Robben Island

'Impressive' or 'not much to see'. The summaries about a visit to Robben Island vary. We decide to check ourselves. With online booking we see that in four days, on Saturday, the first tickets will be available. We book in the hope that we will have owned the car for a long time and will be able to drive north. If not, then we have a special day care in any case.

Touching
The car is still not ashore that Saturday, so we board the boat to the island. On the quay we are welcomed by an old prisoner, a friendly middle-aged man who is going to show us around. He speaks loud and clear, and ensures that everyone hears his report. The man was 17 years old when he arrived on the island. Sentenced to 7 years in prison for recruiting for the ANC army. The prisoners detained for purely political reasons were in the minority, the guide said. Most of the prisoners have been convicted of "sabotage", a mantle term that has been used extensively to lock up "troublesome" people.

The summary "not much to see" does contain some truth. The prisoners also had nothing. A mat and three blankets, a bowl and a bucket were all facilities. The luxury consisted of a football field, on which the prisoners were allowed to play for half an hour on Sunday.
Many prisoners in one room or in a small lonely cell, the windows without glass and lack of heating guaranteed a hard life on the island. The colorings and Asians got a scanty ration, the black prisoners got much less. Discrimination did not only exist on the mainland.

Nelson Mandela
The Dutch texts that we read here and there in prison are confronting. It recalls our history and the role in apartheid. We are not proud of it.

Our guide met Nelson Mandela on the island while on hunger strike with other prisoners. Mandela was deployed by the prison leadership to stop the strike. Instead, Mandela encouraged the men to continue. The purpose for which they are fighting was worth everything. The question of how Mandela in the 18 year of deprivation of imprisonment on Robben Island has remained so positive and has not become resentful to the incumbent is in the middle of my mind. The guide formulates the answer concisely and concisely; "Because Nelson Mandela was a leader."

The drive over the island that follows shows the quarry where discipline and order were preached. Americans and Asians respond enthusiastically to the guide's question as to which nationalities are on the bus, the Europeans actually dare not raise their fingers. If we go under the gate with "Ons serve with pride" and depart again by boat to the "freedom" of the mainland, there is not much talk.