I hope the parcel of books has now reached you and that they have given you some pleasure. Dr. Ellen Hellmann45 has given me another batch of books and I will be sending this down to you soon. Also, Ernie Wentzel46 is arranging for the London “Observer” to be sent to you, while I have arranged renewals of the “English Digest” and “John O’London”.47 Please let me know if the mix-up with the Reader’s Digest has been sorted out yet and also whether there are any other papers or books you want. Mrs. Stott, by the way, will ensure that you continue to receive the Mail, the “Sunday Times” and “Sunday Express”.
I am sorry that you have been caused distress in reading the Mail. When I read your statement (“I have had to bite my teeth at times as I read your views”) I tried to think back to which of my articles could possibly have upset you so much.48 I cannot recall any in the past few months in which I have expressed very strong views one way or the other – which might, of course, be an indication of how well-adjusted I am to the current South African situation.
Did you see our recent series of articles on the Churches, and if so, what did you think of them?49
I was in Basutoland recently and saw Z.B.50 He is teaching there and keeping reasonably well. He sent you his best wishes.
I shall be in Cape Town in January or February for several weeks and am looking forward to being able to visit you, although I do earnestly hope that you will have been freed by then.
In the meantime, very warmest greetings to you from Astrid and me. We hope that your spirit remains as high as it has been and that your courage is not flagging. We pray for your welfare and that of your family.
Robert Sobukwe
to Benjamin Pogrund,
20 November 1963 (Ba1.5)
Dear Benjie
Thank you for your interesting and most welcome letter. I was on the point of writing to thank you for the trousers. I just couldn’t have chosen a better shade myself. If that is what you call breaking with conservatism, Benjie, then you are a first class gradualist!51
Congratulations!!! Your interviews were superb. You discontinued them too soon. I could picture your victims squirming and ah-ah-ing, attempting to put you off with the usual meaningless pious platitudes.52 But you brought them back to the point mercilessly. I felt like the small three-year old fellow whose mother woke up one night in the midst of a tremendous thunderstorm and hurried to his room fearing that she would find him terrified. But there he was at the window, jumping up and down and shouting with excited joy as each flash of lightning burst across the sky, “bang it again, Lord, bang it again!” I, too, felt like shouting, “hold him, there, Benjie, hold him there!” Thanks, old chap, it was a kingly banquet.
Incidentally, in the story of the little boy, are there any cultural points that suggest whether he is white or black? What are they? I’ll be glad to get your answer and that of any “expert” you may feel inclined to sound.
Thank you for news about my wife and the many friends who have offered help. I wrote to my wife three weeks ago suggesting that we should discontinue subscription for the Rand papers. They arrive here rather late. For instance today is Tuesday (I have postdated the letter) and I received Saturday’s Daily Mail and the two Sunday papers today. In addition I wanted today’s Cape Times and yesterday’s Cape Argus. And except for an odd item or two, the Cape Times, particularly, covers the same field as the Rand papers. And it isn’t as if I lack reading material, Benjie. I have enough and to spare, thanks to you and my many friends.
I have renewed my subscriptions for the Reader’s Digest. But I gave them a piece of my mind. They have continued sending my copies to Pretoria. I didn’t receive the July issue. The Colonel, here, lent me his own copy. Then came the August issue. But not the September and October issues. The November issue has been sent here to me with the information that they have noted my change of address. Work efficiency, indeed!
I am doing Economics, Economic History, British Government, Introduction to International Law and Ethics as applied to Social Organisation as the five subjects required in the Part I of the B.Sc. Economics degree. But, oh, the amount of reading required! The books alone will cost over £110 or R80 in the new currency. Were I outside I would be able to borrow most of the books from the library, but being here, I have no option but to buy them. That is the reason I am cutting down on newspapers. One of the journals recommended is The Listener and Mrs Marquard, fortunately for me, keeps me supplied with copies of that.
Thank you for sending the certificate No,53 Benjie. I did not intend you to make any other arrangements. I have applied to the University of London for registration and am awaiting their reply. The lectures I get from Wolsey Hall, Oxford, and have already received the first two. I am taking my time over this course and will write the Exam, Part I that is, in 1965 June. I felt that entering for the 1964 exams would entail high pressure swotting in a field that is absolutely new to me. In any event they demand that external students do the course in five years though, for one who has a degree, they are prepared to make concessions.
In one of her letters to me my wife told me I have a very good friend in you. I did not need her to tell me that. I knew it. But coming from her, it was quite a compliment. She has a very poor opinion of my sense of judgment, you see.
My thanks to Ernie [Wentzel] and Mrs Stott. I believe it was God’s will that I should come here to realise how much Iove there is in the world and to get my sense of values right. Above all else I have had a chance to know myself – neither saint nor devil: just a bundle of capabilities in the hands of God.
I wish you every success in your project. I know you will enjoy the work.
My love to Astrid and Lady Jennifer.
Yours sincerely
Robert
Benjamin Pogrund
to Eulalie Stott,
25 November 1963 (Ba1.6)
Dear Eulalie,
Mrs Sobukwe did not telephone me before her departure, as I had arranged with her to do, and I was unable to see her again. I hope that, despite this, she did telephone you when she reached Cape Town and that there have been no difficulties about her accommodation.
As advised, please let me know if I can be of assistance during her stay down there.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Robert Sobukwe
to Nell Marquard,
6 December 1963 (Bd2.14)
Dear Mrs Marquard,
Thank you for your letter, the books and the regular flow of “The Listener”.
I enjoyed the “conducted tour” through Greece very much indeed. When I was doing matric history, we had a section known as Ancient History in our syllabus. It dealt with the glorious past of Greece, among other things. And the Parthenon and the Areopagus featured prominently, and we enjoyed their sound! I can therefore appreciate your feelings when you saw them in the flesh, so to speak, battered though they are. And your description of the scene of the blind boy is most touching. Unfortunately I am not modern enough yet to be able to pretend indifference to an act of kindness.
Thank you, also, for the book. I have finished reading The Leopard.54 I made the mistake of reading the critics’ comments before reading the book with the result that when I had come to the last page I could not but feel, as some poet felt of the Skylark, I think, “Thou didst not sing to Shelley half so sweet a song, as Shelley sang of thee”55 – with apologies to the literary figure I quote.
It is very kind of you to offer to send me “recreational” books. But it won’t be necessary just yet. I have over a dozen books here that I haven’t read yet and a friend in Johannesburg has written to say that more are on the way. Please believe me when I say that you couldn’t