The Prisoner | The Long Walk Of Nelson Mandela | FRONTLINE | PBS WATCH SCHEDULE TOPICS ABOUT FRONTLINE SHOP TEACHER CENTER The Prisoner 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 his 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. "He always made the point, if they say you must run, insist on walking.

If they say you must walk fast, insist on walking slowly.That was the whole point.We are going to set the terms." Neville Alexander, fellow prisoner The Newly-discovered Film of Nelson Mandela on Robben Island in 1977 (realvideo) NOTE: This footage, taken by a South African government cameraman in 1977, has never been seen before. It shows Mandela's prison cell and near the very end, several seconds of a tightlipped Mandela, caught by the camera as he worked with other prisoners repairing a road. The film was shot during a journalists' tour of Robben Island. The tour was initiated by the government in order to dispel stories of brutal conditions. By this time - 1977 - Mandela was in many ways a forgotten man. He had been on Robben Island 13 years and throughout South Africa his image and words were banned. As of May 1999, when this site was published, this video clip required RealPlayer 5.0 or G2 and a 56K modem. You may need to upgrade.

The Letters to Winnie These four letters, written from Robben Island between 1976-1979, convey how Winnie was the love of his life. They also offer a glimpse of the painful guilt Mandela felt for the wife and family he always had to put second to his political cause. "The Dark Years" In this section from his memoirs, Mandela describes the harsh daily routine during the early years on Robben Island. Neville Alexander's Interview One of the "young revolutionaries" sent to Robben Island the same year as Mandela, Alexander recounts how Walter Sisulu's and Mandela's arguments for self-discipline in prison won over "hotheads" like himself. He also details how Mandela's traits of character were revealed in his dealings with the authorities and fellow prisoners. Jack Swart's Stories When Mandela was moved to Victor Verster in 1988, Swart became his chef, glimpsing private times in Mandela's life, including visits from his wife, family and colleagues.

He recounts some of this, as well as anecdotes about Mandela'a first experience with a microwave; what it was like to drive Mandela secretly around the Cape Town area; and the events and the atmosphere in the days and hours leading up to Mandela's historic 1990 release. Fikile Bam's Interview He was on Robben Island with Mandela for ten years and shares stories of Mandela's personal political skills; his effort to learn the Afrikaan language; and the kind of books he liked to read. George Bizos's Reflections As Mandela's longtime lawyer and constant visitor during his imprisonment, Bizos relates some revealing anecdotes about the prison years. Christo Brand's Interview He was Mandela's warder for many years, first on Robben Island and then at Pollsmoor Prison. He sketches many details of Mandela's prison life--from his beloved garden and taste in music; to how his letters were censored; and how he helped hide Mandela's newborn grandchild so he could see and hold him in prison. "The Most Important Person in Any Prisoner's Life" This short chapter from Mandela's memoirs describes his relationships with warders and how his fellow prisoners devised strategies to evade their jailers and communicate with each other.

Ahmed Kathrada's Stories A dedicated friend of Mandela who was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1964-1989, Kathrada recounts how the prisoners smuggled out Mandela's autobiography. He also describes how, years later at Pollsmoor Prison, Mandela broke the news about his secret talks with the government. Strini Moodley's Interview A young member of the Black Consciousness movement, he was sent in 1976 to Robben Island where his cell was diagnonally across from Mandela's. Moodley offers several stories about Mandela's attitude and demeanor to his jailers; discusses why the younger generation felt Rivonia prisoners like Mandela were in a "time warp;" and recounts how he came to see that Mandela's conciliatory approach did improve prison conditions. Robben Island Prison Tour - Google Arts & Culture Robben Island Prison Tour Street View Tour Guided by Former Political Prisoner Vusumsi Mcongo Arrival at Robben Island Welcome to Robben Island, South Africa - home to the infamous prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years, along with over 3,000 political prisoners during their fight to end Apartheid.

Apartheid (literally "apart-hood" in Afrikaans) was a system of racial segregation enforced by the ruling National Party of South Africa from 1948-1994. The island is a national and UNESCO World Heritage site 9 kilometers offshore from Cape Town. Today, it is one of South Africa's most visited sites, accessed by ferry from the Victoria & Albert Waterfront. The journey across Table Bay takes approximately 40 minutes. On disembarking from the ferry at the Main Quay, you are greeted by an exhibition of photos portraying the history of the island, which you can peruse as you make your way to the prison buildings and the start of the formal tour. The Robben Island prison gate was constructed by political prisoners using stone from one of two quarries on the island where prisoners were required to labor in the harsh conditions. The grey slate was taken from the blue quarry. The message "We Serve With Pride" appears in two languages: English and Afrikaans. It is framed on the left by the coat of arms of and on the right, a shield decorated with a lily, the symbol of Robben Island.

