Apartheid prison warden recalls Robben Island

A former Robben Island prison warden has described how friendships developed between guards and political prisoners from Namibia and South Africa, who were incarcerated there during the apartheid era. Christo Brand was in Namibia to attend the birthday bash of Namibian struggle hero Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, an ex-inmate under his care on Robben Island, over the weekend. Brand said despite the repercussions and warnings against befriending the inmates, who were jailed under the Terrorist Act for their political activities, wardens developed close ties with them. “The situation was tense… Conditions were very tight; visits were very strict. It was difficult for the guards to start communicating with prisoners,” Brand told Namibian Sun shortly after the party at Windhoek’s Independence Stadium. “The instruction was not to communicate and develop friendships with prisoners. But there were times, especially during educational activities, where we would work together and communicate with prisoners.” He added that guards had to be careful and ensure that the prison authorities did not hear about these friendships. “Some letters sent to the prisoners were kept away from them and I stole them, showed the prisoner whose name is on the letter and then sneaked it back into the office of the prison head.” The prisoners saw an opportunity to take advantage of such friendships and encouraged the younger wardens to advance their education. “They even wrote a letter to my wife telling her that I need to study further. This was because they wanted us to take over the running and management of the prison and things would be easy for them.” Brand narrated how his friendship with Ya Toivo started. “His mother came to visit him and he refused to accept the visit. Andimba was very disciplined. He didn’t want anything from the government.” The head of the prison then decided to hide Ya Toivo’s mother behind the door in his office and sent for Ya Toivo. “I informed him that the head of prison wanted to see him and when he walked into the office facing the head, his mother started talking to him,” Brand said. “He turned, went to her, kneeled before her, held her hand and talked to her. Although he didn’t say much, when I took him back to his cell I could see in his eyes that he was happy.” Brand believes that special moment cemented his relationship with the hot-blooded and stubborn Ya Toivo, who at one point knocked out another warden. “I never knew he could speak Afrikaans; I only found out two years ago when he invited me and started speaking Afrikaans. He kept it a secret at Robben Island in order to listen to what the wardens were discussing about them.” He added that the situation at Robben Island was tense. There were the more militant young prisoners as well as more mature prisoners like Nelson Mandela and Ya Toivo who had spent ten years on the infamous island and were more relaxed. Exposure Brand said he grew up on a farm with black and coloured children and during his primary school years he was not exposed to the apartheid system. “One time when I was disrespectful to an elderly African man, my father gave me a hiding and said I must respect a man for his age, because the colour of his skin will never come off. “I grew up with that integrity within myself, that I must not disrespect elderly people.” However, his interaction with black people changed when he moved to the city for high school. “I saw for the first time ‘whites only’ and ‘blacks only’ signs. I saw the apartheid system. I saw the uprising and people burning down schools. I asked what was wrong with the black people for them to burn down their schools. I didn’t understand apartheid at all.” At the age of 18 and after completing high school, he could choose between being conscripted into the army or becoming a policeman or prison guard. “When I landed on Robben Island, I was instructed that these guys were the biggest criminals in the history of South Africa. I was also informed that we were there to break them down. They were the terrorists who tried to overthrow our government.” Brand said that was when he too started to develop a hatred of black people. “Some of my friends died on the border and I attended their funerals. And then you get these terrorists who killed my friends. I started feeling that hate in myself.” However, after spending six months on the island, he began to understand the struggle of the prisoners in his care. “I started to understand how these old people worked. They slept on the floor, they were friendly, polite. I did not see how these old people could harm me.” Brand left Robben Island in 1982, when he was transferred to the Victor Verster Prison near Cape Town with Mandela before his release in 1990. He currently runs a tuck shop at the Robben Island Museum and at times conducts tours of the facility. Brand occasionally meets some of the former inmates that he used to guard, who affectionately call him “kafferboetie” (kaffir buddy). WINDHOEK ELVIS MURARANGANDA