 | The article's lead section may need to be rewritten.(December 2017) |
The Constitution Hill precinct is located at 11 Kotze Street in Braamfontein, Johannesburg near the western end of the suburb of Hillbrow. Constitution Hill is the seat of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
The hill was formerly the site of a fort which was later used as a prison. The Old Fort Prison complex is known as Number Four. The original prison was built to house white male prisoners in 1892. The Old Fort was built around this prison by Paul Kruger from 1896 to 1899 to protect the South African Republic from the threat of British invasion. Later, Boer military leaders of the Anglo-Boer War were imprisoned here by the British. [1]
The Old Fort prison was later extended to include "native" cells, called Section 4 and Section 5, and, in 1907, a women's section was added, the Women's Gaol. An awaiting-trial block was constructed in the 1920s. Both political activists opposed to apartheid and common criminals were held at the prison, and striking white mineworkers in 1907, 1913 and 1922. During the apartheid era the prison complex became a detention centre for political dissidents opposed to apartheid, striking white mineworkers (in 1907, 1913 and 1922), those deemed "anti-establishment" and those who simply violated the pass laws of the time. Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned here in 1906. Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo, Bram Fischer, Albert Lutuli and Robert Sobukwe are some of its famous prisoners. For this reason it was also called ''The Robben Island of Johannesburg'' due to how infamous it became as a result of holding these political prisoners. [2] The site housed prisoners until 1983, when it was closed.
Activists were usually held as awaiting trial prisoners and then sent off to Robben Island or Pretoria to serve jail terms. Brewing beer – an illegal activity if you were black – also landed many women in jail, a situation depicted in the Women Gaol. Still others were arrested for having sex across the colour bar or for homosexual sex. Amongst the practices reported during detention, the humiliating "Tauza" dance, the beatings in the notorious Number Four prison for black men, the detention for months in dirty, overcrowded conditions in the Awaiting Trial Block, or being stripped of their underclothes and their dignity in the Women's Gaol.
The Old Fort was declared a National Monument in 1964 although it continued as a functioning prison until 1987, after which the buildings and the site as a whole suffered from neglect and vandalism. [3] Constitution Hill opened as a museum in 2004, with tours taking the visitors to three prison museums: Number Four, the Women's Gaol and the Old Fort. The site also features the Constitutional Court and the court's collection of 200 South African artworks.
Outside the wooden doors of the court building, in the middle of a plaza and built into one of the stairwells of the old prison is the Flame of Democracy. The Flame was lit on 10 December 2011 when South Africa celebrated the 15th anniversary of the signing of the constitution.
In 1995, the Constitutional Court justices began looking for a permanent location for the new Court. The new court building was built using bricks from the demolished awaiting-trial wing of the former number 4 prison. Most of the prison has been demolished to make way for the new court, but the stairwells have been kept and incorporated into the new building as a reminder of how South Africa has overcome the dark days of oppression. The first court session in the new building at this location was held in February 2004. The court building is open to the public who want to attend hearings or view the art gallery in the court atrium. The court also houses an art gallery with a collection of more than 200 contemporary artworks chosen by Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs, including works by Gerard Sekoto, William Kentridge, and Cecil Skotnes.
The hill overlooks downtown Johannesburg to the South and the wealthy northern suburbs such as Houghton Estate, Parktown, and Sandton to the North. [4]
The Old Fort prison buildings were built from 1896 to 1899. They were created by the Boers for the specific purpose of holding captive British invaders. During the Anglo-Boer War, however, the British seized Johannesburg and converted the Old Fort prison buildings for the incarceration of Boers, some of whom were executed there. Even prominent Boer leaders of the Anglo-Boer War were imprisoned here by the British soon after the British had succeeded in seizing and controlling Johannesburg.
Under the apartheid government, only whites were held in the Old Fort prison buildings, except for Nelson Mandela, he was kept there after the government received a tip-off regarding an escape attempt. Mandela was given a bed in the hospital section as an awaiting-trial prisoner in 1962 prior to the Rivonia Trial.
In the old prison blocks visitors can learn more about South Africa's difficult path towards freedom and democracy from the permanent museum exhibitions that include personal testimonies from former prisoners and warders and installations.
Number Four also called ''Native Prison'' is the section of the Old Fort complex that was reserved for black men. Number Four was once home to prisoners such as Mahatma Gandhi, Robert Sobukwe and the students of the 1976 Soweto uprising.
The Constitution Hills Women Gaol was built in 1909, as a Victorian-style building, with separate sections for whites and other races. Treatment meted out on prisoners here were largely with regards to their racial background. The white prisoners were given better treatment as compared to other races who were crowded in their cells with bad and inadequate sanitary conditions.
Some of the notable prisoners who were once imprisoned here include Winnie Mandela and Albertina Sisulu who were both political activists and were arrested on account of their activities with the African National Congress. [5] In 1932, Daisy de Melker, who poisoned her two husbands and her son, was imprisoned here. She was later convicted for murder and executed by hanging. [6]
In 1983, women's imprisonment and its related activities were discontinued at the building. The edifice was later converted to a women's centre. [6]
The museum section includes the Mandela Cell, where Nelson Mandela was housed when he was held here in prison.[ citation needed ]
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, also known as Winnie Mandela, was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician, and the second wife of Nelson Mandela. She served as a Member of Parliament from 1994 to 2003, and from 2009 until her death, and was a deputy minister of arts and culture from 1994 to 1996. A member of the African National Congress (ANC) political party, she served on the ANC's National Executive Committee and headed its Women's League. Madikizela-Mandela was known to her supporters as the "Mother of the Nation".
