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I have read this book so many times but today one or two passages caught my eye. The passage relates to the church minister’s` visits at the Robben Island. It starts: “We were visited by a Coloured minister known as Brother September. One Sunday, a prisoner named Hennie Ferris, who was an eloquent speaker, volunteered to lead a prayer. Brother September was pleased to recognise such devotion. Hennie began to speak in lofty language and, at one point, asked the congregation to close its eyes and pray. Everyone including Brother September, obliged. Eddie, another prisoner, tiptoed to the front, opened Brother September’s briefcase, and removed the Sunday Times of that day. No one suspected anything at the time but Brother September never brought newspaper again.”
Just to highlight what led Eddie to steal the newspaper it’s because Nelson Mandela and his fellow prisoners were prohibited to read anything including the newspapers and yet these political prisoners were eager to know what was happening outside the world. It was a criminal offence if newspapers were found in their cells. Yet they took great risk to smuggle them in.