INTRODUCTION Meet Vusumsi Mcongo, a Freedom Fighter in the anti-Apartheid movement was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1978-1990. All tours of the island are conducted by ex-prisoners. Mr. Mcongo will guiding us on this virtual tour of the Maximum Security prison. As we approach the prison, you can see one of many guard towers to the left. These were manned 24 hours, even though it was nearly impossible to escape from the island, the only way being by boat or a cold 9km swim. This would have been the view the guard had from the inside of the tower. You can see Table Mountain in the far distance. Anyone wishing to enter the prison would use the knocker on the door to call the guard. The guard would then peer through the spyglass before unlocking the door. All prisoner letters - received and sent - were strictly controlled by the Censor's Office. The prison censors would cut or black out any content that was deemed undesirable. In the 1960s, prisoners could only read and receive letters written in the official languages recognized by the state - either Afrikaans or English.

Communications in Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho and other languages were forbidden at first. Prisoners received medical treatment by doctors in the Hospital Ward, which was often favoured due contact with fellow prisoners. The courtyard of Section B, where Mandela was housed, is where he and fellow prisoners would eat breakfast, exercise and do manual labour tasks, such as chiseling rock, assigned to the prisoners. View from the middle of the Section B courtyard. Note the covered walkway at the end of view. From here the warders would maintain constant surveillance on the prisoners below. Mandela also gardened a small plot here, and secretly began writing his famous autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. The political prisoner Jeff Masemola (aka "Bra Jeff or "Brother Jeff") - a leader of the Pan Africanist Congress - also gardened tomatoes here. He was "in and out of B Section" recalls Mr. Mcongo because he confronted the warders about prisoner rights and conditions. This space was also the location for competitive sports at different times in the prison history. This prison corridor separated different sections of the prison, and was avoided, as prisoners were not allowed to have contact with those in other sections.

Let's now walk into B Section, which housed mostly political prisoners and where Nelson Mandela's prison cell is. Mandela's Cell Following the Rivonia Trial, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison. He was sent to Robben Island where he was imprisoned for 18 years,1964-1982. Mandela was kept with many other, mostly political prisoners in Section B, each in their own cell to avoid conversation. Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in this 2 x 2 meter cell. Mandela rolled and unrolled his bedding each night as the majority of space in the tiny cell was taken up by his desk and book shelves. Nelson Mandela's Cell ca. 1971 A folded jacket rests on the top of the sleeping mat in the corner. A fellow prisoner constructed additional shelves for Mr. Mandela's books and papers from cardboard, match boxes and plastic. Prisoners were only given one board upon which to shelve their possessions. Cells of other political prisoners were similar in size to Mr. Mandela's as suggested by this view of fellow inmate Lungelo Dwaba's cell. Mr.

Dwaba was incarcerated at Robben Island from 1964 to 1979. Prison Labor Prisoners were forced to perform hard labor in the island's quarries, in use on since the 17th century. The infamous Lime Quarry is located at the center of the island while the Blue Stone Quarry was located Work in both areas was extremely harsh. Prisoners performed long hours of enforced labour smashing stone in the lime quarry. Mandela and many other prisoners, suffered permanent eye damage from the glare off of the white stone. There were also other quarries on the island where prisoners were put to work, such as this bluestone slate quarry, now a favourite bathing spot for the local penguins. Under global media scrutiny, the Apartheid government invited journalists to tour the island, asserting that prison conditions were not harsh. Black political prisoners who typically worked in the quarry in shorts, were given long trousers (usually reserved for Indian and other Asian prisoners under Apartheid prison regulations). To spread positive propaganda the prisoners were relocated to work in the garden on the day of the journalists' visit. Photograph of Nelson Mandela taken by the international media during their visit. This and other photographs and film footage appeared across the world.

In letters to the head of the prison system, Mr. Mandela protested this unannounced visit and subsequent publication of images without prisoners' consent as an invasion of privacy. Communal Areas Prisoners were generally discouraged from mixing, but did have opportunity to have meals together, swap library books and, from time to time, watch a film. When granted time out of doors, they played football, tennis, table tennis, and other competitive sports. Our guide and ex-political prisoner Vusumsi Mcongo worked in the kitchen where encoded messages were often smuggled between prisoners. This was the recreational hall, where table tennis and pool was played and movies were sometimes shown. It also served as a library, where prisoners could take out books. This table tennis certificate was awarded to Benson (Ben) Fihla for highy commendable performance in the sport between 1972-13. Indeed, this was one of two table tennis awards given to Ben Fhila on one day. Prisoners' award certificates were hand drawn and lettered by fellow inmates on precious sheets of A4 paper. Exterior view of the kitchen and dining halls.

Similar to the gateway and watch towers, these buildings were also built of blue stone slate quarried on the island. Football was a popular and highly competitive sport among prisoners, who formed their own league with a binding constitution. The document is preserved in the Robben Island Museum Mayibuye Archive at University of the Western Cape. The prison league strictly adhered to FIFA regulations and principles and won FIFA recognition for their struggle and adherence to governing principles. Ex-political prisoner Tokyo Sexwale's football trophy won at a soccer tournament at the prison during his incarceration. The trophy was made by prisoners to symbolize the will to survive, live and be victorious. Robben Island Museum Mandela death: How he survived 27 years in prison - BBC News BBC News Mandela death: How he survived 27 years in prison By Mike Wooldridge BBC News, World affairs correspondent 11 December 2013 Close share panel Media captionThe BBC's Mike Wooldridge reports the moment Mandela is released from prison "I went for a long holiday for 27 years," Nelson Mandela once said of his years in prison. It was another example of the dry, razor-sharp and often self-deprecating humour for which South Africa's first black president was famous.

