I grew up in an activist home. My mother was detained several times, once just a year before my twin brother and I were born. My aunt was an Umkhonto weSizwe soldier. Their brother went to prison for his political activism. Yet I was already in my third year of my history course at university before I heard of Robert Sobukwe.
Sobukwe, the founder of the PAC, was one of the great African ideologists and heroes of South Africa's liberation.
The political leader considered so dangerous that he was kept in solitary confinement for six years on Robben Island. Such a threat to the state that parliament passed the "Sobukwe Clause" to keep him in jail. A man who was banished to Kimberley after being released and was only allowed to speak to one person at a time.
Who was this great figure shrouded in silence? Why had he largely been ignored by the history books?
As of this week, Central Block, the physical and spiritual heart of the University of the Witwatersrand, will be known as the Robert Sobukwe Block. Many have welcomed the renaming and the recognition it gives to the former Wits lecturer and first president of the PAC, but not many young people know Sobukwe's full story.
Our journey in search of Sobukwe took us to the town of Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape, where the pan-Africanist intellectual was born and where his widow, Zondeni, still lives. We were welcomed into the family home by Sobukwe's daughter, Miliswa, and son Dedanizizwe.
Zondeni sat in a ray of sun in the corner of the dining room, leaning on her knobkerrie. At 90, she is beautiful but frail.
"I'm sorry I can't speak to you guys now," she said softly. "I have a headache and I would like to rest."
"She doesn't talk much," said Miliswa, "and she doesn't like doing interviews, but she still reads the papers."
Miliswa settled us on black leather chairs, one of which was her father's favourite. All the furniture was brought back to the family home from Kimberley, where they lived until Sobukwe's death in 1978.
Inspire black South Africans
On May 4 1960, about six weeks after the Sharpeville massacre, Sobukwe was jailed for three years for inciting Africans to demand the repeal of the pass laws.
Parliament also enacted the "Sobukwe Clause", which empowered the minister of justice to prolong the detention of any political prisoner indefinitely.
At the end of Sobukwe's sentence in 1963 he was moved to Robben Island. There his living quarters were separate from the main prison and he had no contact with other prisoners. After being released in 1969, Sobukwe was banished to Kimberley.
Sobukwe was born in 1924, the fifth son of poor Xhosa parents Hubert and Angelina, who lived in uMasizakhe township outside Graaff-Reinet. The street where he was born is now named Hubert Sobukwe after his father, a municipal worker.
Sobukwe's eldest son, Dinilisizwe ("Dini"), took us on a journey of exploration, where it became apparent that even in his home town, not much is known about Sobukwe.
"The house is different now," said Dini as we looked at Sobukwe's birthplace. "The people who live in it have extended it. When my father was born it would have been even smaller than the matchbox houses the apartheid regime built in other townships."
From the house we went to his former primary school, his high school, the new Robert Sobukwe Museum due to open in March, his grave and the town's public museum. Everywhere we went, Dini greeted every member of the community, just as people say his father used to.
Sobukwe began studying law while he was under house arrest. After he established his own law firm in 1975, the government initially denied him permission to enter the courts, but then reversed the decision. However, newspapers were not allowed to quote him when he argued in court.
— Silenced in court
We were not the first to be given the Sobukwe tour. Others have made the pilgrimage. Dini said he saw things differently from outsiders.
"Walking around this township and still seeing sheer painful poverty is like seeing how my father grew up," said Dini.
"My father's role was to inspire other black South Africans and his home town is no inspiration for black people. The only way people make money in the township is if they sell alcohol. There are no jobs or developments."
Graaff-Reinet is the fourth-oldest town in South Africa, settled by Dutch missionaries after Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Swellendam were established. It is known for its preserved colonial buildings, and not much has changed for its people either. The town is still segregated, with the Dutch Reformed Church building marking the divide. It is the first thing you notice when driving into town, and even while you are walking around the township, the top of its steeple remains visible.
In the township there are missionary churches and schools, one of which was attended by Sobukwe.
"My father was a religious man," said Dini. "He and my grandfather used to preach at the Methodist Church."
