A Circle of Impressions Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #221)

visiting the Castle, going up by cable to the top of Table Mountain and swimming in Muizenberg and the Strand. It was on this occassion that I first saw Robben Island from the top of Table Mountain. I had no idea then that I would spend many years here subjected to the flippant and inept treatment characteristic of the country's Department of Prisons. Secondly, during the first visit I spent many hours with I.B.Tabata dn A.C.Jordan, both leading members of the NEUM. The first was full time functionary of that organisation, whilst the latter was then lecturing at the University of Cape Town. Although the NEUM never had a mass following Cape Town itself they had built up an efficient machinery and kept watch on almost all the intellectuals that came to that city. I had arrived on a Friday afternoon and stayed with Cabel Mase, a member of the ANC and a relative of mine, at Langa. At about 11 a.m. the next day I.B.Tabata arrived with an invitation from the Jordans for the following day which I accepted. I had heard of them from Justice from the late 30s and he spoke of them in glowing terms. A.C.Jordan was the author of "Imqgumbo ye Minyanya" (The Wrath of the Ancestral Spirits) and the Thembus thought highly of him because of the favourable manner in which he portrayed a Tembu chief, obviously Chief Jongintaba. I was keen to meet him and his wife Phyllis and we met on the Sunday. They lived amongst Coloureds in Sunnyside in a beautiful cottage built on their won freehold plot and I found three of my former college mates there. After the ususal preliminary courtesies I.B.Tabata led a discussion on South African history and politics and spoke eruditely on the subject. With a view to drawing me into the discussion he asked why I had chosen to join the ANC and not