The prison years ended in a cottage he had to himself in the garden of a jail near Cape Town then known as Victor Verster - with TV, radio, newspapers, a swimming pool and any visitors he wanted. But he was still in prison. And the greatest number of years that he was in prison - 18 out of 27 - were spent on Robben Island, where the contrast could not have been greater. Banishment The notorious island, within sight of the city of Cape Town and Table Mountain, acquired its name from the seals that once populated it in multitudes - robben being the Dutch word for seal. Its three centuries as a prison island and a place of banishment were punctuated by a period as a leper colony. Image caption The longest spell of his prison life was spent on Robben Island A warder's first words when Nelson Mandela and his ANC comrades arrived were: "This is the Island. This is where you will die." They faced a harsh regime in a new cell block constructed for political prisoners. Each had a single cell some seven foot square around a concrete courtyard, with a slop bucket. To start with, they were allowed no reading materials.

They crushed stones with a hammer to make gravel and were made to work in a blindingly bright quarry digging out the limestone. Fellow prisoner Walter Sisulu spoke of a day Nelson Mandela's emerging leadership among the inmates was displayed in a rebellion over the quarry: "The prison authorities would rush us…'Hardloop!' That means run. One day they did it with us. It was Nelson who said: 'Comrades let's be slower than ever.' It was clear therefore that the steps we were taking would make it impossible ever to reach the quarry where we were going to. They were compelled to negotiate with Nelson. That brought about the recognition of his leadership." Image caption Conditions on the island were difficult Prisoner 46664, as he was known - the 466th prisoner to arrive in 1964 - would be the first to protest over ill-treatment and he would often be locked up in solitary as punishment. "In those early years, isolation became a habit. We were routinely charged for the smallest infractions and sentenced to isolation," he wrote in his autobiography, The Long Walk to Freedom.

"The authorities believed that isolation was the cure for our defiance and rebelliousness." "I found solitary confinement the most forbidding aspect of prison life. There was no end and no beginning; there is only one's own mind, which can begin to play tricks." Image caption Access to books was sometimes limited - this complete works of Shakespeare was shared by Mandela, who signed this passage from Julius Caesar, as well as other inmates Still, his determination and wit were clearly undiminished. His lawyer George Bizos saw it at first hand. "On my first visit to Robben Island he was brought to the consulting room by no less than eight warders, two in front, two on each side and two at the back… in shorts and without socks. And the thing that was odd about it is that, unlike any other prisoner I have ever seen, he was setting the pace at which this group was coming towards the consulting room. And then with all gravitas he said 'You know, George, this place really has made me forget my manners. I haven't introduced you to my guard of honour'." University behind bars After the first few months on the island, life settled into a pattern.

"Prison life is about routine: each day like the one before; each week like the one before it, so that the months and years blend into each other," Mr Mandela wrote. Image caption A portrait of Mandela now hangs in what was Victor Verster prison... Image caption ... and his statue stands outside the gates Over time, and varying according to who was running the prison, so-called privileges would be granted. Those who wanted could apply for permission to study. Although some subjects such as politics and military history were forbidden, Robben Island became known as a "university behind bars". ANC and Communist Party stalwart Mac Maharaj remembers it as a cause of a falling out with Nelson Mandela. "He was urging let us study Afrikaans and I was saying no way - this is the language of the damn oppressor. He persuaded me by saying,' Mac, we are in for a protracted war. You can't dream of ambushing the enemy if you can't understand the general commanding the forces.

You have to read their literature and poetry, you have to understand their culture so that you get into the mind of the general.' "Here he was showing right at the outset this focus of thinking of the other side, understanding them, anticipating them and so at the end of the day understanding how to accommodate them." When Nelson Mandela reflected on his Robben Island experiences on returning there in 1994 he said: "Wounds that can't be seen are more painful than those that can be seen and cured by a doctor. One of the saddest moments of my life in prison was the death of my mother. The next shattering experience was the death of my eldest son in a car accident." He was refused permission to attend either funeral. Image caption Mandela was said to be overwhelmed by the crowds who welcomed his release Nelson Mandela's letters from prison to his second wife Winnie are poignant in the way they show the price paid for his total immersion in the anti-apartheid struggle, as is her account of this period. Left to raise their children alone, Winnie once described the impact of taking them to see him in prison: "Taking them at that age to their father - their father of that stature - was so traumatic.

It was one of the most painful moments actually. And I could see the strain on my children both before their visit and for quite some time after they had some contact with their father." War of attrition By the time Nelson Mandela was moved to Pollsmoor prison on the mainland, he was the world's most famous but perhaps least recognisable political prisoner. No contemporary photograph of him had been seen for years. The late anti-apartheid activist Amina Cachalia, who had known him well before he went into prison, visited him. She told me she had taken a small camera into the prison with her, and as they had lunch she reached for her bag and said she was going to take a picture of him. He held her by the arm and shook his head. She said Nelson Mandela was afraid they would confiscate the camera and terminate the visit. Amina Cachalia laughed at the thought of the impact her photograph would have had. "He deprived me of being a millionairess," she joked. Image caption Robben Island is now a tourist destination Fellow prisoner Ahmed Kathrada recalled that in Pollsmoor in 1985, Nelson Mandela was called to the prison office and then returned to his ANC colleagues and started reading the newspapers.

