The history of the South African liberation struggle,
particularly concerning the political prisoners of Robben Island has not been adequately taught.
Furthermore, and most importantly, Robben Island has not been utilized to its fullest potential as a world class tourist destination and international heritage site. There are insufficient efforts to preserve the rich and touching history of Robben Island from its very conception.
Objective
We strongly wish to solve the problem stated above by producing rich creative content via the platforms we currently have access to. The content would aim to honour the history of the liberation struggle from within the walls of Robben Island and preserve the all the other historic events that have happened there. In due time, we also aim to begin researching policies and actions that can be used to make sure the country reflects the values that were fought for by all our political leaders and activists.
Among the elements we saw as fit for a script about Robben Island was the prison numbers that were used to identity the prisoners. People who were activists and fought for freedom were reduced to prison numbers. The fact that the Prison was an underground secret University that focused on political education amongst the prisoners is a story that must be told and depicted. The prisoners were tasked to build their own prison, and metaphorically, bare and carry their own crosses. They did as much as teach each other how to write and understand concepts in different languages.
There was a whole intelligence force, hence the emphasis and need for a new Think Tank that can create ideas and policies to benefit the Citizens of South Africa and support its development. We learned about the many comrades whose views on governance are still valuable today.
In between the Tour, Dr Chiwayo would make reflections and direction in account of the future leadership of this country. Mr Masemola shared his memories both good and bad. We were taught about a beautiful socialist system that was lived out by the prisoners called kolkhoz wherein sharing which deeply encouraged. Those same values can and should be brought alive via transformation and progressive policies today, given the dedication and willingness. Ideas were constantly being generated about possible future developments to the Island as we were on the tour. A beautiful symbol that stood out was A cactus plant, a true representation of the resilience and determination demonstrated by all those who were imprisoned for daring to defend the greater good.
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