afro-zwanaka presents
Remembering Sobukwe - Sobukwe day
25 February 2012
18H00pm African Time
The following is an extract from the truth and reconciliation on Mangiso Sobukwe, it is believed that while in prison he wrote extensively and those manuscripts are still to surface. For this day we will read one of his speeches he made in his graduation year at the Fort Hare University and will have a brief intro on the book "How can a man die better" which is about his life, we might flight his documentary if all goes well...
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
SUBMISSIONS - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
DATE: 12 MAY 1997
NAME: ZONDENI VERONICA SOBUKWE
CASE: EC0155/97ALB - KING WILLIAM'S TOWN
DAY: 1
ADV SANDI: I am fine thanks. How are you? You have made a request, Mrs Sobukwe, to appear before the Commission today to tell us about Mr Sobukwe. We all know him. Some of us read about himself in books, but today we find opportunity to talk to his wife, Mrs Sobukwe. Let us start this way, Mrs Sobukwe, can you please tell us briefly about Mr Sobukwe.
MRS SOBUKWE: In 1963 on the 30th of May, my husband was to be released on the 30th of May, but he was not released. The Government refused. He was one of the people who built up an organisation. They then decided that they will pass a Sobukwe Clause so that they can keep him. It was on the third of March. On that day I was knitting the jerseys for the children. He also said that I must cook him dinner, because he was coming back home. When I went to visit him I was told that he was transferred to Robben Island under the Sobukwe Clause. I took my younger sister together with her husband and Mr Langa to Cape Town, because we wanted to visit him. My younger sister together with Fabian Ribeirro and Mr Langa from Orlando East, we went to Cape Town, asked permission to visit him. We found him there, he was arrested under the Sobukwe Clause.
ADV SANDI: Before he was sent to Robben Island where was he detained?
MRS SOBUKWE: He resided in number four where he was awaiting trial. He was then transferred to Stoneyard in Benoni. He was then taken to Stofberg, from there to Witbank, from Witbank to central jail. It was where he spent three years. After that he was then transferred to Robben Island. We visited him and then we came back. In November I made an application to visit him together with my children who were in the boarding school in Lesotho. My twins were four years old at the time. We went to visit him. His condition changed at the time. He was not well. When I cam back home I wrote a letter to, Verwoerd was the Prime Minister. I was then directed to Minister of Justice to write a letter to him. I wrote a letter that he should be released so that he can get medical attention at home, but they refused. We also wanted an independent doctor.
In 1964 a district surgeon and neurologist and a physician were sent there to examine him. They said that he was suffering from chronic sinus inflammation. He was treated. I then said to Mr Benjamin we must write a letter to a lawyer so that he can get a specialist. They said that they were treating him, they are not going to allow an independent specialist, because they were giving him pain killing tablets and massages, but in 1964, that was in 1964. In 1965 they refused. He arrived in Robben Island in 1963. He was born in 1924 in December, but in 1964 he was suffering from chronic sinus inflammation. The Parliament would discuss whether he was to be released or not, but they would refuse.
In February 1966 they transferred him to Karl Bremer. They did not tell me. I heard about this when he came back from Karl Bremer. He stayed there. He was admitted under a false name. They sent him to Karl Bremer under a false name. I do not know anything about that. He then came back, he was taken to Robben Island. They did not consult me about this. When I went to visit him the following year his condition deteriorated. I then wrote another letter. I was writing twice a year asking for his release. I wanted him to be treated. In 1965 or 1966 he complained that his food was served with broken glasses.
ADV SANDI: You mean broken glasses in his food?
MRS SOBUKWE: Yes, in his food. He was alone at that time. You would suspect, you would think why they would keep him alone in the cell. There are things that were done to people in jail at that time and I am sure that they did these things to my husband, because he was alone in the cell.
ADV SANDI: At this time, we are talking about a person who has completed his sentence in prison.
MRS SOBUKWE: Yes, he was not even re-arrested, he had completed his sentence.
ADV SANDI: But the Parliament changed the Law of that time. This suppression of Communism Act.
MRS SOBUKWE: It is both the NP and the opposition party of the day that agreed that he should be, he should remain in jail. It is only Helen Suzman who spoke up for him. Even the opposition party said that he should remain in custody. Nobody wanted him to be released.
