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Today, it’s a major tourist attraction. Visitors pass through the Nelson Mandela Gateway on the Cape Town harbour front and are taken by launch to the island, where they given tours and lectures by former prisoners who were also held there for their political activities or involvement in the armed struggle. Visitors can see the little cell where Mandela was held, at first with only a straw mat to sleep on, and can visit the limestone quarry where he spent 13 years hacking away at the rock, along with other political prisoners. On a sunny day, the glare from the white rock is blinding, but Mandela was refused the use of dark glasses. His eyesight never fully recovered.
Though Mandela may have been a prisoner on Robben Island, he always insisted on acting as a leader. He complained to visitors about prison conditions and never let himself be bullied by the guards. Instead he took an interest in their lives and problems. He even started reading works by Afrikaner writers (as well as other favourites like Winston Churchill) so that he could understand their way of thinking. Most important of all, he became the prisoners’ leader and spokesman, the prison became a political workshop of sorts as Mandela, Walter Sisulu and the other prisoners debated strategy and discussed the news from the outside world.
Over on the mainland the fight against apartheid continued. Despite the ANC having lost its leaders militant new activists like Steve Biko helped to influence a new generation of angry black school children, and when pupils in the township of Soweto went on strike against Afrikaans language teaching in 1976, 10,000 young blacks marched in their support. Police fired on them, killing a 13 year-old boy.
In 1982, as the upheavals in the townships continued, Mandela was moved to Pollsmoor prison on the mainland. The authorities wanted to defuse the situation, and they offered Mandela his freedom on the condition that he unconditionally gave up violence. He refused, but then began the negotiations with the apartheid authorities that would eventually lead to his own release.
The government had been shaken by the ANC’s continuing armed struggle, the increasing condemnation of its policies from the outside world, and pressures that included sanctions campaigns, and an international campaign to free Mandela. In 1988 he was moved yet again, this time to Victor Verster, where he was still under guard but had a garden, a swimming pool and even a cook to make him fish cakes for breakfast. It was here that he conducted the final negotiations that led to his release.
The story continues...
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