After a few minutes he said to them: "Oh by the way chaps, I was told President Botha has offered to release us." "After 20 years or more of us being in prison and that's how cool he was… 'By the way this has happened'," Mr Kathrada told me. "We didn't even have to mull over it and that very night he wrote the letter. We all read through it and signed it, rejecting the offer." Even though later Nelson Mandela was to have many meetings with the government and to be moved to the more comfortable conditions of his villa at Victor Verster prison - attending Sunday services, playing chess, teaching political economy to his fellow prisoners - he always sought to give the ANC exiled leadership no cause to be suspicious of his intentions and refused to put his own freedom before that of others and before the goals of the movement. Ahmed Kathrada told me that Nelson Mandela fought a war of attrition in everything. In prison, he once played chess against a medical student who had just come in for five years. "They played for many hours in one day and they had to ask the warders to lock the chessboard up in the cell next door.

They continued the next day and each move was so slow this was a war of attrition. After a few hours the young chap said 'Look, you win. Just take your victory.' He wins." The Robben Island prison that once held Nelson Mandela SHARE Koto Bolofo's photographic study of the Robben Island prison that once held Nelson Mandela. Relentlessly pounded by the angry surf and chilled by the icy winds of the south Atlantic, Robben Island is the unlikely cradle of South African democracy. That wasn’t exactly what the Dutch and British empires had in mind when they began, from the 17th century, using the two-square mile rocky outcrop four miles off Cape Town as a prison. Being sent to live out their day on Robben Island was the fate of those who dared resist the incursion of European settlers. And the white-minority regime that inherited the reins of colonial power maintained that tradition. Nelson Mandela, leader of the armed wing of the African National Congress spent 18 of his 27 years in prison there, and emerged to lead all South Africans, black and white, in a process of democratic reconciliation that became a global icon of humanity’s ability to transcend racism.

But three centuries before Mandela broke rocks in its dusty quarry, the Island (as it was known in South Africa) had held the indigenous leader Autshumao, known to the Dutch as “Harry the Beachcomber”, mutinous slaves brought to the Cape from the Dutch East Indies, and the Xhosa insurgent leader Makana who had risen against the British in 1819. But it was Mandela and his cohort who put the Island on the international map. Having taken up arms against the apartheid regime when all channels of peaceful protest were closed by violent repression, their insurgency was crushed, and like Autshumao and Makana before them, they were sent to rot on the Island, their fate intended as an object lesson to all who would dare challenge the authority of the white man. Claudia Van Ryssen-Bolofo Things didn’t work out that way. Despite the best efforts of the prison authorities to break their spirit, the prisoners organized themselves and steadily expanded their control of the institution’s culture.

The Island became known as “the university of the struggle,” each new wave of young rebels brought to the prison falling under the tutelage of Mandela’s generation, leaving the prison to rejoin the fight with the equivalent of a revolutionary MBA. And what Mandela taught them was the ANC’s core belief that, “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people.” Many young convicts came to the Island hating white people, having watched their unarmed peers cut down in the streets by the apartheid security forces; Mandela and his comrades, through patient political education on the ethics and mechanics of political change, brought them round to a vision of a common future for all South Africans. And it was during his years on the Island that Mandela closely studied the psyche of his Afrikaner jailers, his encounters with their humanity and fears profoundly shaping his negotiations with the minority regime that enabled a peaceful transition to majority rule. Robben Island remains a shrine to South Africa’s unique achievement in liberation and reconciliation, revered precisely because it failed to serve its purpose. Koto Bolofo was born in South Africa and raised in Great Britain.

He has made photographs and short films for clients such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and GQ. More of his work can be seen here . Tony Karon served as senior editor at TIME from 1997 – 2013, where he covered international conflicts in the Middle East, Asia, and the Balkans. Visiting the former apartheid prison of Robben Island Visiting the former apartheid prison of Robben Island June 17, 2016 By James Clark Cape Town has a range of museums and memorials remembering the era of apartheid. The most well-known symbol of apartheid is Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. Robben Island is about 7km off the coast of Cape Town at its closest point, and it has served as a prison since the 17th century, when the Dutch realised its potential as a prison. The ferry to Robben Island departs from the V&A Waterfront at the Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island; a purpose-built pier and exhibition centre. Before you go though visit the Jetty 1 Museum, which is also at the V&A Waterfront.

