The Robben Island Museum Council has declared 2023 as the Year of Robert Sobukwe. The initiative was launched on the island at the house in which Sobukwe was in isolation for several years.
The council says the year will commemorate Sobukwe’s memory and legacy.
Sobukwe was banished to Robben Island 60 years ago, on May 3, as a political prisoner of a special type.
The council’s chairperson Saths Cooper says, “We don’t want Robben Island to remain just an island on its own, because the history is immense and so we will link up with other entities including the families, the foundation including the trust and other sites of remembrance of Sobukwe.”
Now, 60 years after his banishment to the island, and 45 years since his death, the Robben Island Museum Council dedicated a year to him.
Cooper explains, “We don’t want Robben island to remain just an island on its own because the history is immense and so we will link up with other entities including the families, the foundation including the trust and other sites of remembrance of Sobukwe.”
Among those attending the launch were family members. Nomfundo Sobukhwe is his granddaughter.
“I am astonished and thrilled by his remarkable resilience and determination and he had foresight, like a prophet, he knew that we are meant for better things than struggling, suffering, and succumbing. How relevant his words and teachings are.”
PAC president, Mzwanele Nyhontso says Sobukwe’s ideologies and beliefs are important to uphold.
“Everything Sobukwe stood for and his PAC is still relevant as it was in 1959. as uncle Joe Thlole said here that if we can imagine this country with Sobukwe’s teaching we would be far by now. if sobukwe’s teachings of Africanism were implemented in 1994 today we would be talking a different story. if sobukwe’s teaching of non-racialism were implemented in 1994 today we would not be having two separate people in one country, white and black we would be having human beings as Sobukwe would teach, so that’s what Sobukwe stood for and that’s what this country was supposed to be.”
As part of the programme, efforts will be made to attract especially young people to visit the island.
