I shall not make this letter a long one, lest you feel you have to do the same! Unfortunately, my wife has not told me where she is staying in Nyanga East56 and I cannot, therefore, give you her address. She has left the twins with friends in Cape Town.
Wishing you and your family a God-blessed Christmas.
I am,
Yours sincerely,
RM Sobukwe
Benjamin Pogrund
to Robert Sobukwe,
11 December 1963 (Ba1.7)
My dear Bob,
As always, your letter, which arrived last week, gave us great joy. In our concern for you we were glad to see that your letter reflected a spirit as cheerful and courageous as ever.
With your wife with you at the moment, I have no doubt that you are even happier. I am only sorry that it was not possible for her to spend more time with you. I had a note from Mrs. Stott yesterday saying that your wife and children were well settled in Cape Town and that they had not felt it necessary to take up the hotel accommodation which Mrs. Stott and I had arranged. I am looking forward to seeing your wife as soon as she returns, to have first-hand news of you and to learn whether there is anything we can do for you.
Your wife, by the way, worries us: despite my urgings, she so seldom asks for any assistance! My worry stems from my fear that she might be reluctant to ask. If you know of any such reluctance on her part, I do hope you will tell her not to hesitate to approach me at any time.
By now all the various papers should be reaching you and I trust they are a pleasurable means of whiling away the hours. Don’t worry about getting the “Mail”, “Times” and “Express” – they will be ordered for you all the same. Last week I sent you a copy of a booklet containing the series of articles on the Church which the Mail published.57 After reading your kind words of praise about the series, I just had to send you the booklet! I cannot answer your question about the little boy – perhaps because I am too colour blind and only saw him as a little boy.
In regard to your University studies, why not send me a list of the books you need? I might be able to obtain at least some of them from friends and save you the expense of buying them. Also there is a government Library in Pretoria which lends books to students and sends the books through the post.58 I think of this because some while ago I wrote a story about some prisoners who were studying in gaol, and the Library contacted me to advise me of the facilities they offered. If you are interested in finding out whether the Library has the books you require, let me know and I will get the address for you.
As I have previously told you, I shall be in Cape Town in January, working in local libraries etc., for my research project. I plan then to see you on a purely personal basis, as a friend. But, if possible, I would also like to be able to spend additional time with you discussing my research project which, as I think I have mentioned, is a study of Communist influence in Non-White politics. I have made tentative enquiries in Pretoria and believe that any formal application which I might make to the authorities for a formal interview with you for my research might be favourably considered. But before I make any such application, I obviously must first know if it meets with your approval. If you approve, I would be in Cape Town on January 15. Could you let me have your views on this as soon as possible so that, if necessary, I can arrange for travelling and accommodation?
Little else to tell you at the moment. I am fully immersed in my work and know little (and care less) of what goes on in the world around me. Zef [Mothopeng] has not been too well lately, but you will have seen reports about this in the newspapers.
Warmest good wishes to you from Astrid.
Robert Sobukwe
to Veronica Sobukwe,
December 1963 (Bc10)
Hello Darling,
I didn’t think I should wait until I heard from you. I just had to “talk” to you!
I don’t need to tell you that I miss you and the kids terribly and that all day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I was following you in my mind from one station to another. I do hope you had a safe and comfortable journey. You should, though, because I entrusted you to the Everlasting. Amen!
Buti and Tshawe59 have come to see me on Friday. They were both looking fine though they said Tshawe had been terribly sea-sick. You remembered that we discussed Buti’s car and you were wondering whether he had changed it or not? Well, he has. And he has got himself a 1963 car straight from the box! In the excitement I forgot to ask him what make it was. They arrived at noon, in fact, at 1 p.m. and they had not yet got halfway with the things they wanted to tell me when the time came for them to go.
How [illegible] faring? Don’t forget to send me those photographs now you have brought Dini and Mili back to their proper weights.
I have fought a roaring battle against the fruit you left and am just keeping a few oranges and one or two mangoes for Christmas Day.
Although Christmas Day will have passed when you receive this letter, believe that you are in my thoughts and I wish you the best Christmas you have ever had; rich and full with the love and peace of Christ, so that you will enter the New Year with your head high and your mouth filled with laughter and praise.
Cheerio Little Woman!
Love to the kids and Mama.
Your loving husband,
Mangi
1“Buti” means brother, and it was Sobukwe’s affectionate name for his brother Ernest.
2“J.D.” refers to Jacob Dumdum Nyaose (1920–), who often went by his initials. In Gail Gerhart’s (1970) interview with Sobukwe (published in 2016), Sobukwe refers to Nyaose as “J.D.”. Nyaose was made a member of the PAC’s executive in 1959. Before this date he had argued for the formation of a PAC labour wing, and he came to assume this responsibility within the PAC when he became a member of the executive at the inaugural conference.
3Z.B. Molete (1930–), who was made the PAC’s Secretary for Publicity and Information at its inaugural conference in 1959. Molete was delegated by imprisoned PAC leaders in late 1960 to head the PAC’s underground organisation. Although he had been arrested in 1961 and sentences to a three-year jail term, he left the country – going to Basutoland – and subsequently worked with the PAC in Zambia and East Africa.
4Mercy was the wife of Sobukwe’s brother Charles.
5Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking (1952).
6In Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “My Wife”’, he speaks about her as “Steel-true and blade-straight”.
7Dr Fabian Ribeiro (1933–86) was the husband of Veronica Sobukwe’s sister Florence. He ran a general medical practice in Mamelodi township, Pretoria. Both were later assassinated by the apartheid regime.
8Dennis Siwisa was a school and university friend of Sobukwe’s, considered by Sobukwe as like a brother. He served three years on Robben Island for membership of the PAC.
9Professor J.H. Wellington was a retired head of the Geography Department in the University of the Witwatersrand, who had become friendly with Sobukwe during the time both were employed by the