Journos visit Robben Island

By Mohau ramashidja

After a well of excitement was stirred up inside journalism students on their first day of arrival in Cape Town; dancing their first night away in the infamous Long-street was their only option to explore the renowned mother city.  The next morning was sure a bang. A bang on the head like they were hit by a train or something, and that something was the mother of all after effects of boozing the night away. A hangover.

This resulted in the unacceptable behaviour of oversleeping and therefore being late for the departure time to Robben Island. “We went clubbing last night at Long-street and returned this morning at around 4am, slept like an hour or so... Dude I’m so hung over right now but what I can tell you is that if you’ve never been to Cape Town get yourself toCape Town, visit Long-street and pee. I think I peed in a couple of clubs and I was there,” said the hangover AfrikaMdolomba the following morning.

The first night at Cape Town certainly proved that students were party animals on the loose ready to tread on the city and have fun while doing it. A 1hour 30minutes walk from Green Point to Sea Point was certainly not their ideal idea of exploring the whole city. “I can’t believe they told us it was a 30minutes while actually it is a 1hour 30minutes walk,” said SimphiweManana who was actually frustrated for having walked such a distance.

Rudzani Makumbe next to a prison cell of
former president Nelson Mandela

While others managed to get there on the required time; majority of the students slacked behind, causing the whole group to be divided into three groups in their visit to Robben Island. This caused several students to scramble for tickets which granted access to the island. The behaviour however shocked other students who were quite astonished by rowdiness of their fellow classmates. “Now they are fighting over tickets. I mean dah... we are the last group to go to the island and it’s going to be so much nice and fun because it will only be a few of us,” elaborated one of the patient students, SesanaMabuza.

Arriving on the island students were taken on a grand tour around the island before entering into the Robben island prison. Luckily enough they also got the opportunity to enter into different cells of former political prisoners such as Tokyo Sexwale, Govern Mbeki and Moses Masemola. “First of all this cell is small for a person to live in. It doesn’t matter that this was in fact a cell meant to keep political prisoners; you can’t expect a human being to live in such a crammed up space such as this one,” said Boikhutso Ntsoko. 

  

The Robben Island prison made up of high walls and, narrow corridors, steal doors and intense hard labour; sure made a state at the island for prisoners an unpleasant one. While touring within the walls of the Robben Island prison; students were also taken on a mind trip of what political prisoners went through. “Each prisoner was given a prison clothes, a prison number and a prison card. The prison number such as of the former president Nelson Mandela 46664 means that the Mandela was prisoner number 466 and he arrived on the island in 1964,” said former political prisoner and now a tour guide at the island, Jama Matakata.

This turned out to be an eye opener for most students; one of the journalism students Kgothatso Madisa couldn’t help it but sense the mode of the prison cells he entered in. “This place is depressing, I already feel like a prisoner, all this walls around. All this messages on the walls about prisoners who were in these very cells; they had it though,” He said.

As the group left Robben Island to the mainland, only powerful memories which serve part of South Africa’s history would remain with the students