Council Setting a Unique Experience

The meetings in Cape Town were held at the historic Breakwater Lodge on the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. Whenever the mist cleared the famous Table Mountain was visible overlooking the waterfront. The Breakwater currently serves as a hotel and academic setting, home to the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. But in a former life, the Breakwater was a prison. It served white male convicts for 10 years in the early 1900’s , later became a facility for juvenile offenders and in 1926 became a hostel for black dock workers. The remodelled interior still reveals the rows of cells, now offices.

A special attraction of the week was an afternoon trip to Robben Island. The ferry ride to Robben Island, 7 Km offshore, takes about 45 minutes. Once there, guided tours are provided by former prisoners who share their private experiences. Visitors get a glimpse of the beauty and yet haunting nature of the island prison. It was here that Nelson Mandela spent his young adult years—a political prisoner of the Apartheid Regime of South Africa. His cell and exercise yard, along with other areas of the prison and rock quarries where prisoners worked are open to public view. One can only imagine the cold and discomfort of his long incarceration. Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1962 and started his prison years in this notorious maximum security prison. He was released in 1990. Few places in the world symbolize the struggle for freedom against oppression, as Robben Island does. Many African chiefs and political leaders stood against oppression within the confines of Robben Island.