This jetty is where ferries would take prisoners, guards, and supplies to the island. This ferry terminal houses a small collection of photos and artifacts of the jetty’s role in the processing of prisoners. At the ferry terminal there is more information about the apartheid system and those who opposed it. The ferry takes about half an hour and the trip is worth it for the cruise itself. The ferry ticket includes the tour of the island. Upon arrival at the island there are waiting buses which drive around the islands main sites. One of the stops is the lime quarry where Nelson Mandela was forced to labour. In the background is Table Mountain, which was a daily reminder of freedom from the island. At the entrance of the quarry is a pile of rocks where Nelson Mandela and former prisoners added one rock each at a prisoner reunion. We stopped for a drinks and toilet break which doubles as a moment to enjoy the view of Table Mountain from across the bay. The island is a haven for birdlife, including a bazillion seagulls and the African oystercatcher, which is a coastal bird found in southern Africa. After driving around the island we were taken back to the prison for the next part of the tour.

Our guide was a former political prisoner, who was imprisoned here for five years in the 1980’s. It’s mind-blowing to think that in my lifetime people were being imprisoned because of the colour of their skin. He said his family doesn’t like visiting Robben Island, but he finds coming here and doing tours is a form of therapy. Most people come to Robben Island to visit Nelson Mandela’s cell. After we had been led through the cell block our guide asked which cell was Mandela’s. We didn’t know because all the cells looked the same. I was expecting to see a cell that had been turned into a mini shrine with photos and flowers, or at least a plaque. I think that it’s great that there is no marker. He was a prisoner among hundreds of others who were unjustly imprisoned during the apartheid regime. The island has also been home to two other presidents: Kgalema Motlanthe, and current president Jacob Zuma (who was not the most popular figure at the time of my visit). My thoughts on the tour I felt privileged to have a former prisoner as a guide, but with so many people visiting the island the tour group was too big.

There were over 50 people in our group and the guide had a hard time trying to corral everyone into the same place before starting his next presentation. People at the back were wandering off doing their own thing or talking loudly during his talk, which was distracting and disrespectful. I also didn’t like that we were put onto a bus and shipped around the island without being out to get out of the bus to see the sites (apart from the photo opportunity place). The bus had 3-2 seat configuration so it was packed. I think a better option would be to offer bicycles so you can see the island at your own pace, in addition to the bus option. The island is only 5 square kilometres and flat, so it would be an easy cycle for most people. A well-defined bike path with information boards at the most important stops would be a great outing. For the prison tour, they should offer self-guided tours or tours with former prisoners. As more visitors come to the island and the inevitable dwindling numbers the former prisoners, maybe this will be a future reality.

Overall though Robben Island is one of the highlights of visiting Cape Town, and even if the political aspect doesn’t interest you should go to get the best view of Cape Town. Booking Robben Island Tours I’m told that you probably wont get a ticket if you just turned up before the boat leaves, so book ahead. I turned up at the terminal the day before to buy a ticket which was 300 Rand (about $20 USD). If you are short on time and want to lock in a date then have a look at these Robben Island and Cape Town combined tours Resources Robben Island: The place that changed Nelson Mandela - LA Times Robben Island: The place that changed Nelson Mandela Mandela on Robben Island Jurgen Schadeberg / Getty Images Then-President Nelson Mandela revisits his South African prison cell on Robben Island, where he spent 18 of his 27 years in prison, in 1994. Then-President Nelson Mandela revisits his South African prison cell on Robben Island, where he spent 18 of his 27 years in prison, in 1994.

(Jurgen Schadeberg / Getty Images) Robyn Dixon JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — The brightly painted ferry sailed to the island prison like a dazzling bird swooping down to land. The prisoner caught sight of the vessel, far off on the shimmering sea. The boat was his friend. It was bringing his family to see him. It was Nov. 9, 1970, and the prisoner was Nelson Mandela, held on Robben Island for his leading role in planning bomb attacks. "A visit to a prison has a significance difficult to put into words,” Mandela wrote in a letter to a friend in 1987. These were the “unforgettable occasions when that frustrating monotony is broken and the entire world is literally ushered into the cell." PHOTOS: Nelson Mandela through the years Later that afternoon, watching the ferry steam away with his wife, who looked frail, Mandela felt desolate. The boat was no longer his friend, but his enemy. "Though it still retained its brightness, the beauty I had seen only a few hours before was gone. Now it looked grotesque and quite unfriendly.

As it drifted slowly away with you, I felt all alone in the world," he wrote in a November 1970 letter to his wife, Winnie Mandela. Mandela’s cell was small and bare with a lidded metal bucket for a toilet, a narrow bed, a small table and three small painted metal cupboards fixed high on the wall. Outside, tall stone towers glared with slitted windows like ever-watching eyes. The prisoners emptied their own buckets each morning. Mandela emptied his and that of a neighboring prisoner who left his cell for his daily labor. The job had fallen to another prisoner, who refused. "So then I cleaned it for him because it meant nothing for me. I cleaned my bucket every day and I had no problem, you see, in cleaning the bucket of another," he says in his book "Conversations With Myself." FULL COVERAGE: Anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela dies On Robben Island, the political prisoners faced hard labor, breaking rocks in the lime quarry. They were ordered not to sing, and were denied reading material and the opportunity to play sports. "They wanted to break our spirits.

