The Republic of South Africa

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The last stop on our journey was Cape Town, South Africa. As most are aware, Cape Town has a very colorful history, full of a lot of racial, ethnic, and religious strife. In fact, many roads have changed names because of the political strife in the past. We were told that one of the reasons that the residents of Cape Town are so kind is because they are trying to overcome their negative past. The information in this section is split up into history of Cape Town (which includes general information about Cape Town), history of Robben Island (including information about the Sharpville Massacre and Nelson Mandela), information about the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, and Information about the Winelands.

HISTORY OF CAPE TOWN

The only indigenous people of the Western Cape (where Cape Town is located) are the Khoe-San (coy-sahn), who are reportedly the oldest people known to mankind. They were nomadic, hunters and gatherers. When the Portuguese (the first Europeans) arrived in South Africa, they did so because they were looking for spices en route East, via water instead of land. They sent two different people to try to find the spices, but those individuals were blown out to sea. They finally made it to Goa, which began the spice route. 150 years later, the Dutch came with the Dutch East India Company. Their biggest motivation was making money (profit for their company). In 1652, they built the Castle of Good Hope, which was finished in 1676. It was a jail and a show room, and is the oldest establishment in Cape Town (sadly, I was not able to get a photo of this). The Dutch arrived and settled, and needed farmers to provide support. Wars broke out between the Dutch and the Khoe-San as the settlers attempted to spread out over the land. Then, Small Pox wiped out 96% of the Khoe-San population. One of the Khoe-San who survived the pandemic was used as a diplomat between the Khoe-San and the Dutch, and then married a Dutch woman and had three children. Upon his death, his wife, Eva, was banned to Robben Island and was known as the first alcoholic.

The slave trade happened in the Cape because the Dutch needed people to help them develop the area. The slaves were brought to Cape Town from the East (Indonesia, Malaysia), which is how Islam came to the area. Slavery was illegal in the Netherlands, but the Dutch East India Company made it legal in South Africa, and made huge profits selling slaves. In the early 1800s, one-third of Cape Town inhabitants were Muslim. It became a place where “Muslims who created problems” were sent, including political prisoners, and there were many who were tricked into slavery. Slavery was abolished in 1806 when the British settled the land, and the last slaves were freed in 1856 after they finished the project on which they were working. Slaves had no rights, and Christianity was the only accepted religion. They were not allowed to wear shoes or hats – only sacks. They were stripped of their identity, and accepted the month in which they arrived or the place from whence they came as their surname.

Bo Kaap (“boo-ah cahp”; “boo-cap”) means “above the cape,” and is a neighborhood area that overlooks the city. Freed slaves settled there. While enslaved, they had been restricted to wearing drab colors. Once they were freed, they became more colorful in dress and housing, and painted their houses bright colors once the houses were paid off as a way to reflect that freedom. We were told that Muslims, Jews, and Christians now live together harmoniously in South Africa.

The British invaded Cape Town in 1796. They gave it back to the Dutch, and then came back to take it again in a battle that lasted 10 days and had 100 casualties. Farmers felt they needed slave hands, so, they packed wagons and went north and created their own two republics. The area became British. Then, diamonds were found in one of those republics, and this led to the first Anglo-Boor War (Boor = Afrikaaner), which lasted one year. The Brits were beaten pretty badly due to “sniper warfare” by the Boors. The next war occurred after gold was found close to Johannesburg. The British wanted those areas as well, and the next war (now referred to as the Great South African War) ensued and lasted 3 years. The British won the war, and put the women and children in concentration camps. Thousands of women and children died in those camps.

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One of the fighters for the British started the African National Congress, which was famously led by Oliver Tambo, after whom the Johannesburg airport is named. To that end, there is an election in May 2019, and one of the items being discussed is a debate over who owns which land. The Khoe-San proclaim, “it all belongs to us.”  In 1910, the area now known as South Africa was called the Union of South Africa. In 1960, it became independent from Britain, and in 1994, it became a Democracy.

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South Africa has a population of 51 million people, 50% of whom live in urban areas, with Johannesburg and Pretoria being the most urban. The country is still classified by race, with the primary categories being black, white, colored (which is a reflection of being mixed race, and is not considered to be derogatory), and Indian. Three million are white, and 77.76% of the remaining are colored and Indian. Christianity is the largest religion. South Africa has three capitals: the Judicial capital is Pretoria, the Legislative capital is Cape Town (where Parliament meets), and the Administrative capital is Johannesburg (where all of the bureaucrats work). Cape Town is in an area referred to as the Western Cape, which has a Mediterranean climate. However, the wind current around the peninsula and mountains results in quick weather changes, making “never underestimate the weather” the number one rule of weather in Cape Town.

