Madiba - a six part review of the past 95 years. Part 4

We would like to celebrate Madiba's exceptional life and achievements with a 6 part series written by Steuart Pennington.

Madiba - Part 4
Wednesday, 24 July 2013

by Steuart Pennington

27 years in Prison - and still the will to forgive and to reconcile

In this the 4th Part of our six part series on the life of Madiba we focus on his time in prison. In a way a lot happened during those 27 years, particularly for South Africa. The 60’s and 70’s were boom years, we recording the second highest economic growth rate globally after Japan.

And for Madiba those 27 years must have been tortuous with deadly routine, great uncertainty, horrific isolation, steely resolve and courageous optimism being a part of an everyday dull existence.

1964 At age of 46, enters Robben Island. Solitary confinement no liberties.

The Rivonia trialists were kept in individual cells to prevent them from influencing other prisoners, the koeloekoetz as it was known. Mandela arrived at Robben Island in August 1964, the coldest winter in South Africa for 30 years. George Bizos recalls, “Mandela arrived wearing a pair of shorts, no socks, rough shoes on the back of bakkie. I snaked through the two warders and embraced him. The warders were deeply shocked. And what did Mandela say? “George, this place has made me forget my manners. I haven’t introduced you to my Guard of Honour” and then he proceeded to introduce me to each one by name.

The prison system was based on total control, minimum, terrible food, hard labour in silence in the lime quarry and a code of punishment and manipulation. Staff were exclusively white, an atmosphere of racial hostility was ever present. Martin Meredith writes “White warders regarded themselves as members of a master race, they insisted on being referred to as ‘baas’ and referred to the prisoners as ‘kaffirs, ‘hotnots’ and ‘koelies’”. The daily routine was deadly, most mornings spent in a courtyard cross-legged bashing away with a hammer at piles of stones in front of them and forbidden to talk. After a lunch of boiled maize they were permitted to exercise for half and hour in silence by walking round the courtyard and then send back to work on the stones. Allowed a bath in a seawater shower. Supper was in the cell. The light stayed on all night. On week-ends kept in cells except for a half hour of exercise in silence. No watches allowed. Only one visitor allowed every six months. Only one letter allowed to be written and received over the same period. No study privileges. Solitary confinement often imposed for the slightest misdemeanour. At Christmas time allowed an extra mug of coffee and some sweets.

Madiba elected as spokesman for prisoners. Meets with Red Cross secures an improvement in conditions.

Madiba quotes, “the cell is an ideal place to learn to know yourself … in judging your progress as individuals we tend to concentrate on external factors such as one’s social position, wealth and standard of education … but internal factors may be more crucial in assessing our development as a human being. Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others.”

Madiba wakes early every day, runs on the spot for 45 minutes, does 100 finger tip push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 50 deep knee-bends and some shadow boxing. Attends church services every Sunday regardless of denomination.

Robben Island is often referred to as “the University” by former prisoners. Leaders like Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and Harry Gwala were popular and respected Educators, giving courses on a variety of topics.

August 1964 allowed a visit from Winne for half an hour, communicate through a hole in a partition.

1965 Madiba allowed to continue studies for his law degree through London University, persuades authorities to extend the privilege. Persuades other prisoners to learn Afrikaans to ‘understand the mind of the oppressor’.

1967 Madiba starts to run ‘university courses’ for warders.

1968 Mother allowed to visit. She made the long arduous journey from the Transkei with his sister, Mabel and his children, Makgatho and Makaziwe. He expressed concern to his warders on how thin his mother looked. Shortly afterwards she died of a heart attack.

1969 Son Thembekile killed in car accident. His fellow prisoners remember the intensity of his grief. For weeks Madiba withdrew. “Then came ‘68 and ’69 when the sky suddenly fell on me. I lost both Thembi and Ma and I must confess that the order that had reined my soul almost vanished”. (Letter from prison.) Another visit from Winnie allowed, not allowed to visit for another year.

1969 Winnie arrested under the Terrorism Act, put into solitary confinement with a toilet bucket a plastic bottle of water and a mug. A single light bulb kept on 24/7. Not allowed to wash. After two weeks interrogated with the intention of forcing her to collaborate. Starts to suffer from malnutrition. After six months in solitary confinement charges brought under Suppression of Communism Act.

1970 Charges against Winnie withdrawn, defence team George Bizos and Arthur Chaskalson. Winnie back in solitary confinement, new charges bought under Terrorism Act. Winnie unable to attend – malnutrition. Defended by Sydney Kentridge, charges withdrawn. After 491 days in prison released and served with 5-year banning order. Winnie, “what brutalised me so much was that I knew what it was to hate”.

1973 Following persistent protests, over the years conditions began to improve. In 1973 they were given access to hot water for the first time and in 1975 they were permitted to play tennis and cultivate a garden. Madiba quotes, “to plant a seed, watch it grow, to tend it and then harvest it offered a simple but enduring satisfaction.”

Madiba meticulously duplicated every letter that he wrote. Many of these letters never reached their destination. Madiba quotes from prison, “up to the present moment I do not know where Zeni and Zindzi are and who looks after them. Every one of the letters I have written to them has not reached them.”

1975 Started writing manuscript of his memoirs in secret. 500 pages are discovered, study privileges withdrawn for four years.

1982 Moved to Pollsmoor with Comrades Sisulu, Mhlaba and Mlangeni. For the first time in nearly 20 years Madiba was “cut off from the collective”.

1985 After a prostate operation Madiba moved to the top floor of Pollsmoor and was isolated. Commonwealth Eminent Persons’ Group visits and find him “isolated and lonely”.

1987 Began to meet with Government. Moved to cottage in grounds of Victor Verster Prison with own cook, W O Swart. “I surveyed my new abode and discovered a swimming pool in the backyard and two smaller bedrooms. I walked outside and admired the trees that shaded the house – I was in a halfway house between prison and freedom”.

1988 Madiba turns 70 – Free Mandela concert in Wembley Stadium.

1990 11 February – Madiba released after 27 years imprisonment. Two days later, he addresses 120,000 people at Soweto’s FNB Stadium. On 22nd June Madiba addresses the United Nations General Assembly where he thanked all those who had fought for his release.

1994 Madiba is inaugurated as President of the Republic of South Africa:

“Never, never, never shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world, let freedom reign. The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement. God Bless Africa.”

Madiba, among other things, has received honorary degrees from more than 50 international universities worldwide. He also had a nuclear particle (the 'Mandela particle'), a prehistoric woodpecker (Australopicus Nelsonmandelai) and an orchid (Paravanda Nelson Mandela) named after him.