Robben Island- Nelson Mandela
INTRODUCTION
On 13 June 1964, Nelson Mandela was sent back to Robben Island maximum security prison. Due to close censorship and monitoring of writing materials, correspondence and study activities, no substantial memoirs or prison letters on political topics have come out of South African prisons. However, the letter below Mandela did come out of Robben Island, and political messages were also sent out, both from the Island and, later from Paulsmoor Prison.
In the winter of 1964, Nelson Mandela arrived on Robben Island where he
would spend 18 of his 27 prison years. Confined to a small cell, the floor
is bed, a bucket for a toilet, he was forced to do hard labor in a quarry.
He was allowed one visitor a year for 30 minutes. He could write and receive
one letter every six months. But Robben Island became the crucible which
transformed him. Through his intelligence, charm and dignified defiance,
Mandela eventually bent even the most brutal prison officials, to his
will, assumed leadership over his jailed comrades and became the master of
his own prison. He emerged from it the mature leader who would fight and
win the great political battles that would create a new democratic South
Africa.
On 13 June 1964, Nelson Mandela was sent back to Robben Island maximum security prison.
Due to close censorship and monitoring of writing materials, correspondence and study activities, no substantial memoirs or prison letters on political topics have come out of South African prisons. However, the letter below by Mandela did come out of Robben Island, and political messages were also sent out, both from the Island and, later, from Pollsmoor Prison.
Descriptions of the conditions which Mandela and other political prisoners experienced on Robben Island, and of the part he played in the struggles there, will be found in Chapter 14 in the form of accounts by fellow prisoners who were released after completing their sentences.
'Release Us Or Treat Us As Political Prisoners'
Letter addressed to the Minister of Justice, Cape Town, from Nelson Mandela, Robben Island Prison, dated 22 April 1969. Published by the ANC in 1978.
Dear Sir,
My colleagues have requested me to write and ask you to release us from prison and, pending your decision on the matter, to accord us the treatment due to political prisoners. At the outset we wish to point out that in making this application we are not pleading for mercy but are exercising the inherent right of all people incarcerated for their political beliefs.
The persons whose names appear in schedule A attached to this letter live in the single cell section79 of Robben Island Prison and are completely isolated from the rest of the prisoners on the island. For this reason we are unable to furnish you with a full list of all the persons on this island and in other prisons on behalf of whom this application is made.
It has caused hardship and disruption of family life by throwing into prison hundreds of otherwise innocent people. Finally it has instituted a reign of terror unprecedented in the history of the country and closed all channels of constitutional struggle. In such a situation resort to violence was the inevitable alternative of freedom fighters who had the courage of their convictions. No men of principle and integrity could have done otherwise. To have folded arms would have been an act of surrender to a government of minority rule and a betrayal of our cause. World history in general, and that of South Africa in particular, teaches that resort to violence may in certain cases be perfectly legitimate.
Our main request is that you release us and, pending your decision, you treat us as political prisoners. This means that we should be provided with good diet, proper clothing outfit, bed and mattress, newspapers, radios, bioscope,80 better contact with our families here and abroad.
Treatment as political prisoners implies the freedom to obtain all reading material that is not banned and to write books for publication. We would expect to be given the option to work as one desires and to decide the trades one would like to learn. In this connection we wish to point out that some of these privileges were enjoyed both by the 1914 rebels as well as by Leibbrandt and colleagues, all of whom were treated as political prisoners.
The prison authorities attempt to answer our demand for treatment as political prisoners by pointing out that we were convicted by the courts for contravening the laws of the country, that we are like any other criminals and, therefore, cannot be treated as political
offenders.
This is a spurious argument which flies in the face of the facts. On this view de Wet, Kemp, Maritz, Leibbrandt and others were ordinary criminals. Treason, sabotage, membership of an illegal
organization were all criminal offences then as now. Why then were they treated differently? It seems to us that the only difference between the two cases is one of
color.
As already indicated in the second paragraph above, I make this application on behalf of all my colleagues on the island and in other jails and I trust that any concessions that may be granted will be made available to all without exception.
The Prisons Act of 1959 gives you the necessary powers to grant the relief we seek. Under its provisions you are entitled to release us on parole or probation. de Wet and others were released under the former method. In conclusion, we place on record that the years we have spent on this island have been difficult years. Almost every one of us has had a full share in one way or another of the hardships that face non-white prisoners. These hardships have at times been the result of official indifference to our problems, other times they were due to plain persecution. But things have somewhat eased and we hope even better days will come. All that we wish to add is that we trust that when you consider this application you will bear in mind that the ideas that inspire us, and the convictions that give form and direction to our activities constitute the only solution to the problems of our country and are in accordance with the enlightened conceptions of the human family.
Yours faithfully,
Signed N. Mandela
Caption taken from Apartheid and The History of The Struggle for Freedom in South Africa, All rights reserved.
This page is maintained by Gugu Mkhize, Department of Library and Information Studies, M L Sultan Technikon.