Cape Town - The mantra of peace ambassadors is that peace starts within you, and in order to establish peace in your community, you need to better understand the mistakes of the past.
This is why 10 young Peace Ambassadors from local schools on the Cape Flats visited Robben Island on Heritage Day.
The Grade 11 and 12 pupils from Mount View High, Groenvlei High and Crystal High schools visited the island for the first time, and were given insight into the experience prisoners went through by Itumeleng Makwela, who was a prisoner on the island in 1983.
“When they arrested me, police spies knew all about me about what we talked about in meetings. They tortured me in Zeerust. They put me, naked, on an electric chair. I told them everything. Later they charged me with high treason and sabotage.
“I was sentenced and placed in (block) E, F, G, and I worked in the kitchen. That’s how I was brought here,” said Makwela.
He told of how prisoners were crammed into small cells and made to sleep on mats without any bedding.
The food they were given contained no meat and vegetables until the 1980s.
The young ambassadors listened in awe and asked Makwela about his thoughts on the political climate in South African today.
“I am very disappointed by my party. People go into government not to serve others, but to pocket for themselves. This is not what I fought for, we’re still not free.”
Groenvlei pupils Kate-lynn Fourie and Labeeqah Stemmet said the experienced was enlightening because although they took history as a subject at school, talking to Makwela about his experience made the history more engaging.
Mumtaaz Galant from Mount View High School said the experience was an eye opener and allowed her to envision what it may have felt like to be imprisoned back then.