Sonny Venkatrathnam was a South African anti-apartheid activist and human rights activist who was imprisoned in the Robben Island Maximum Security Prison along with other anti-apartheid activists including Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, and Mac Maharaj.
10 Facts About Sonny Venkatrathnam
1.
2.
Sonny Venkatrathnam was most famously known for smuggling an edition of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare into the prison.
3.
Sonny Venkatrathnam's grandparents were bonded laborers who had come in from India.
4.
Sonny Venkatrathnam's parents were flower sellers in the Durban cemetery, and later farmers in Cliffdale near Pietermaritzburg.
5.
Sonny Venkatrathnam grew up in the family with modest means, with no electricity or running water at home.
6.
Sonny Venkatrathnam's schooling was interrupted during the Second World War and when it resumed, his siblings and he had to travel seven miles crossing the Umbilo river to get to school in Stella Hill.
7.
Sonny Venkatrathnam was an anti-apartheid activist who was held a prisoner at the Robben Island Maximum Security Prison.
8.
Sonny Venkatrathnam was most famously known for smuggling an edition of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare into the prison.
9.
Sonny Venkatrathnam worked with Amnesty International after his ban was lifted in April 1983.
10.
Sonny Venkatrathnam taught at the University of Durban-Westville through the 1990s.