Cape Town is considered to be a “melting pot,” as reflected in their languages, including a language (Afrikaans) that was created from a combination of Malay, English, and Arabic. There are 11 official languages in South Africa, and the Khoe-San want their language to be accepted as the 12^th language, especially because the country’s motto is written in Khoe-San. The First Language of Cape Town is English, and then either a local language (e.g., Xhosa) or Afrikaans is spoken. If students don’t pass English or Afrikaans, they don’t pass school.

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Fun Fact: The concept “Women and children first” was reportedly coined in South Africa, when a ship wrecked in the 1850s and the captain told the crew to let the women and children off first. This became a standard in other parts of the world.

Bartholomew Diaz (from Portugal) was the first European to come to the cape of South Africa. He was the one who named it the Cape of Good Hope, though never set foot on that soil. Today, the Portuguese influence is only experienced in the cuisine.

Fun Fact: South African, Dr. Christiaan Barnard, performed the first successful heart transplant, and did so in South Africa. The patient lived 18 days and then died of pneumonia. The second transplant patient lived to be in their 80s. There is a heart museum in Cape Town.

Cape Town is surrounded by Table Mountain National Park, which is 27,000 hectares (104sqmi) in size. It was proclaimed a national park in 1998 (Kruger National Park is the oldest national park in SA, at just under 100 years old).

Fun Fact: There are 400 KFC’s in Cape Town.

Sobering Fact: There are quite a few people who beg in the city, and it is illegal to give them money because they will take the money and buy drugs, as they can get a lethal amount for 14 Rand, which is less than 1 USD. I was struck by the brazenness of the homeless people who would come up to cars and sometimes swarm them in an effort to get money from the occupants in the car. Some of them will stand in the street and “sell stickers.” Others follow you as you walk down the street. We were told to go into a shop when that happens. We had it happen once and we just kept walking and ignored the person and she eventually left us alone.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE AND CAPE POINT

The Cape of Good Hope is where the two major ocean currents meet (the cold Benguela current along the West Coast, and the warm Agulhas current on the East Coast). It is not where the two oceans meet, which is what some people think happens here. That happens at Cape Agulhas National Park, which is 3 hours south of Cape Town, at the southern tip of Africa. Because of the markedly different sea temperatures, the marine life east and west of Cape Point differs. Cape Point is the windiest place in South Africa. The wind blows most of the days of the year, from calm to gale force.

The Cape of Good Hope was called so by Bartholomew Diaz because he was thankful to have made it home safely after experiencing the winds at that part of the cape. Many ships sink when there are “nor’wester” winds. The Cape of Good Hope was a nature reserve and had game animals. There are still some animals in the area (zebra; bontebuk [which means “colorful antelope,” and they are unique to the Cape Floral Kingdom]; Eland [which are the biggest antelopes in Africa, as they can get up to 650-850kg {1433-1874lbs.}]). The area surrounding the Cape of Good Hope is 7500 hectares (29sqmi), and makes up about 1/3 of the national park. The vegetation in the area has adapted to the wind, so, it is low to the ground (i.e., there are no trees). It is said that in Cape Town, you can experience 4 seasons in one day. In fact, the winds become dangerous to the point that they will close Table Mountain and cancel ferries to Robben Island if they are too strong.

HISTORY OF ROBBEN ISLAND

Information about Robben Island (RI) was gathered from tour guides, including one who was a former political prisoner imprisoned at RI.

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Robben Island is an island in the Atlantic Ocean that is 30-35 minutes away by ferry from the V&A (Victoria and Albert) Waterfont in Cape Town. It has always been a prison and a place of isolation (for 450 years), dating back to the 1500s. The first prisoners arrived in 1657; the first political prisoners arrived in 1956, and joined the 100 prisoners who were there for other crimes; the last prisoner to leave the prison was in 1996. It was called Robben Island because the word “rob” in Dutch means “seal,” and they saw a lot of seals on the island when it was discovered. There are also penguins, snakes, tortoises, springbok, and 137 different types of bird species on the island. Animals were originally brought to the island for hunting purposes, but there is no longer any hunting allowed. There are 200 staff that live on the island, including former political prisoners and former guards, now living on the island together as neighbors.

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The island is owned by the South African government, with the exception of the church, which is owned by the African Anglican Church, built in 1895. It was a Naval Base in WWII, and there are still remnants (e.g., guns) from that time period. The Medium Security Prison was for murderers, while the Maximum Security Prison was for Political Prisoners…Strange, I know…They had black wardens for 2 years, but they were not allowed to live where the white wardens lived. Currently on the island, there are no doctors or hospital, but they do have an ambulance and we were told that they would drive a person around in the ambulance until they were healthy or dead. Lol!

