A UITENHAGE man heading to Cape Town this morning hopes to find closure at Robben Island, where his father died a prisoner 46 years ago.

Koki Johnson, 53, of KwaNobuhle, is the son of anti-apartheid stalwart Jimmy Simon, who was a member of the Azanian People‘s Liberation Army (Apla).

Johnson will be accompanying Apla Military Veterans‘ Association chairman Timothy Jantjie, who served a 20-year sentence on Robben Island from 1963 to 1983.

Jantjie, who was one of the first political prisoners to set foot on Robben Island, has been invited by authorities to identify Simon‘s remains and those of four other political prisoners who died on the island.

The prisoners were buried in mass graves in Bellville‘s Stikland Cemetery without the knowledge of their families. Apartheid regulations did not allow for the bodies of prisoners who died while serving their sentences to be released to their families.

The prisoners‘ graves were brought to the public‘s attention through a joint operation between the SA Heritage Resource Agency, the Robben Island Museum and the National Prosecuting Authority‘s missing persons task team.

Johnson, who is married to Elima and has two children, Siyolise, nine, and Phumeza, 29, said: “I don‘t know my father at all. I was very young when he was arrested. I read about him in newspapers and (heard more about him) through stories told by Jantjie, among other people.

“I feel happy about the trip because I‘ll get to see where my father was jailed and also where his grave is. I hope to find closure.”

Jantjie, who shared a cell with Jacob Zuma, now the country‘s president, said Simon‘s younger brother, Siyeta, who lives in East London, would also do the trip.

“He will fly straight from East London to Cape Town. We will meet him at the airport,” Jantie said.

He explained that Simon and his brother, Thembekile, Zimasile Mjuleni and policeman Raymond Msongelwa had been arrested in November 1962 because of the Pan Africanist Congress slogan “1963 is the year of destiny”.

“We were mobilising PAC structures around the townships in Uitenhage.”

They appeared in the Supreme Court in Grahamstown in January 1963 on charges of conspiracy to sabotage. Jantjie, Simon and Msongelwa were each sentenced to 20 years‘ imprisonment, while Thembekile and Mjuleni were each given a 12-year sentence.

After the judgment, “we were subsequently taken to Robben Island”, Jantjie recalled.

Simon was prisoner No10/63, Thembekile 11/63, Jantjie12/63, Mjuleni 13/63 and Msongelwa 14/63. “We were the first political prisoners to touch the island.”

Jantjie said they had been made to work very hard on Robben Island, felling trees “with our bare hands”, working at the quarry, and “we helped build Section B of the prison, where Nelson Mandela was kept”, among other things.

“We built the prison on our own and it was very hard. In fact, we never thought we would last five years alive on the island. We ate cold pap and coffee for breakfast. We called Robben Island the Hell Island.”

However, Jantjie said they had never interacted with Mandela at all because “he was considered to be a very dangerous criminal”. He said PAC founder Robert Sobukwe had also been kept alone in a house on the island.

Because of all the hard work they had to do “at gunpoint”, Jantjie said, Simon had died on February 11, 1963, aged 33.