From political prisoner to prisons director

When Timothy Nxumalo was a political prisoner at Robben Island, he could hardly have imagined that he would one day be in charge of some of the warders who guarded him.

Durban - When Timothy Nxumalo was a political prisoner at Robben Island, he could hardly have imagined that he would one day become a director in the Correctional Services Department.

Or that he would eventually end up in charge of some of the warders who used to guard him at Robben Island.

Nxumalo, who hails from Chesterville outside Durban, has now written a book, Still We Rise about his political prisoner days, which will be launched in Durban on June 23.

The Cape Town-based Nxumalo, director of the Robben Island project, a community outreach programme, was one of the speakers at an Indaba tourism session at the Durban ICC this week.

He only had one advance copy of his book with him, and it was quickly snapped up by Trish Hanekom, the wife of Derek Hanekom, the Minister of Tourism.

Both Hanekoms were also political prisoners during the apartheid era, and were incarcerated in Pretoria.

Nxumalo told how he was released from prison in 1991 after 13 years instead of the 22 he had been sentenced to following an agreement between Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk.

He had been a smuggler, getting newspapers into the island, he told his Indaba audience.

Ironically, he had been part of the generation that had fought against studying Afrikaans, but ended up having to read it because he could not get his hands on English-language newspapers.

He recalled later that he had been imprisoned for a long list of charges, ranging from sabotage to conspiracy and treason.

Someone he had trained had blown up a building, he said.

The authorities caught up with him while he was sleeping in Umlazi.

“Yes, I am in charge of wardens who once guarded me. I have one of them in my office,” he said.

Daily News