So what we did was sing freedom songs and everybody … went through the work with high morale and then of course dancing to the music as we were working, you know. Then the authorities realized that … 'these chaps are too militant. They’re in high spirits.' And they say, 'No singing as you are working.' So you really felt the toughness of the work." Charges were trumped up by the wardens and punishments ensued: solitary confinement and withholding of food. "What happened was that they would decide in the morning before we [went] to work that so-and-so and so-and-so would be punished. And once they took that decision, it didn’t matter how hard you worked that morning. You would be punished at the end of the day." PHOTOS: The world reacts to Nelson Mandela's death One of the wardens would urinate next to the prisoners, sometimes right by the table where their food was dished out. But the apartheid regime made a mistake: keeping the political prisoners together, allowing the leaders of the banned African National Congress and other resistance groups to mix. Politics went on inside the prison. Mandela penned an autobiography, letters to lawyers and other political statements, all of which were smuggled out.

In addition to politics, there was education. Robben Island was later known to the liberation struggle veterans as "Mandela University." Between their laboring in the quarry, prisoners gave one another lessons. The current South African president, Jacob Zuma, was taught to read and write on Robben Island. Mandela completed a law degree. The ANC leadership used the daily injustices in the prison as another platform for its struggle against oppression of blacks. For Mandela and the other prisoners, the routine was hard to bear. "Every day is for all practical purposes like the day before: the same surroundings, same faces, same dialogue, same odor, walls rising to the skies and the ever-present feeling that outside the prison gates there is an exciting world to which you have no access," Mandela wrote in the 1987 letter. Toward the end of his 27 years in prison, most of them on Robben Island, some wondered whether Mandela would be out of touch when he was released.

"Businesspeople and Western officials fretted that he would be a Rip Van Winkle figure, clinging to the outdated economic philosophy he had espoused before being imprisoned," Alec Russell wrote in the book "After Mandela." "Some nervously remembered that as a politician he had a reputation for being a hothead." He had gone into prison an angry rebel who believed that violent revolution was the only answer. After his release, the firebrand rhetoric was gone (to the disappointment of some). Rather than the stirring oratory of yesteryear, his speeches were calm and pacifying, always calling for reconciliation and unity. At the negotiating table, he persuaded whites to surrender power. He averted a tribal and civil war that many felt certain was inevitable, and managed to unite South Africans under his banner of nonracial democracy. Mandela never forgot the good prison guards and police, or the bad. Years later, he and fellow prisoner Ahmed Kathrada discussed the idea of inviting wardens and some members of the apartheid security police over for lunch. They even talked of inviting one of the worst, who’d severely tortured some ANC activists before they went to prison. Robben Island left him damaged.

But without the years of self-examination and meditation — seeing positive things in his darkest hours — Mandela might never have become such a remarkable leader after he walked free. "At least, if for nothing else," he wrote in a 1975 letter to his wife, "the cell gives you the opportunity to look daily into your entire conduct, to overcome the bad and develop whatever is good in you. "Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying." ALSO: Township and Robben Island Combination Tour Township and Robben Island Combination Tour Township and Robben Island Combination Tour Product ID: 11066 Please give us the name and street address of your accommodation when making a booking.

Select date and participants: What You'll Do Visit the most important Townships of Cape Town See Robben Island Prison where Mandela was incarcerated for 18 of his 27 years in prison Walk through the Township of Langa Visit the Gugulethu Seven Memorial See the Amy Biehl Memorial in the Gugulethu Township Walk the streets, meet and greet the people and hear the sound of children play in the Townships Ferry ride to and from Robben Island A full day historical and cultural tour forcusing on the struggle against Apartheid and the effects of it we liked it very very much we liked the fact that we could get a closer look to the real aspects of the city and we had in one day only, so many things that we experienced, a complete image of cape town Sofia from , Greece Overview On this tour you will visit different townships and the prison Mandela was incarcerated, giving you an overview of Mandela´s struggle against Apartheid and its effects. It will also disclose how those affected continue to struggle for a better life today. What to Expect Your tour will start at the historical site of District Six, where inhabitants were forcibly removed according to the Group Areas Act of 1950 during the Apartheid era.

From there we will move on to Langa, the oldest township in Cape Town. Next we travel to Bonteheuwel, a township developed from the forcibly removed District Six residents classified as colored. Learn about the rules in these township and how they affected everyday life. We with the township chapter of our tour with a visit to Gugulethu, home to more than 300,000 residents. Here your guide will explain how this township has developed after the fall of Apartheid. We break for lunch at the V&A Waterfront, one of the top tourist destinations in Cape Town with breathtaking views of Table Mountain. Next we take the ferry to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for 18 of his 27 prison years. Here you take a guided tour of the infamous maximum security prison and see Nelson Mandela's cell. After exploring the island you will be taken back to the V&A Waterfront by ferry, where the tour ends. What's Included Return Ferry tickets to Robben Island Guided tour of Robben Island A visit to Nelson Mandela's cell Fuel Please note some venues may not be available over weekends. Robben Island tickets are subject to availability.

