I had quite a pleasant time with my wife and the children. I had quite a few tales to tell them – in spite of the African taboo against relating folk tales during the day. The guilty party, it is said, will sprout horns. It is but a sign of the times that my kids laughed such ideas to scorn. The twins (boys) were a year and a half old when I left home and have now attained the manly age of five. Fortunately for me they were satisfied, at first sight, that I was the fellow their mother told them so much about.
I had to give up gardening because of the dry season which has hit our water resources very hard. My plants which were coming up most splendidly put up a prolonged and heroic resistance except for the carrots and beetroot and beans which threw up the sponge quite early in the fight. And yet they had been the most ostentatious.
Thank you for the copies of “The Listener.” I am finding them very useful. My New Year resolution was to keep my letters short so that my friends would have a chance to read other matter. To prove that I am a man of integrity, I’ll say “Tot siens”.6 Greetings to your family.
Yours sincerely,
RM Sobukwe
P.S. I shall let my wife know. Thank you.
Benjamin Pogrund
to Robert Sobukwe,
24 January 1964 (Ba2.7)
My dear Bob,
I was happy to have the chance of seeing you again, and to find you in such good health and spirits. I am deeply grateful to you for your assistance in my research.7 Quite apart from the detailed and authoritative background to events which you gave me, I found our general discussions stimulating and of tremendous value in gaining perspective. I can only repeat the assurance I gave you: the study will be as objective and balanced as any human-being can make it.
I saw your wife soon after my return and can report that she is keeping well. She also assured me that she was not in need of anything! She told me that the application for an exit permit has already been sent to the Minister of the Interior.8 She is posting your spectacles to you as requested.
Enclosed please find a clipping from the “Rand Daily Mail” of January 21. As you will see, the story was considered too long and was therefore reduced in length. Because of typographical errors – the bane of my existence – parts of it are nearly incomprehensible.
I am also returning to you the lists of books for your studies which you lent me. You need not worry about getting the books – I have been able to arrange for them and they should start reaching you shortly.
Recalling that, in May last year, the Minister of Justice announced that you would be able to receive visitors weekly, I wonder whether we could perhaps arrange for University of Cape Town lecturers in your various fields of study, to visit you regularly. A couple of hours discussion now and again with lecturers in economics, British Government, Public International Law, etc., would certainly, I think, be of immense value to you in doing your correspondence courses, which otherwise could be dry and barren. If you consider this idea worth pursuing, it might be best to approach the jail authorities first and ask whether they would be agreeable to allowing a selected panel of UCT9 lecturers to visit you.
Incidentally, due to unforeseen circumstances, I have had to change my plans for visiting Cape Town. Instead of coming on February 1, I shall be there on March 1. All being well, I hope to see you then. I suggest you keep the notes you are working on for me until then. The month’s delay will not affect me.
In the meantime, I have sent you, per passenger train, a batch of books for leisure time reading.
All for now, Bob. Look after yourself and let me know if there is anything you need.
Astrid sends her very best wishes.
Sincerely,
Benjamin Pogrund
to Veronica Sobukwe,
5 February 1964 (Ba2.8)
Dear Mrs. Sobukwe,
I wonder whether you have now been able to obtain Dini’s address? Even though his birthday is past, I am anxious to comply with Bob’s wishes in sending him a present.
If you have the address, I shall be grateful if you will let me have it as soon as possible.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Robert Sobukwe
to Veronica Sobukwe,
12 February 1964 (Bc12)
Hullo Little Woman!
What did you mean I am quiet down here? I have written you two letters since your visit. The first I wrote even before I knew whether you had reached home safely or not!
Thanks for the news, Kid. I was particularly relieved to learn that Mili and Dini had gone back to school. Thanks also for news about the autochthons.10 They are indeed a very lively lot. To which school have you sent them? If you’ve sent them to Mili’s Alma Mater then you’ll have to teach them English yourself. Otherwise they’ll be writing you the type of incomprehensible letter that Mili’s principal wrote to us – remember?
Yes, it was a pleasure to see and talk to Benjie, particularly as the subject on which he is working is one in which I am very interested. He hasn’t changed a bit – except that he has lost some weight I think.
I am glad about the news concerning Mrs Pullen. She hasn’t told me that she wrote to you. All she did was to ask me how old the children were, and to say how sorry she was at not being able to meet you. She thinks “Mrs Sobukwe must be a wonderful woman”. You know my reply to that. She is one of the two Cape Town ladies I told you about who have “adopted” me spiritually. She has sent me a number of very valuable books on religion – books that have helped me to understand Christ better. She sent me cookies, sweets & fruit for Christmas. I’ll write to her on your behalf.
Thank you also for the Twenty Rands. I didn’t need the money really badly. You must need it more than I do. I’ll use it to get some of the books or if friends can’t […] for me. Apart from those that Fabian undertook to get, Benjie has arranged with various friends that they provide me with as many of the books listed as they can.
What I said about registration, Darling, was that the fee was £10 (Ten pounds) and that I had to be registered before December (last year). I sent the money off immediately and received the Registration Certificate through the British Embassy. I have applied [illegible] to write the Part I Examinations next year. So you don’t need to worry about that any more.
Nenti has written, too, complaining that she last saw the children in 1961. She has no idea, of course, of the expenses involved and the distance to be covered to make an annual trip home.
You don’t know “Boy”, by the way Buti’s Mercy knows him. He is Sis [illegible]’s son and left home eleven years ago. Nenti writes to say he is visiting them – he has returned after these many years. She didn’t say whether he has a wife or not.
Your friends have not yet sent the buttons I asked for. Did you get a chance to have the kids photographed? May I expect my photo?
Incidentally, among my files there are some ordinary KHAKI FILES with no clips to them. I need about six of them for my lectures. Could you give them to Benjie to bring along with him?
The nights of late are extremely lovely, just as they are at Graaff-Reinet in summer – cool and clear. Here there is the added attraction of the seagulls screaming like children just out from school. And waves lapping the seashore. All poetic – like you.
Who sent your telegram to Fabian? Didn’t you do this yourself? He has written to me too. We have been exchanging views on poetry and music of late. But we are both of us stubborn. I think if we were to meet face to face we would argue until the following morning! I have asked him to collect folktales, proverbs, riddles and songs.