The Boeremag is the name by which a group of men convicted of treason in South Africa is commonly known as. The South African government described them as a South African right-wing terrorist organization with white separatist aims. The Boeremag were accused of planning to overthrow the ruling African National Congress government and to reinstate a new Boer-administered republic reminiscent of the era when Boers administered independent republics during the 19th century following the Great Trek.
The Rivonia Trial was a trial that took place in apartheid-era South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, after a group of anti-apartheid activists were arrested on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia. The farm had been the secret location for meetings of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the newly-formed armed wing of the African National Congress. The trial took place in Pretoria at the Palace of Justice and the Old Synagogue and led to the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Denis Goldberg, Raymond Mhlaba, Elias Motsoaledi, Andrew Mlangeni. Many were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to life.
Raymond Mphakamisi Mhlaba OMSG was an anti-apartheid activist, Communist and leader of the African National Congress (ANC) also as well the first premier of the Eastern Cape. Mhlaba spent 25 years of his life in prison. Well known for being sentenced, along with Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu and others in the Rivonia Trial, he was an active member of the ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP) all his adult life. His kindly manner brought him the nickname "Oom Ray".
Helen Suzman, OMSG, DBE was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician. She represented a series of liberal and centre-left opposition parties during her 36-year tenure in the whites-only, National Party-controlled House of Assembly of South Africa at the height of apartheid.
Abraham Louis Fischer was a South African Communist lawyer of Afrikaner descent with partial Anglo-African ancestry from his paternal grandmother, notable for anti-apartheid activism and for the legal defence of anti-apartheid figures, including Nelson Mandela, at the Rivonia Trial. Following the trial, he was himself put on trial accused of furthering communism. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and diagnosed with cancer while in prison. The South African Prisons Act was extended to include his brother's house in Bloemfontein where he died two months later.
Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada OMSG, sometimes known by the nickname "Kathy", was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist.
The Constitutional Court of South Africa is a supreme constitutional court established by the Constitution of South Africa, and is the apex court in the South African judicial system, with general jurisdiction.
The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956.
Valli Moosa is Deputy Chairperson of the Presidential Climate Commission and Chairperson of the Constitution Hill trust. He was born in Johannesburg and is a veteran of the South African freedom struggle. Valli worked closely with Nelson Mandela during the settlement talks, served as negotiator for the ANC, and participated in drafting the South African Constitution. He served in President Mandela's cabinet as Minister of Constitutional Development, and in President Mbeki's government as Environment Minister. Valli joined the corporate sector in 2004 and currently serves on the board of Sappi Ltd. He has previously served on the boards of Anglo Platinum, Eskom and Sanlam. Valli served as a facilitator in the global climate change negotiations for a number of years. He previously served as President of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as Chairman of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and as Chairman of WWF(SA).
Pollsmoor Prison, officially known as Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, is located in the Cape Town suburb of Tokai in South Africa. Pollsmoor is a maximum security penal facility that continues to hold some of South Africa's most dangerous criminals. Although the prison was designed with a maximum capacity of 4,336 offenders attended by a staff of 1,278, the current inmate population is over 7,000.
Benjamin Pogrund OIS is a South African-born Israeli author.
Prisons in South Africa are run by the Department of Correctional Services. The department is divided into six administrative regions, each with its own regional commissioner, and subdivided into multiple areas, each headed by an area commissioner. According to the ministry, there are approximately 34,000 employees of the department running 240 prisons. In those prisons are nearly 156,000 inmates as of August 2013. The prisons include minimum, medium, maximum and super-maximum security facilities. They may be entirely dedicated to a specific group of prisoners, such as women or children, or be divided into separate sections for each group. Since 2019, the Minister of Correctional Services has been Ronald Lamola.
Bob Gosani (1934–1972) was a South African photographer.
Esther Barsel was a South African political activist and long-standing member of the South African Communist Party (SACP). She was a member of both her local African National Congress branch and the SACP's Johannesburg Central Branch.
Pretoria Central Prison, renamed Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area by former President Jacob Zuma on 13 April 2013 and sometimes referred to as Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Services is a large prison in central Pretoria, within the City of Tshwane in South Africa. It is operated by the South African Department of Correctional Services.
"I Am Prepared to Die" was a three-hour speech given by Nelson Mandela on 20 April 1964 from the dock at the Rivonia Trial. The speech is so titled because it ended with the words "it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die". It is considered one of the great speeches of the 20th century, and a key moment in the history of South African democracy.
I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realised. But my lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
Robben Island Prison is an inactive prison on Robben Island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometers (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. Nobel Laureate and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before the fall of apartheid. Since then, three former inmates of the prison have gone on to become President of South Africa.
Stephen Bernard Lee is a South African former political prisoner best known for his 1979 escape from Pretoria Local Prison with friend and fellow activist Tim Jenkin and a third inmate, Alex Moumbaris.
This article identifies the historical reform patterns of the South African prison system, focusing on specific actors, social movements, and underlying socio-political factors that precipitated reform before the apartheid struggle and after 1994, transitioning into the current reform challenges facing the South African prison system.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