We advise clients to bring small change for donations to people if they take pictures of them and for purchasing small arts and crafts in support of small businesses operating in township communities. On Sundays you might want to leave a donation at church. Tickets for the ferry to Robben Island are subject to weather conditions and availability. Every attempt will be made to book you on the 13:00 ferry, but if it is not available you will be booked on the 15:00 or 17:00 ferry. In this case you will be dropped off at your hotel and asked to make your way to the harbor at the right time. Our promise to you Robben Island Cape Town - A Side of Sweet A Side of Sweet You are here: Home / Travel / South Africa / Cape Town / Robben Island Cape Town Robben Island Cape Town Share During our trip to South Africa, we took a boat ride to Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town. This was no luxury cruise though, our goal was to tour the now-defunct prison on the island and learn more about its history.

Robben Island is perhaps most famous for being the prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 out of his 27 years behind bars after being arrested for conspiracy to overthrow the South African government. Our tour guide, Zozo, was actually a former inmate at Robben Island. He was arrested on charges of terrorism in 1977, during the Soweto Uprising . Being taken through the prison with someone who had experienced life at Robben Island firsthand definitely made our tour more memorable. He told us about the daily beatings the prisoners faced, and the fact that they were only allowed one hour per day outside. In order to breed unrest between prisoners, they were divided into two groups and given different meals and treatment depending on their group. In the card above, you can see that one group was allowed jam, extra sugar, and larger portions. It’s pretty incredible that he took what was a very dark time in his life and has now dedicated his life to sharing the history of Robben Island with so many visitors. The photo below shows, “Cell Number 5”, Mandela’s cell on Robben Island.

It was about 6 x 7 feet and had only a thin sleeping pad, a stool, a bowl and plate, and a toilet bin. In addition, we were able to see the corner of the outdoor common space that is called “Mandela’s Garden”. Nelson Mandela secretly wrote the first draft of his autobiography (later published as the acclaimed Long Walk to Freedom ) while imprisoned on Robben Island. The pages of the manuscript were hidden here in tin containers and buried. Political prisoners were released from Robben Island in 1991 and the prison was officially closed in 1996. Even though the prisons of Robben Island have been empty for two decades, there are still around 45 full time inhabitants. They maintain the facilities, give tours, run the post office and more and live on Robben Island with their families. There aren’t enough children on Robben Island to maintain a school, so the children travel back to the mainland by boat every day. In order to signal a birth on the island, a flag is raised on the church – pink for a girl and blue for a boy. One of the most memorable things we saw on the tour was the limestone quarry where the prisoners worked.

It was there that Mandela’s eyesight was severely damaged due to the sunlight reflecting off of the light-colored rocks. Because of this, Mandela actually forbade flash photography at press conferences later in his career. Our guide talked about Nelson Mandela visiting the quarry many years after his release as a part of a prisoner reunion. He placed a stone in the center of the quarry, and the other attendees followed suit. The cairn of stones remains there to this day. In addition to the prison, Robben Island is one of the few places that the African penguin still lives. The bus stopped briefly at the rocky beach where then penguins live so we could observe them from a distance. This is a picture we took of an African penguin at the nature reserve in Cape Town, but you get the idea! Tour Tips – There is only one group that offers tours on Robben Island, and that is the Robben Island Museum . All other ‘tours’ are only boat-rides around the island. Don’t be confused! Booking tours in advance is essential as they often sell out.

-Go There- Nelson Mandela's Imprisonment | World History Project Oct 1962 to Feb 1990 Nelson Mandela's Imprisonment Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island where he remained for the next eighteen of his twenty-seven years in prison.[49] While in jail, his reputation grew and he became widely known as the most significant black leader in South Africa.[1] On the island, he and others performed hard labour in a lime quarry.[50] Prison conditions were very basic.

Prisoners were segregated by race, with black prisoners receiving the fewest rations.[citation needed] Political prisoners were kept separate from ordinary criminals and received fewer privileges.[51] Mandela describes how, as a D-group prisoner (the lowest classification) he was allowed one visitor and one letter every six months.[52] Letters, when they came, were often delayed for long periods and made unreadable by the prison censors.[10] Whilst in prison Mandela undertook study with the University of London by correspondence through its External Programme and received the degree of Bachelor of Laws.[53] He was subsequently nominated for the position of Chancellor of the University of London in the 1981 election, but lost to Princess Anne.[53] In his 1981 memoir Inside BOSS[54] secret agent Gordon Winter describes his involvement in a plot to rescue Mandela from prison in 1969: this plot was infiltrated by Winter on behalf of South African intelligence, who wanted Mandela to escape so they could shoot him during recapture.

The plot was foiled by British Intelligence.[54] In March 1982 Mandela was transferred from Robben Island to Pollsmoor Prison, along with other senior ANC leaders Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and Raymond Mhlaba.[52] It was speculated that this was to remove the influence of these senior leaders on the new generation of young black activists imprisoned on Robben Island, the so-called "Mandela University".[55] However, National Party minister Kobie Coetsee says that the move was to enable discreet contact between them and the South African government.[56] In February 1985 President P.W. Botha offered Mandela conditional release in return for renouncing armed struggle.[57] Coetsee and other ministers had advised Botha against this, saying that Mandela would never commit his organisation to giving up the armed struggle in exchange for personal freedom.[58] Mandela indeed spurned the offer, releasing a statement via his daughter Zindzi saying "What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate.

