Thank you for your friend’s offer of warm clothing. It couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time! What I would be happy to have are blankets – two will do and, if it is not too much, a pullover. I am not sure that I appreciate the difference between a pullover and a slip over. However, what I would like in that line is a long-sleeved garment, whether V- or crew-necked. The size is 42.
Oh – the garden stuff arrived. I am sorry I did not inform you earlier. Thank you very much for it. I can’t report anything yet. I am still watching to see what the infant mortality rate will be.
Thanks for reading so far!
Yours sincerely,
RM Sobukwe
Robert Sobukwe
to Veronica Sobukwe,
9 June 1964 (Bc42)
Hullo Darling,
You will by now have received the letter I wrote on the 22nd May, so that I am still ONE UP!
Thanks for the news. I am really glad you’ve been able to find time to go to the pictures, even if it were for only one day. I have heard that “The Ten Commandments” is an imposing picture.47 But, of course, Hollywood can be relied on not to stick to the facts as they are, but to glamourise them. I won’t be surprised if in this picture of Creation or something that they are making, Eve wears a bikini! Trust Hollywood to introduce an anachronism.
I am very eager to [illegible] about Mili and Dini. My girl is growing fast. It’s time, I think, you got her a bicycle, even if it means digging into your savings! There’s no better exercise for a growing girl – in the cities, that is.
Fabian has sent me a copy of an article of his which was published in the S.A. Medical Journal!48 It is quite an achievement, really, and I hope he maintains the intellectual interest in his profession which his article so clearly shows. I’ll be writing to him next week.
I am extremely excited at the prospect of seeing you again soon. In fact, I am almost ashamed of my uncontrollable excitement. It does not become a man who is approaching FORTY and is the father of FOUR children into the bargain! It is almost schoolboyish excitement I am experiencing – the same as I felt in 1949 at Lovedale! I have been bewitched!
With regard to the boat’s time-table I think the position remains unchanged viz that on Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Saturday, the boat arrives in the morning and returns in the afternoon.
On Wednesday, it arrives in the morning and returns at noon.
On Tuesday and Friday it arrives at 12.45 p.m. and returns in the afternoon.
Now, darling, please remember the khaki files I asked for – five of them will do and my spectacles. If you can’t find the spectacles, Kid, don’t worry. I still can do without them.
I have been receiving postcards from Father Webber from all over America. He seems to be enjoying himself immensely.
Well, darling, love to the kids. I’ll have quite a number of stories to tell them when next we meet. Love to Mama, Jabie and the rest.
Keep your chin up! Till we meet,
Your loving husband,
Mangi
Benjamin Pogrund
to Veronica Sobukwe,
1 July 1964 (Ba2.33)
Dear Mrs. Sobukwe,
Thank you very much for your letter of June 24. I was delighted to learn that you will soon be going to Cape Town to see Bob.
I have not been able to come and see you as I have been heavily involved preparing for another trip to Rhodesia. I am leaving tomorrow and will be back towards the end of July. So I shall probably not be able to see you before you go to Cape Town.
In regard to your accommodation in Cape Town, I have today written to Mrs. Stott advising her of the position. I suggest however, that you write to her direct as soon as you receive a decision from the Minister of Justice about your request to stay on the Island. As soon as you hear from the Minister, will you please confirm with Mrs. Stott that you will require accommodation at the Tafelberg Hotel?49 Will you also advise her whether it is only for yourself or for the children also?
As my marriage has broken up, I am no longer staying at my previous address. The best way to contact me is at my office – telephone: 23-5714.
In regard to the school fees, I am sorry there has been a delay in repaying the money to you. Could you please send the receipt so that the exact amount can be known to: Miss Pike, P.O. Box 97, Johannesburg. I have spoken to Miss Pike, and she will send you the money as soon as she gets the receipt.
I look forward to seeing you again when you return from Cape Town. Please give Bob my very warmest good wishes.
Yours sincerely,
P.S. Mrs. Stott’s address is:
c/o Cape Town City Council,
City Hall,
Darling Street,
Cape Town.
Robert Sobukwe
to Nell Marquard,
22 July 1964 (Bd1.6)
Dear Mrs Marquard,
I read of your unpleasant experience, and I sympathize with you most sincerely. But then, as you know, the twentieth century has discovered a new deity – the State. And of course Africa, as you and I know, though lovable, has a madness all its own!
Thank you indeed for the blankets. They could not have arrived at a more opportune moment. And thank you for the jersey also. Were it not that I had feared the telegram would be too costly, I would have added “Cold where is thy sting, winter where thy bitterness?”50
My wife will be in Cape Town this Saturday and will be staying there for about a fortnight. I don’t know yet where she’ll be staying, but I shall ask her to contact you. She is, unfortunately, quite a stubborn little girl, quite unlike her very humble, docile husband! Incidentally, I read that she has applied for my release. Well, she told me nothing about it. The report was, however incorrect in one respect. – I have not made any personal (or non-personal even) request to the Cabinet for my release.51 The only letters I have written are friendly ones, like this, to my friends.
Thank you, too, for the books. [John] Galsworthy and [George Bernard] Shaw have always been favourites of mine. And it was a real pleasure to make [John] Osborne’s acquaintance as well as [Doris] Lessing’s.
Please give my thanks to our mutual friend for the Yorkshire Products. The jersey was an aesthete’s choice.
Have you read of the underground ocean of fresh water discovered in the Sahara? “And the desert shall blossom”!52
I haven’t heard from Graaff-Reinet yet – my home town, unfortunately! The place has always bred rebels it appears. I’m expecting my brother to tell me of the stock losses they have suffered. He thinks Graaff-Reinet is the capital of the Republic.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
RM Sobukwe
Robert Sobukwe
to Benjamin Pogrund,
6 August 1964 (Ba2.35)
My dear Benjie,
I am sorry I delayed my reply so much. But as you no doubt realize your news stunned me and I was hoping that my wife would be able to enlighten me so that I should know what unsolicited advice to give. Unfortunately she is as ignorant as I am of the circumstances surrounding the case. I can, therefore, only stupidly but sincerely advise,