The church the Sobukwes attended has not changed either. This month it will be renamed Robert Sobukwe Church, a partner to the old-age home run by the church and named for Zondeni Veronica Sobukwe.
Robert and Zondeni met at the University of Fort Hare. She was the love of his life.
"They met at a protest," said Dini. "My mother was protesting about the living conditions in hostels for nursing students."
While at Fort Hare, Sobukwe was elected president of the student representative council and secretary-general of the ANC Youth League. After his studies, he taught history, English and geography at a secondary school in Standerton, and in 1954 moved to Johannesburg's Mofolo township with his family, and became a lecturer in African studies at Wits.
Dini attended Central Block's renaming ceremony this week, which was held outside the Great Hall at Wits. It was the first time he had seen the place where his father used to work.
"My father used to take my sister with him to work, not the boys," he said.
"I was very touched by the student representatives who are still carrying his vision to one day see a united Africa, and who believe in the importance of education."
Zondeni was unable to travel to the renaming ceremony, but Dini said she, too, was grateful that Sobukwe's memory was finally being honoured.
"We try to forget what we lived through growing up," he said.
Even after their father was arrested, the Sobukwe family were constantly harassed by police.
"After my father was arrested, he and my mother decided that it would be safer to move my siblings and I to Lesotho, which is where we finished school.
"Police used to come to our house in Mofolo and knock on windows at 2am or 3am and question my mother about other PAC members.
"We visited him once a year and our mother could visit him twice a year," said Dini of the time his father was on Robben Island.
"When we saw him we would play or do puzzles but he was interested in our lives and always wanted to find out how we were doing. Every year we would think he was going to be released. Every year we heard he wasn't coming home. My mother would say: 'Let's move on.' It is still very hard to think about the pain we saw her go through."
Banishment
When Sobukwe was finally released, "we thought life was going to be normal", said Dini, but the conditions of his father's banishment and house arrest in Kimberley made things anything but.
Sobukwe had to report to a police station whenever he left town and do the same when he entered another town.
"He was a teacher and a preacher but he was not allowed to speak to more than one person at a time," said Dini. "They were always watching him. But he never complained."
My father knew he was being watched, but somehow always found a way to meet with his comrades such as Biko and other PAC members
— Dinilesizwe Sobukwe
Sobukwe is described as one of the main sources of inspiration for the Black Consciousness Movement that developed in the 1970s under Steve Biko. Sobukwe met Biko and many believe he influenced Biko's thinking.
"My father knew he was being watched, but somehow always found a way to meet with his comrades such as Biko and other PAC members," said Dini.
"From what I can recall, I know that he met with Biko twice, the first time at someone's house in Kimberley and the second time at the Black People's Convention offices in King William's Town. Their meetings were always arranged by other comrades as they were both banned from moving around freely."
During that time Sobukwe studied to become a lawyer and three years before his death was allowed to open a law firm.
Dini said that although the last years had not been perfect, at least the family had been together.
"To us it was good enough as long as he was released. It was still tough, but it was better."
ROBERT SOBUKWE: DEATH AND DEFIANCE
Giving notice
On March 16 1960, Sobukwe wrote to the commissioner of police stating that the PAC would be holding a five-day, non-violent, disciplined and sustained protest campaign against the pass laws, starting on March 21.
Resigned
On March 21 1960, at the launch of the PAC's anti-pass campaign, Sobukwe resigned from his post as a lecturer at Wits. He made last-minute arrangements for the safety of his family and left his home in Mofolo. He intended to give himself up for arrest at the Orlando police station in the hope that his actions would inspire other black South Africans.
The march
Along the 8km walk to the police station, small groups of men joined him from neighbouring areas like Phefeni, Dube and Orlando West. As the small crowd approached the police station, most of the marchers, including Sobukwe, were arrested and charged with sedition.
Sharpeville
In a separate march, an estimated group of 5,000 reached Sharpeville police station. Police opened fire, killing 69 people and injuring 180 in what became known as the Sharpeville massacre.
Banning
The government responded to Sharpeville by imposing a state of emergency, banning both the ANC and PAC as illegal organisations and detaining 18,000 people.