ADV SANDI: Mrs Sobukwe, you have made a request in connection with the National Party that was the Government of the day. Would you please repeat that request yourself?
MRS SOBUKWE: All those doctors that examined my husband whilst he was in custody, the Government of the National Party must give me answers. Why was he in solitary confinement?
ADV SANDI: Mr Sobukwe passed away in 1978?
MRS SOBUKWE: In 1969, the last letter I wrote was in 1968, November. They wrote back to me saying that they will not release him, because they got information that he was still quite dangerous. In 1969, May, they released him quickly. I later found out on the 26th of April 1968.
ADV SANDI: Was he released on the fourth of May 1969?
MRS SOBUKWE: Yes. The reason why he was released was because he wrote to me a registered letter and also to an attorney and the Minister of Justice of the day. He asked me to come to Robben Island immediately. He said he wanted to inform me about his health. He said that I must request leave without pay at work. I got that letter a few days before he was released. The Minister of Justice took action, because he realised that something must be happening in jail. They then released him quickly in 1969.
ADV SANDI: Was he then taken to Kimberley?
MRS SOBUKWE: Yes. As they had operated on him, his genitals would swell up all the time. If you would take his Kimberley file, you would realise how thick it is because of the illnesses. He started coughing chronically. I do not know what the cause was. He had cancer of the lungs. We requested that he go see a specialist in Johannesburg. They refused. When he was critical they then allowed him to go and see the specialist. He will take X-rays in Kimberley time and time again. All the doctors had different opinions. Nobody diagnosed the cancer of the lungs in Kimberley. The doctor, the specialist from Johannesburg requested the reports from Kimberley. They then sent the reports from the different doctors to Johannesburg when they realised that he was dying.
CHAIRPERSON: To be married to the man of the stature of Robert Sobukwe must have, and his life, must have affected your life, your health and that of your children. How did your life get affected by the fact that you got married to this man, Robert Sobukwe.
MRS SOBUKWE: When I met my husband he was already in the struggle. He had come to the Victoria Hospital in Lovedale. As nurses we did not even know about the Youth League. We were on a strike, because we would do our jobs properly, but we were not properly treated. We wrote down our complaints, ten of them. One nurse was told to leave and we said we are all leaving. We were not members of the Youth League. They were members of the Youth League. However, the people from Fort Hare would come and help us. We were told to go home for two months, unpaid leave. Sobukwe had been addressing a gathering in Queenstown. This is from the early years when I had just gotten to know him. Nothing came to my surprise or shock, because from the day I met him he was in the struggle and he died in the struggle. Everything was to be expected. I was not too grieved, in the sense that I expected these things.
CHAIRPERSON: When Mr Robert Sobukwe was arrested how was his health? If you could give us a picture so that we can see and compare his health before he was arrested and after he was arrested.
MRS SOBUKWE: He was a teacher at Standerton. We were staying together. He was lecturing also at VISA. There was not one single day where he would not go to lecture. He was fit, never even complained of a headache, but after he left Robben Island his health had deteriorated immensely. Before he would go to work he would exercise. That is how fit he was.
CHAIRPERSON: My second last question, Mrs Sobukwe. You say that Mr Sobukwe was operated on whilst in custody. They operated on him even though you had not given them permission as his wife. Did the police give you the name of the doctor?
MRS SOBUKWE: No, they never even told me that he had been operated on. He just told me in a letter that he had been operated on. I do not even know what they diagnosed.
CHAIRPERSON: The last question, Mrs Sobukwe, from me. Yesterday was the last day for amnesty applications, Saturday, sorry, it was the last day for the application for amnesty. I do not want to miss an opportunity to have somebody of your stature, if the perpetrators have applied for amnesty, what is your view about these applications? I would just like to know. For example, say the doctor that operated on your husband is one of the people that has applied for amnesty, according to your evidence, his life had deteriorated because of this operation.
MRS SOBUKWE: Yes, even the people that were feeding him, giving him food with pieces of glass.
CHAIRPERSON: So if these perpetrators ask for amnesty, do you want, would you like them
to get amnesty?
MRS SOBUKWE: First they must divulge all. I want to know, for example, why the doctor did not report this.
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