Marking the 20th year since it was established, Robben Island Museum invited former political prisoners and university student representative council members to a seminar to coincide with Africa Day.
Museum council member and former political prisoner Pandelani Nefolovhodwe said the event was held to reflect and discuss the heritage of the museum and how it has relevance today.
“We were of an era of Steve Biko and others that came with its own way of looking at the world, and those voices are still relevant today.
“This call for the decolonisation of education was also the call of Robert Sobukwe, but at that time people were not listening.”
He said it was the mission of the younger generations to take the lessons and batons from the freedom fighters of the past and realise those ideals.
The delegation was given a tour of the museum’s Jetty 1 exhibition where tour guide and former political prisoner Vuyisile Dida showed where prisoner, warder and visitor alike travelled to and from Robben Island during apartheid.
Dida said that in 1994, then-president Nelson Mandela had called former prisoners back to the island to speak about its heritage.
“The government of PW Botha wanted to blot the history of this prison during the ‘80s and ‘90s when they allowed criminal offenders to be housed there.
“Nelson Mandela told us that this place’s torture legacy must be transformed into a legacy of heritage and of education for the youth.”
He said the principles enshrined in the constitution and laws were born from the suffering endured during their incarceration.
Nathalie Cupido, of the CPUT SRC, said she was moved by the experience and the images at the museum and stories told by the former
prisoners.
Stellenbosch University SRC representative Lynshay Julies said it was sad to think that many of those who suffered with the more prominent leaders had just become a list of names.
African Programme
Heritage in Museum and Heritage Studies officer Luvuyo Nduno said the museum still had relevance, but access needed to be addressed, as ordinary South Africans could not afford to visit the National Heritage Site.