FRENCH Prime Minister Lionel Jospin followed in the footsteps of other foreign leaders on Thursday to make a pilgrimage to the prison on Robben Island where former South African president Nelson Mandela spent most of 27 years as a political prisoner. Jospin spent about 45 minutes of the first day of his two-day official visit to South Africa on the small, windswept island off Cape Town. During the bumpy trip to the island he was given a thorough briefing on what life was like for a prisoner there by Ahmed Kathrada, a fellow political prisoner of Mandela who served as an MP during his presidency from 1994 to 1995, and was his parliamentary adviser. – AFP