The brownish building on the left is the smallest prison in South Africa, and only ever housed one prisoner - Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe. Sobukwe was the leader of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and was first arrested in 1960. He was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, but upon his release he was immediately re-arrested under a special Act of Parliament, and sent to Robben Island. The government evidently saw him as a greater threat than many of the other leaders on the island, and so he was placed in solitary confinement in this house, and was not allowed to make contact with any other prisoners.
It was fitting that we visited the island on Human Rights Day (21 March), as this holiday marks the event that led to Sobukwe's arrest - the 1960 PAC-led march against the pass laws in place at the time. On this day, 69 people were killed - including 8 women and 10 children - and scores more injured when police opened fire on protesters in Sharpeville.