A second prison was built after WWII (1963-69, but operated as of 1963; this was when they separated the political from the criminal prisoners), and then another in the 1970s (Medium Security). In 1996, those prisoners were transferred to complete their sentences in other places. Most of the political prisoners had been tried in courts in South Africa and Namibia, and were charged with politically motivated crimes of treason, agitation, terrorism, aiding and abetting, etc. After all of this, many political parties were outlawed, all of which had political prisoners at RI. The prisoners were brought over on three ferries, shackled and handcuffed in the bottom of the ferry. When they arrived at RI, they lost their identity. They had their finger prints taken, got a medical evaluation, and were placed in prison.

Prisoners were allowed one visitor and one letter (which had to be written in English or Afrikaans only) every six months. It was quite a process to get visitors, as they would have to apply 6 months in advance for a 30-minute visit. During their visit, they were only allowed to speak English or Afrikaans. There have been four escapes in the history of Robben Island: The first escape was in 1659 by a Khoe-San, who built his own raft; in 1809, a prisoner escaped, was re-captured in 1819 and brought back, and then a year later, stole a rowing boat with 30 ppl and escaped again. The boats capsized and 4 survived, 3 of whom were decapitated, and one of whom was returned to Australia. We were not told details about the other 2 prisoners who escaped.

There was no chance of parole, but prisoners could receive privileges for good behavior. There were four sections of the prison: A, B, C, and D. The most influential individuals (including Nelson Mandela) were kept in Section B; Section C was isolation; Section D was for Namibian prisoners, but there were also prisoners from Swaziland and Mozambique in that section. And then there was the Commonwealth section, which was for anyone. Prisoners were split up into various categories of non-whites, including Buntu (ethnic Africans, at one time known as the natives), Asian (mostly Indian), and Colored. Asians were given clothes from head to toe, and the food was different for each group, all of which promoted inequality. Prisoners did not argue about being imprisoned, but did not get along within debates on politics. The youngest prisoner was 15yo when imprisoned and left at age 27. Prisoners were given 4 hours of exercise time on Saturdays. They were also expected to maintain the prison grounds from Monday to Friday, and were locked inside on Sundays. They had access to priests, but only Christians, and were given bibles, all of which were in Afrikaans.

The prison had a capacity to hold 1250 prisoners, but never had more than 800. They had two mats and 4 blankets per prisoner until 1978; in 1975, they inserted windows (before that, they just had bars on the windows). They used rain water for laundry, and drinking water was brought in once a week to share with the prisoners and the village. There were three meals served daily, the lights were always on (24 hours, a single, dim bulb), and music was played at all times. They had an intercom to communicate with the control office if there was a problem. 589 people died, and when a prisoner died, the family was not informed, as the prisoners were considered to be state property, and were buried as paupers, with nobody knowing this until after the fact. The government has already begun exhuming and returning remains to families.

From 1846-1931, Robben Island was used as a leprosy colony, as back then, they thought that leprosy was contagious, and that if they died on RI, it would wipe out leprosy. People from Ireland were brought in to care for the individuals on the island. 1500 people died from the disease. In 1920, they burned down all of the buildings due to the fear that leprosy was contagious, with the exception of the church, which still stands. 41 children were born on the island and were taken from their mothers and given to people in Cape Town to be adopted. Leprosy is now called Hansen’s disease, named after a doctor in Norway, who discovered that it was caused by bacteria.

SHARPVILLE MASSACRE – March 21, 1960

Robert Sobukwe played an important part in freedom within South Africa. He let people know what was going on in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s with regard to race relations, and inspired the blacks to take on the government, and encouraged other countries to enforce sanctions on South Africa. In 1960, the Nationalist Party (which had been established in 1948) had started to segregate. They used a “pencil test” to determine if a person was black or not, which consisted of them putting a pencil on the person’s ear and if it fell out, the person was black and if it did not, they were not. In addition, blacks had to carry a “stupid book” 24 hours a day, which specified for them where they could go, when they could go, and how long they could be there. They had to keep up with it, and would go to jail for 3-6 months without trial if they were asked for it and did not have it with them. Sobukwe told people to leave their books at home and go to the police station and ask to be arrested because they would not carry the books anymore. Many people showed up at the police stations and were peaceful, as were the officers, initially; however, because the officers did not know what to do, they (officers) became violent and killed 69 people in Sharpville, alone. Sobukwe was arrested for inciting a riot, and was put in prison for three years, then re-arrested immediately after his release and put in the smallest prison on RI grounds, and had 6 guards. He was not allowed to talk to anyone and went senile. His 4 children were able to see him for 2 weeks, total, for 30 minutes a day. In 1969, he became very ill and had to be taken to Cape Town and then to Kimberly, where he was not allowed to talk to more than 3 people at a time. He did not become free until he died. His children were subsequently adopted by Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta (in the USA).

