Interview with Sipho Msomi

Mr. Msomi was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1984-1988.

"From my memory it was at the time when we began to be informed, almost officially, that the government [was] in contact with Mandela, and that Mandela believes this time that they were serious about resolving the problem of South Africa. So, we thought it was nothing surprising based on the analysis we were doing for a number of years, so we expected those developments. But obviously there was a lot of excitement. It was almost like a reborn individual.

But, I was I was looking forward to basic things, meeting my family, friends, family, and getting to eat non-prison food, and of course, motivated to join the struggle against Apartheid because we were still under Apartheid government. These were some of my memories.

But I also remember that the last day felt the longest in prison."
--Sipho Msomi