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Date : 07/12/2004
Source: The Presidency
Title: Zuma: Celebration of Ten Years of Freedom


Address by Deputy President, Jacob Zuma, at the celebration of Ten Years of Freedom, Drakenstein Correctional Centre, (Formerly Victor Verster Prison)

Programme Director
Minister of Correctional Services Ngconde Balfour
Cabinet Ministers
Former Political Prisoners and Detainees
Esteemed guests

We have gathered here today, at Drakenstein Correctional Centre, to celebrate the road we have travelled over the last 10 years.

One of the ironies of life in South Africa is that we often return to places that were once centres of our oppression. Our presence here today, at this former Victor Verster Prison, allows us an opportunity to reflect on our country’s rich history of struggle, reconciliation and transformation.

To celebrate 10 years of democracy and freedom at a correctional facility, and one which was once a centre of oppression, is an indication of the changes that have taken place in our country. It also shows the manner in which we have sought to transform our prisons, from places of incarceration to correctional facilities.

This transformation is guided by what we said in the Freedom Charter under the clause “All shall be equal before the Law!” We said that “Imprisonment shall be only for serious crimes against the people, and shall aim at re-education, not vengeance.”

We are today emphasising that notion of prisons that are becoming centres of rehabilitation and re-education.

Our country comes from a brutal history where people who fought for a free South Africa were incarcerated and tortured in prisons. There are many stories told about the brutality of prison warders. Amongst these is the story that Ahmed Kathrada relates in his book:

“On Friday, 28 May 1971, two or three days into the hunger strike, the warders, many of them drunk, raided our cells. All our cells were unlocked, and we were made to strip and stand facing the wall. It was a bitterly cold night, we had not eaten for a few days and the search of our cells seemed to take forever.

Govan Mbeki collapsed, and the warders, suddenly scared that he might have had a heart attack, ordered us to get dressed immediately and moved to the next wing.”

Such humiliation and ill-treatment dated back centuries. Many will remember the remarkable story of the legendary Autshumao, who was the first prisoner resident of Robben Island, and the first to execute a successful escape from Robben Island by rowing a small boat from the Island to the mainland.

During the wars of colonial conquest and wars of resistance other prominent freedom fighters were to be incarcerated on Robben Island. The British government also banished or imprisoned “troublesome leaders” to Robben Island.

These included the prophet Makana (or Nxele, the left handed), Chief Maqoma and Chief Langalibalele to mention just a few who were imprisoned during that period. Later on King Dinuzulu was also imprisoned in St Helena.

While Robben Island was a leper colony between 1842 and 1931, by the beginning of the 1960’s the apartheid regime used the Island again as its isolated dumping ground for political prisoners, those it sought to remove from society and tried to erase from people’s memory.

After the Rivonia Trial, the community of political prisoners grew in Robben Island, with the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, Aaron Motsoaledi, Andrew Mlangeni. Dennis Goldberg was kept in Pretoria prison as the only white member of the Rivonia Trial.

While the conditions were harsh and showed the ruthlessness and cruelty of prison officials, the resilience and courage of political prisoners triumphed over those of their captors.

Robben Island, the university of struggle, became a powerful symbol of hope for the oppressed that one day their leaders will come back to liberate them.

Ladies and gentlemen, Victor Verster emerged as an important jail in our country’s history in the late 1980’s when Former President Nelson Mandela was transferred here. It was also made his last centre before he was released in 1990.

When Former President Mandela was transferred to Victor Verster, he decided to turn a situation that was meant to isolate him, into an opportunity for taking further the struggle for liberation.

The fourteen months that Madiba spent here was a crucial period during which he applied his mind about the possibilities of negotiations.

As he negotiated with representatives of the regime, it became clear that the possibility of the unbanning of the liberation movement was real. He therefore needed to prepare the minds of people of his comrades. He utilised the prison as a consultation point with both other prisoners as well as leaders of the mass democratic movement.

In that way, Victor Verster, a place of oppression and incarceration, was transformed to a place of liberation.

Victor Verster and other prisons such as this throughout the country will permanently remain as monuments to the political struggles of our people. The harshness of apartheid and apartheid jails on our people will always remain intricately linked to our past but also a stark reminder that it is a path that we would never walk again.

In July 1996, Victor Verster was no more. Renamed Drakenstein Correctional Centre, it reflected the changed policy direction of government. A system of suppression and oppression was replaced with one where incarceration entails safe and secure custody in a humane environment. The warders of apartheid became correctional officials of democracy.

Prisons became places of correcting offending behaviour. Rehabilitation gives the opportunity to repay their debt to society with the prospect of being reintegrated into their respective communities after being rehabilitated.

Our call is that individuals and communities must join hands with government as we entrench this correctional system, which will contribute towards breaking the back of crime in our country.

Ladies and gentlemen, as we celebrate our freedom today, we must also spare a moment to remember all our fallen heroes; our martyrs of the struggle for liberation and the sacrifices that were made by so many in order for all South Africans to enjoy the freedom and democracy that we now have.

We are pleased to see many former political prisoners here today, to share in these memories and recommit to the consolidation and defence of this freedom and democracy, which we won through blood, sweat and tears.

We have reason to celebrate, and to contribute to the healing of the wounds left by apartheid, and to proclaim that never again will South Africa experience the past harshness of Victor Verster, Robben Island, Leeukop, Johannesburg Prison, Pollsmoor and many other apartheid prisons throughout our country.

Madiba House on these premises stands as a monument to our freedom. It must become part of the heritage of our people.

It must be a place to which we bring our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and relate to them the stories of our struggles, and of the brutality that apartheid subjected our people to.

Generations to come will, when coming to this centre, be able to see where democracy and freedom went through its final stages of birth. When Madiba changed the prison into a centre of revolution, ordinary men and women and leaders of the liberation movement gathered here to discuss and ponder the critical issues of change and the coming of freedom in our country.

Let us rededicate our lives to ensuring that democracy is never threatened. Let us strengthen our commitment to a prosperous, just and successful South Africa.

What is also remarkable about celebrating freedom here in Cape Town is the reminder that actually all critical moments in our history, both painful and exciting, have taken place in this city and area.

Painful moments include the beginning of colonialism, the fact that the only centre of slavery in our country was in this area, that the first parliament of the Union of South Africa sat here, as well as the presence of Robben Island in which the regime hoped to suppress political dissent.

At the same, the most exhilarating moments took place in Cape Town. We can mention the release of Nelson Mandela from this very prison, which became one of the most inspiring and defining moments of the 20th century.

The negotiations, the sitting of the first democratic parliament and the crafting and adoption of the first democratic constitution also took place in Cape Town.

It therefore appears that we will always need to come to Cape Town to find ourselves and retrace our steps.

Building on these memories, let us promote and build a nation where justice, equality, fairness and human dignity are paramount.

We have what it takes to achieve all our objectives, and build a prosperous and successful nation.

I thank you.

Issued by: The Presidency
7 December 2004

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