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Biographies

Nelson Mandela Born in 1918, Nelson Mandela was to become one of the most famous political prisoners and respected leaders in world history. In 1963 and 1964, Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in the famous Rivonia Trial. He spent 18 years on Robben Island as prisoner 488/64 before being transferred to Pollsmoor and later Victor Verster prison. He was finally released on the 11th February, 1990, and was elected president of South Africa in the first democratic elections in 1994. Robert Sobukwe The founding president of the Pan Africanist Congress, Robert Sobukwe was an outspoken opponent of Apartheid. At the time of the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, he protested against the pass laws. As a result, he was tried and sentenced to three years on Robben Island. Under the special "Sobukwe Clause" he was kept imprisoned without trial for many years, and remained under house arrest until his death in 1978. James Gregory He was a traffic officer, and applied for a job as a censor for the maximum security prison on Robben Island in 1965. Initially he believed the prisoners were all terrorists, who planned one day to wipe out the white population of South Africa. Afrter working under the conditions on Robben Island, he soon realised the prisoners were merely searching for freedom. Some say he began to support their beliefs in the struggle against Apartheid. In 1975 he asked to be transferred off the island. Under the unusual circumstances he formed an unusual friendship with Nelson Mandela. He was Mandela's personal guard in 1990 at Mandela's release, and was invited to the Presidential inauguration in 1994. Autshumato A leader of the indigenous Khoi-khoi, Autshumato became an interpreter for ships, full of European sailors passing the Cape in the Early 17th century. He also acted as a postman for passing ships, and was extremely helpful to the Europeans in trade with the Khoi-khoi. Franz Jacobs In about 1887, this man was admitted to the Robben Island Leper hospital. He was referred to as a "coloured Afrikaaner". Lepers were treated very badly on the island, they were not allowed to communicate with the ooposite sex, and, as one leper said, "left for dead." Oswald Pirow Pirow was an advocate and a Nationalist Afrikaner. During World War Two, he was an important person in coastal defence. Between 1958 and his death in 1959 he was the Crown prosecutor during the treason trial of many ANC leader s including Nelson Mandela. Pirow was the first to recognise the possibilty of making Robben Island a military base.