"Please come see me immediately," it said. The message arrived one day after Mbeki's wife had applied for a court order to compel the Robben Island authorities to allow her husband to consult with his lawyers.
State President PW Botha implied two months ago that the 77-year-old Rivonia trialist would soon be released.
However, since August 24, family lawyer Priscilla Jana had been refused permission to consult with him. "As they are not giving us a legal vist I might go and see him, on an ordinary family visit, in the next day or so," Jana said yesterday.
In her application filed on Wednesday, Mbeki' s wife, Epainette, said legal consultation was "urgently necessary" to ascertain whether or not it was the intention of the government to release Mbeki from prison in the near future.
Botha told parliament on August 13 he had asked Minister of Justice Kobie Coetsee to look into the possible release of Mbeki, who had been in prison for 23 years. The application was postponed by agreement to October 28.
Yesterday it was rumoured Mbeki has been transferred from the Island to Pretoria Security prison. However, Jana said the telegram she received from Mbeki was posted from Robben Island.
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
