Journos Away from Campus

Sthembiso Sithole

@SITHOLEEXPRESS

After months of waiting for the Cape Town Trip, finally second year journalism students from Tshwane University of Technology spend a week at the mother city.

The Cape Town trip is an annual trip that is part of the journalism department curriculum which enables students to visit Robben Island, Media houses and Parliament.

South African historical prison Robben Island
 where freedom fighters were imprisoned.

The trip is also used as another platform for students to network with senior journalists and editors who are already working in the journalism profession. 

After a long journey from Pretoria to Cape Town students finally arrived at their booked venue Amalfi Exclusive Suites Hotel, Sea Point.  The first item in their Cape Town programme was to visit Robben Island.

Robben Island is South Africa’s historical prison that was used during Apartheid for political, activists and other prisoners who acted against the law of the old regime.

Students looked keen to know about the prison and the leaders that were part of the liberation struggle. Most of them prepared questions along the journey on the boat to Robben Island.

According to former MK and prisoner Itumeleng Makoena the conditions that political prisoners lived under during those dark days of Apartheid were bad and that led to endless hunger strikes.

“Due to dissatisfaction within the prison and bad treatment from prison warders, most prisoners organised hunger strikes,” Makoena said.

He added that the system of the time didn’t allow prisoners to see their families often.

“Prisoners only had a visit from their families once a month and some prisoners came from other parts of the country and their families couldn’t visit them.

One of the students Shakira Masethe who went to the trip said “I never thought that Robert Sobukwe was house arrested.”

Sobukwe was founder and first president of Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and was house arrested in Robben Island.

He is known for rejecting any model suggesting working with anyone other than blacks. Sobukwe was not allowed to spend time with his fellow leaders during his house arrest. After he was released from prison to Kimberly, Sobukwe later died of lung cancer.

According to broadcast lecture and organiser of the trip Tshamano Makhadi everything went according to plan.

“As the department we are pleased to that everything went well and that students were able to explore Cape Town.