A prisoner cannot enter into contracts."[56] The first meeting between Mandela and the National Party government came in November 1985 when Kobie Coetsee met Mandela in Volks Hospital in Cape Town where Mandela was recovering from prostate surgery.[59] Over the next four years, a series of tentative meetings took place, laying the groundwork for further contact and future negotiations, but little real progress was made.[56] In 1988 Mandela was moved to Victor Verster Prison and would remain there until his release. Various restrictions were lifted and people such as Harry Schwarz were able to visit him. Schwarz, a friend of Mandela, had known him since university when they were in the same law class. He was also a defense barrister at the Rivonia Trial and would become Mandela's ambassador to Washington during his presidency. Throughout Mandela's imprisonment, local and international pressure mounted on the South African government to release him, under the resounding slogan Free Nelson Mandela![60] In 1989, South Africa reached a crossroads when Botha suffered a stroke and was replaced as president by Frederik Willem de Klerk.[61] De Klerk announced Mandela's release in February 1990.

The man who changed the world Email a friend IMAGINE living in a country where your political leader is an internationally revered hero who changed the world. A person who spent 27 years in prison for his beliefs - the fight to end racism against his people. A man whose bravery and amazing deeds inspired a world movement to free him - and who walked from jail with an air of humility and an infectious grin. As the world responds to the news of Nelson Mandela's death, South Africans mourn their beloved Madiba, the greatest and the most humble politician on the planet. A legendary anti-apartheid leader, Mandela, died aged 95 at home on Thursday evening, South African time, after a long illness. Back in June, when he was admitted to hospital with complications from lung failure, Mandela's citizens and schoolchildren began gathering outside singing and praying for their beloved "Tatu" - the nation's grandfather. News.com.au looks back on the incredible life and politics of Nelson Mandela. Here's how and why a man branded as a "terrorist" and a "revolutionary" became a symbol for peace and racial equality: 1.

The son of an African tribal chief, Rolilahla "Nelson" Mandela trained as a lawyer and became a founding member of the African National Congress (ANC) which rose up against the new Afrikaaner government of 1948 and its policy of apartheid, or racial segregation which institutionalised poverty and inequality for black people in South Africa. releaseSource:News Limited 2. As a political activist and a black man under a white extremist government, Mandela went underground to prevent being arrested for his anti-government activities. He became known as the "Black Pimpernel" - a take on the fictional French revolutionary figure the Scarlet Pimpernel - because of his because of his ability to avoid the police using disguises, a favourite of which was a chauffeur's uniform. A young Nelson Mandela boxing. Picture: News LimitedSource:Supplied 3. He formed the ANC's military wing, the Umkhonto we Sizwe or MK, in 1961 and led a bombing campaign against governments targets. Accused of treason against the South African government, he was arrested in 1962 and charged with sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government by violence.

He was brought to trial along with other ANC and anti-apartheid leaders. The jail on Robben Island where Mandela was held for 18 of his 27 years in prison. Picture: Supplied.Source:Supplied 4. On June 12, 1964, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and was jailed at the Robben Island Prison (pictured above), 12km from Cape Town, off the coast of South Africa where he spent the first 18 years of his incarceration. His Robben Island prison number was 46664, which later became a symbol in the campaign for his freedom. While in prison he was allowed only one visit a year of 30 minutes duration, and permitted to write and receive only a few letters. The man who changed the worldSource:Supplied 5. During his imprisonment he contracted tuberculosis, which caused the lung damage which makes him susceptible to the pulmonary infection he is suffering from today. He was moved to another penitentiary, Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland, for the final nine years of his custody. 6. An international campaign lobbied for his release.

A song Free Nelson Mandela, written by Jerry Dammers and performed by his British band The Special A.K.A became an anthem for his release. Nelson Mandela and wife Winnie raise fists upon his release from, 11 February 1990. Picture: AFP.Source:AFP 7. Amid growing civil strife, the South African Government freed him on February 11, 1990. Mandela walked from prison with his then wife, Winnie, waving and smiling. He then spoke to a crowd of about 50,000 people, who had waited for hours to see him, expressing his sincere and warmest gratitude to the "millions of my compatriots and those in every corner of the globe who have campaigned tirelessly for my release". 8. Mandela became ANC president and led negotiations with the Afrikaaner President F.W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid and establish multiracial elections in 1994, in which he led the ANC to victory. 9. As his country's first black president, Mandela formed a Government of National Unity to ease ethnic tensions and established a new constitution which abolished racism.

He instituted an inquiry into human rights abuses and introduced policies to encourage land ownership for black South Africans, to combat poverty and to provide health care. Mandela in July 2012. Picture: AP.Source:AP 10. Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa". Mandela stepped down from office in 1999 and in retirement he established the Nelson Mandela Foundation to combat poverty and HIV/AIDS. He has received more than 250 international awards, including the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Soviet Order of Lenin. ###

Question: On which island was Nelson Mandela incarcerated for 27 years, from 1962-90?
Answer: Robben Island