On the eve of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, I and a couple from my hometown Kimberley visited the iconic museum of political prisoners in Azania - Robben Island. What I am about to share with you readers is both mind boggling and shocking to say the very least.
Before I drop the bombshell, allow me to share this positive observation. The bus tour at Robben Island was a memorable event. The tour guide was a pleasure to listen to. He had the history of the island on his finger tips. Like a seasoned storyteller, he told the story of Robben Island in an entertaining manner. He had us eating from the palm of his hand - in my many times of visiting the iconic island, this was the firist time the bus stopped for much longer at Sobukwe house.
The tour guide gave us a moving, but factual account of the incarceration of Prof Smangaliso Robert Sobukwe. He talked with passion about all periods in world history and showed how international history events impacted the Azanian/South African context during and after apartheid. One felt that you are getting your money's worth.
What was striking about this leg of the tour was the balanced political history we received from the tour guide. As an academic and political activist myself, I was overjoyed because I experienced a tour guide who not only had a great sense of humor, but also courage to dispel the myth peddled by the ruling ANC - that only prisoners from its ranks swelled the prison cells of Robben Island. Keeping within the tradition of tours of this iconic museum, we came to know that our narrator/tour guide was a member of the Pan Africanist Conigress of Azania (PAC).
Without exception all tourists on our bus could identify with one part or the other of the history of this iconic museum. Thanks to our tour guide, a certain Mr Mohammed of the PAC, an ex-Robben Island prisoner, a researcher and excellent narrator. Needless to mention, our bus tour on Robben Island ended on a high note.
However the same cannot be said of the tour of the prison cells.
We were taken to F and B sections of the prison. This time around we had another tour guide, also an ex-Robben Island prisoner, a certain Mr Nhlabati a trained cadre of Umkhonto We Sizwe, the military wing of the ruling ANC. He took us through how life was inside prison and explained eloquently what the prison number means. He touched on an important issue of identity - the prison number became the new identity of prisoners! Needless to mention this was dehumanising.
For all what it was worth, the prison tour guide then went on the offensive and bombarded us with history centered exclusively around ANC prisoners - Tourists were made to marvel the likes of President Nelson Mandela; Walter Sisulu; Ahmed Kathrada; Minister Tokyo Sexwale, etc. No mention was made of prisoners from other components of the liberation movement, namely, the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM)/AZAPO; PAC; Unity Movement/APDUSA and SWAPO from Namibia etc. In contrast to our experience earlier with Mr Mohammed, Mr Nhlabati provided us with a skewed historical account of prison life in favour of the ruling ANC.
It was as if only ANC cadres were incarcerated on Robben Island. This to me is a confirmation of the ANC's subtle mission to rewrite the history of the liberation struggle in Azania/South Africa. It does so by suffocating heroic stories of other components of the liberation movement. Otherwise how does one explain what happened at Kliptown on 21st March 2012?
Instead of acknowledging the leadership role of the PAC in the marches and protests against the pass laws throughout the country on 21 st March 1960, resulting in massacres of scores of black people in Sharpeville and Langa, President Zuma chose to popularize the Kliptown/Freedom Charter. This is hypocrisy par excellence!
Another example is the bastardisation of June 16 1976 uprisings. The ANC, under the guise of state functions has now renamed this significant event as Youth Day. By the way the June 16 uprisings were inspired, organized and led by Black Consciousness organizations. It is a historical fact that in 1976 both the ANC and PAC were banned and operated in exile.
This is the history the ANC is attempting at all costs to expunge from the annals of Azanian/South African political thought and literature. It is worth noting that during the bus tour Mr Mohammed did mention that as a result of June 16, 1976 uprisings, approximately 1500 prisoners injected new life into Robben Island prison. In many ways than one the uprisings of June 16 1976 were the tipping point in Azanian/South African politics. The armed forces of both the ANC and PAC also became beneficiaries. Since June 16 1976 Azania/South Africa was never the same politically.
The Black Consciousness tradition pioneered by Steve Biko and his comrades gave this country the greatest gift - a human face! BC calls on black people to take their destiny in their own hands - take the cudgels of struggle and be productive citizens of this country. By suffocating the history of BC and other political formations in the liberation struggle, the ANC attempts to deny South Africans and the world the richness and depth of BC.
Back to the prison tour guide - under Mr Nhlabati's guide we went to the prison cell of President Nelson Mandela. Once again we had to endure ANC indoctrination until I could not take it anymore. It is at this point that I asked Mr Nhlabati whether he could take us to A-section where Black Consciousness prisoners were kept. In typical ANC fashion of suffocating stories of other components of the liberation movement, he cited time constraints as an excuse of not taking us to A-section of the prison.
We then proceeded to the dining area of B section, where Mr Nhlabati launched his salvo of entrenching ANC hegemony ON Robben Island. When he finally afforded tourists a chance to ask questions, I used the opportunity to set the record straight. I then informed my fellow tourists of the history of BCM/AZAPO; PAC; Unity Movement/APDUSA on Robben Island. I indicated to him that I am not impressed with his biased approach to narrating the history of prison life on Robben Island.
To his credit though Mr Nhlabati said what made my heart bleed. He indicated to me without shame that he was only carrying out instructions of his employer. You can imagine how I and my Kimberley guests including other black South Africans reacted to this response. The question this response raises is: "How democratic is South Africa when tour guides at national museums are instructed to omit and hide legitimate history of the struggle from tourists?"
Is the ANC perhaps not displaying tendencies of the erstwhile colonial masters? When will this denialism end? When will the ANC heal from illusions of grandeur? How possible is it to obliterate the fact that Pandelani Nefolovhodwe; Mosibudi Mangena; Neville Alexander; Jeff Masemola; Dikgang Moseneke; Toivo ja Toivo; Strini Moodley and Zithulele Cindi among many political prisoners were incarcerated on Robben Island?
The ANC does not even have the decency to at least mention roles played by Mosibudi Mangena (AZAPO ex-President) and Neville Alexander. These patriots were Minister of Science and Technology and Linguist/Researcher respectively. Answers to these questions are not hard to find. A cursory look at how ANC abuses its majority in parliament says it all.
A timely example is the passing of the Protection of Information Bill (Secrecy Bill) by the National Assembly. If this bill sees the light of day, then South Africa is back to being a police state. The content of the current Green Paper on Land and Agrarian Reform is also a point in case. Not to mention the ANC's policy documents under discussion. Sadly, the ANC is blinded by hegemonic tendencies and greed for power.
The Robben Island prison tour experience was a rude reminder of the arrogance of the ruling ANC. Simply put the ANC government does not seem to care about Black people. Suffocating the history of other forces of the liberation movement is not only disingenuous, but criminal!
This can only mean the gyre has widened between the people and the ruling ANC - the centre can no longer, therefore organisations such as AZAPO are obliged to take the cudgels of struggle before anarchy is loosed upon our beloved Azania/South Africa. Letta Mbuli reminds us of this when she sings: "It is not yet UHURU!"
Gaontebale Nodoba is National Spokesperson of AZAPO and lecturer at UCT but writes in his personal capacity.
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