Cape Town and Table Mountain

 


As seen from the returning Robbin Island ferry. 

Storm surge wall

 


This wall is so huge! Notice if you can the rather large earth-moving truck located about the middle of the wall.

This is off of Robbin Island to calm waters around the dock, etc. 

Not white?

 


What you see above is the official breakdown of the prisoners diet.

You'll notice two headings: BANTUS (Blacks) and COLOUREDS/ASIATICS.

If you follow this list down you see that in pretty much every category group B received more food than C. This sign is very instructive when trying to understand how the "races" were viewed in South Africa.

Coloureds/Asiatics are anyone who is considered non-white but is not a darker shade of black. Light skinned individuals no matter their background; whether Asian, Mixed, Arabic, Persian etc were considered Coloured. Therefore you could have a family where different members were considered a different race depending on their shade.

Of further interest notice that group B receives Bread while group C, Puzamandla. Basically think of the crumbs left over after cutting up a loaf of bread. Mix this with water and voila! You have their lunch.

Horrible... 

Tired?

 


This is a picture of what the ANC inmates would have to sleep on. There would be so many prisoners in one room that at night these mats laid out would leave behind no floor space. Sleeping on your back or stomache was virtually impossible.

I slept on the floor for 7 months or so while we had bed bugs in my apartment here in Toronto. I had to pile clothes, towels, sheets and comforters down in order to ensure my hips didn't feel DEAD by morning. (If I slept on my side my back would feel kinked out due to the rididity of the floor) I could only imagine sleeping on these for years after years.

Eventually due to the Red Cross's investigations the prisoners were given beds and material to make bedding etc. but still... 

Tour guide

 


This man above was placed in jail on charges of terrorism. He planted bombs at an Intelligence building in Pretoria. During the explosion, 12 - 15 people were injured but there were 0 deaths. He was imprisoned along with other ANC members including Nelson Mandela on Robbin Island. Former inmates have been rehired as tour guides of the island. It lended a certain intensity to everything he discussed with us. 

Just in time means....

Military bunkers built on the Island sometime in the late 30's early 40's. They commisioned a company to make some large-mm rated gun emplacement to defend against any Axis invaders. The gun was finished around 1948-49. ahem..  

Prisoner # ...

Another somewhat permanent resident of Robbin Island. This tuna boat crashed ashore, one of a few wrecks to ground around this island. Notice in the pic both the kelp forests and rocks protruding out of the water.