon History of Robben Island 1488-1990’, Cape Town: Mayibuye (ed), ‘The Island, A History of Robben Island 1488-1990’, Cape Books and David Philip, 1996, p. 57. Town: Mayibuye Books and David Philip, 1996, p. 135. 29 - Mandela, N., Long Walk to Freedom, 1995, pp. 465, 497.

49