February 16, 2020

Azamara Quest Cape Town to Athens Pre stay Day 4

Private Township Tour and Robben Island

We are recognized in the restaurant at breakfast now. It does not seem like many people stay here for an extended time. That is just fine as the food is good and with familiarity, the service gets even better.

At 8:30 Mbyui picked us up. The tour description had said 2-14 people in a minibus. It turned out to be just us in a comfortable sedan. 

Our first stop was at District 6 after passing the District 6 Museum. From 1966 to 1982 the government removed 60,000 blacks and colored from District 6 and relocated them in Cape Flats about 15 miles away. The apartheid government wanted to segregate the various races living there. 

You can imagine the impact that it made because the city center was deserted. You no longer had a population of people who could use the shops, use public transport, etc. The downtown area of the city became a ghost town after 5 o’clock in the evening when people left work.

Besides the violations of peoples’ rights, it was bad for the city and the local economy. The people that moved away from the city found themselves in places with little infrastructure. Very often the homes were not built properly. There were no schools. They were far away from places of work. Before, they could walk to work from their homes to their places of work in the city. Now, they had to commute for two hours, and there were problems walking through the dangerous bush.

Repeated plans for the redevelopment of District 6 have been scrapped for economic reasons or as the result of corruption. We stood overlooking a vast area of rubble.

Mbuyi explained that he would now take us to Langa, a township that originated in the early 1900s. 

Langa was built in phases.  The former structures were shabby, with unpaved roads and no electricity supply.  The township was completed and officially opened in 1927. Langa is located on the Cape Flats, 11 km south-east of the center of Cape Town in the Western Cape Province. 

What we saw today was a broad range of housing from shanties, to poorly constructed 2 room buildings, to hostels like barracks, to typical conservative houses and homes with swimming pools. Mbuyi called the latter Beverly Hills. 

The streets were crowded with kids playing and young people gathering. There were also many people on their way to church. They were dressed in their Sunday finest. 

We visited a craft stall where items made by local youths and young adults we're being sold. We found some things to buy that had been made by kids in a program to teach them and keep them off the streets. The agreed-upon price seemed high, but we felt the money was needed here more than in our pocket. They were very grateful for our support and said so. When we passed them a bit later, we got a big thumbs up. Glad we could help. 

Now we drove by a large shantytown. Access was only by foot on dirt paths. Electricity was available and lines were everywhere. Mbyui said many were illegal hookups. These had no plumbing and sanitation was managed by carrying buckets to central point. Likewise, water had to be carried home from a pickup point. Satellite dishes were mounted on many shanty roofs. These were the poorest of the poor yet someone was earning to pay for entertainment. Mbyui said the country is crazy about sports, so the dishes are necessary. 

Our final stop was at a Baptist Church. This is where all the well dressed folks we're going. In a large room filled with chairs, ushers directed tourists and congregants to seats. On a stage, at the front of this hall, an excellent 9 woman choir was warming us up with hymns. Video screens positioned around the hall displayed the lyrics. We were rocking. 

After 15 minutes a lady preacher took the lead and picked up the tempo even more. She interspersed her message in the lyrics. Mbyui said this would continue for two to three hours.    After 35 minutes he led us out. Several large groups of tourists left at the same time. Ushers were outside to accept our contributions. This represents a significant benefit to the work of the church in the community. 

It was time to go to the Clock Tower on the waterfront. Mbyui gave us tickets for our tour of Robben Island and showed us how to get to the ferry. He also pointed out some good lunch spots. We had an hour for lunch before boarding the ferry. Mbyui showed us where we should meet him at 5:00 when we returned. 

We had an OK pizza and shared a Castle lager before boarding the 1:00 ferry. On the island, we were bussed to the prison. There a former inmate, 1264, would lead us and explain what we were seeing. He started by telling us that he would have the elderly set the pace because it was us who got the youth here. He insisted that Alice and I join the group at the front. Clearly, we look older than we feel. 

1264 showed us the medical facility, the exercise yard, the punishment section, and the single-cell section. We heard that many imprisoned here we're political prisoners sentenced for their anti-apartheid activities. Nelson Mandela was foremost among these. 

1264 made sure that each of us saw Mandela’s cell.  Then he took us to the limestone quarry. That is where the prisoners passed their days at hard labor. 

This was a somber experience that has motivated us to learn more about the horrific history of segregation in South Africa. 

1264 bid us farewell as we boarded the bus to tour the village. The village is where the administration and staff, who ran the prison, lived. Now the Museum staff live here. The housing appears to be well maintained. The school has been closed due to low enrollment. There is no store. Students take the ferry to Cape Town. The ferry is also the means of transportation to do shopping. 

CAPE TOWN FROM ROBBEN ISLAND

We boarded the 4:30 ferry. At 5:00 we met Mbyui. 5 minutes later at our hotel, we thanked him and went to our room. 

After cleaning up, we went down to have our first dinner in the hotel restaurant. Alice ordered a bunless cheeseburger. I ordered beef curry, a Malay dish. 

The burger turned out to be 2 patties stacked on top of lettuce with tomato and bacon in between and the cheese on top. This came with coleslaw and fries Alice loved it. 

My beef curry was shredded beef in a medium-hot curry with a side dish of yellow rice. The portion was ample and delicious. 

We went out for a walk after dinner and returned to our room at 7:15. Another very good day.