Ahmed Kathrada’s Island time

Ahmed Kathrada, a veteran of the struggle, is pictured in this file photograph.

Ahmed Kathrada, a veteran of the struggle, is pictured in this file photograph.

Published Feb 5, 2017

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Struggle veteran Ahmed Kathrada passed away on Tuesday morning at the age of 87. This is an extract from Conversations with a Gentle Soul, by Ahmed Kathrada with Sahm Venter in which Kathrada shared some Robben Island experiences that shaped his life.

The bookshelves in Kathy’s study are crammed with political biographies, histories, poetry and copies of the volumes he has written after his release from prison. Two special books followed him in and out of various prisons for decades.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare and the Oxford Book of English Verse are inscribed in his handwriting with his name, and the name and date of the prison, "Robben Island 1964".

It was a stroke of luck that he had them in his belongings when he landed on Robben Island in June 1964. The Rivonia Trial group had arrived too late in the year to register for university correspondence studies. Those two books filled that intellectual gap for Kathy. He says he never encountered a problem with the authorities when he brought them into any prison.

"They said nothing; they allowed me to have them with me and they stayed with me right through."

How did it help you to have them with you? To let your mind travel elsewhere?

"It helped a great deal; it really helped a great deal. Well, we arrived there in June, winter, and it was six months after the start of the academic year so we could not register for studies. We had among us people like Neville Alexander, who got his doctorate from the University of Tübingen in German Literature, and Leslie van der Heyden, a teacher.

"Because they allowed me to keep my two books I had something to read. That's the first time that I read them both right through - quickly - as much of the Complete Works as I could."

Many pages in Kathy’s Shakespeare books are marked lightly in pencil. In some cases phrases are underlined, such as from King Henry VI, Part I: The hollow passage of my prison'd voice. “By sight of these our baleful enemies. I came to the very intellectual conclusion that Shakespeare was a racist and I marked out passages to prove my point."

"Where did you think he was racist?"

"I can't remember but it was somewhere in Othello. And my biggest mistake was to put it to Neville Alexander and Dennis Brutus and maybe Leslie van der Heyden and they shot me down immediately. So that is the only time that I remember discussing Shakespeare. Of course when I was eventually studying and got into trouble for something or the other, my punishment was that I lost the right to study. And of course they took away everything - my study materials and all my books."

"What did they do with them?"

"You know the passage running down the middle of B Section? The first cell at the top of the passage was generally empty. So there came a time when that Badenhorst was commanding officer. A lot of us lost our studies under him."

"You have said he would fabricate misdemeanours so he could punish you? And one of the punishments was removing your rights to study?"

"Exactly. That cell was used as a storeroom and that is where they put all my stuff. As soon as I got my studies back then I got all my books back."

"So only the prison officials could get into that cell, that storeroom?"

"Jeff Masemola was a genius with his hands. He made carpentry tools. He made just about every carpentry tool there was. He made musical instruments and he made a key."

He sounds like a character in a Hollywood thriller. How did it play out?

"You know there are two types of keys. There is a key that opens one lock. And the most important key is a master key, which opens every cell. That master key is locked up in a safe. In the morning, when the warders come on duty, the senior officer would open the safe and give it to the warder.

"Jeff Masemola’s cell was right opposite the office and one day a careless warder must have left his key on the table while he was walking around.

"So Jeff went and made an imprint of this thing, the master key, on a piece of soap. And he made a key."

How did he make it?

"Well, Mac Maharaj helped him; Laloo Chiba and Mac were very good with their hands. So they could file. I used to just keep watch."

How long did you use it for?

"I can't remember, but one day we buried it in the lime quarry so that the warders wouldn't find it on us and punish us. I have a rough idea where it is."

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