NELSON MANDELA

In 1962, Nelson Mandela was charged with inciting people to strike, and leaving the country without proper documents. He received 5 years in prison for each count, as subsequent sentences. He was also charged with and convicted on charges of sabotage, and was sentenced to life in prison. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in 1964. He was the 466^th prisoner imprisoned at Robben Island, and was there for 18 of the 27 years he was incarcerated (he was in Cape Town and one other prison before being taken to RI). He reportedly went to prison angry, and came out full of forgiveness and non-violence, facing a South Africa that was on the brink of civil war. He wrote diaries in prison and hid them in the prison yard. His diaries were smuggled out by a guard named Maharaj, and eventually became part of his autobiography.

The 32 leaders in the prison (which included Mandela) were to work in a limestone quarry. They had been kept separate from each other within the prison walls so that they would not influence others. So, the only chance they had to talk with each other was when they were in the quarry, which they preferred to being in their solitary cells where they could not talk to anyone. While working in the quarry (which they were forced to do for 13 years after the initial project ended as continued punishment), they were exposed to lime, which absorbs heat and created blindness and other eye problems, as well as lung problems, and some of the prisoners succumbed to lung disease. That did not keep them from going to work, as there were many discussions and debates that resulted in about 60% of the current constitution.

When de Klerk took over in government, he agreed to expunge all records of the political prisoners and those exiled in order for Mandela to agree to be released. Mandela celebrated his freedom at the top of Table Mountain because that was a symbol of hope while imprisoned. After his release, he wanted to build a house in the Eastern Cape and asked prison authorities for a blueprint of the prison house, as he wanted to model his house after it…and he did.

Mandela returned to Robben Island in 1995 as the first black president of South Africa. He brought with him some of his fellow former prisoners, and they each had a stone. Mandela placed the first stone, and his compatriots placed theirs around his. The different colors represent the different cultures. The spirit behind the discourse at the quarry reflected “each one teach one,” and they wanted the island to reflect a place of learning. The island closed in 1991 as a political prison, and Mandela left with 2 degrees. At the time, the youngest prisoner was 16 and ended up being the second highest member of the court. They all taught each other, and used hunger strikes to promote being able to educate each other. They called the quarry “The University of Life.”

WINELANDS

In the mid-1400s, when the Portuguese were trying to find the route East for spices, they went around the Cape of Good Hope. The Dutch East India company started from that, and the gentleman they sent came back and went to the Cape for 18 days, during which and thought it would be a good idea to start a “refreshment station.” That was when the first vine was planted in Cape Town gardens. They made 15,000 liters of wine, but it was not good quality, so, they passed it on to the slaves. In 1659, another gentleman, Simon (who knew about wine making) arrived and successfully made wine.

The Winelands area was cultivated in 1600 with the help of the French. Simon found a river, called it the first river, and started cultivating from there to Franschhoek. Simon also attempted to plant acres of oak trees so that they could make their own barrels and not have to import them. However, he did not account for the hot weather, and the trees grew too fast and became too porous. Therefore, when they tried to use the barrels, the alcohol “disappeared,” and they had grape juice. As a result, they still have to import wine barrels from France (70%) and the USA (30%). Where the barrels come from impacts the flavor of the wine (e.g., spicy from certain areas). The barrels are used 4-6 times, and then they are used for brandy. Pinotage was a type of wine that was created in South Africa. It is a mix of the Pinot grape and the Hermitage (French), and was created by a professor at the University of Stellenbosch in 1925.

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Stellenbosch is the second oldest town in South Africa after Cape Town, and has reflections of British and Dutch influence in the architecture. They have 150 wine farms, and there are 41 farms in Franschhoek (“French corner”), which was given to the French in 1689 for their role in starting the wine industry in South Africa. The oldest wine estate in Cape Town is Constantia. The 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th oldest wine estates are in Stellenbosch. We visited Muratie, which was established in 1685, and became a vineyard in 1699, making it the third oldest in Cape Town. They are the pioneers of Pinot Noir wine. We also visited three other farms, all of which had good wines!

Properties are called farms, estates, and vineyards. We were told that an “estate” has grapes on the farm that are used for production, while a vineyard buys wines and/or grapes from other farms. When there is a bad growing year, farmers will grow other fruits or products, such as olive oil. Grapes are harvested from mid-January to the end of March. Once they put them into barrels, they stay for 5-20 days for the green grapes, and up to 3 months for the red grapes after they are crushed and then put in tanks with red skins.

Fun Fact: Backsberg were the first people to do kosher wines in South Africa.

So, there you have it. 14 days, 7 countries, 3000+ photos, and ZERO mosquito bites! (Thank you Permethrin!) To see more photos (don’t worry, there are only 400 photos posted to Shutterfly…) and corresponding descriptions, please go to the “More Photos” link and click on the link for the Southern Africa photos.

Hope you enjoyed the journey! Until next time, take care and be well…