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CONSTITUTION HILL The Constitutional Court & the old fort

CONSTITUTION HILL The Constitutional Court & the old fort. The contrast couldn't be more stark: the legacy of apartheid on the one side and the values of freedom, equality and dignity on the other.

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CONSTITUTION HILL The Constitutional Court & the old fort

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  1. CONSTITUTION HILL The Constitutional Court & the old fort The contrast couldn't be more stark: the legacy of apartheid on the one side and the values of freedom, equality and dignity on the other.

  2. Constitution Hill is the new hone of the Constitutional Court, the protector of our basic rights and freedom. Constitution Hill is also the site of Johannesburg’s notorious Old FortPrison complex, commonly known as Number four. Thousands of ordinary people were brutally punished in Number Four before the dawn of democracy in 1994. Many of South Africa’s leading political activists were detained here, including Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo and the Women of the Struggle, amongst them Winnie Mandela, Albertina Sisulu and Fatima Meer. Constitution Hill is the Multimillion Rand regeneration development project funded by Blue IQ, Gauteng Provincial Development, the City of Johannesburg, the Department of Justice and administrated by the JDA.

  3. THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT We the People,

  4. The Constitutional Court is the highest law in the country and the keeper of our Human Rights and Freedom. On the 21st March 2004 the new Constitutional Court building was inaugurated by President Thabo Mbeki on Constitution Hill. The new court building is built on the site of the Old Fort Prison in Johannesburg. The site was chosen by the Justice of the Constitutional Court because of its intense emotional significance, “symbolising the conversion of the negativity of the past into positivity for the future," (Judge Albie Sachs)

  5. The foyer is light-filled, lined by slanting columns representing the trees under which African villagers traditionally congregated to discuss matters of social importance with elders. • Judge Albie Sachs was appointed, together with fellow Judge Yvonne Mokgoro, to take charge of decor when the Constitutional Court came into being in 1994 at its old location in Braampark in Braamfontein. What this has primarily involved was acquiring - mostly through donors - artworks for the walls of the court. • The result is that the court is not a dull, stiff place where the scales of justice appear somewhere along its cold corridors, but rather a joyous place, where people feel at home with recognised indigenous artefacts like fish traps, tapestries with familiar symbols, or wire lights. • The art collection consists of around 200 works - oils, etchings, tapestries, wire works, carvings - of mostly South African artists, some very well known, others not known at all. • Colourful foyer of the Constitutional court

  6. The Court is best described in the words of Judge Albie Sachs - • “……. it is a Palace ….. • a Palace for the People …… • a glorious palace up to which one lifts one's eyes on the Hill. • And since this is the age of democracy,……. the Palace will be open to everyone, a Palace for the People….. • And it will be a palace that makes ordinary people, • those with style, say: • including • wow!" • “The contrast couldn't be more stark: the legacy of apartheid on the one side and the values of freedom, equality and dignity on the other.”

  7. THE OLD FORT PRISON COMPLEX The Old fort Prison Complex

  8. The Old Fort – Museum • At the top of the Great African Stairs, leading from the Court to the Old fort, is a display of women who were held in the prison - many formed the backbone of the liberation struggle, defying the apartheid system by refusing to carry passes or for illegally brewing beer. • The women were particularly vulnerable. • The women's prison is still under renovation and will be opened officially on the 27th April 2005. • The Old Fort’s main entrance, looking like a gash in the hill, is a tunnel build beneath the rampart of the fort sometime between 1896 and 1899 by the premier of the then South African Republic, Paul Kruger. • Although the Old Fort was solely for white male prisoners, Nelson Mandela was once housed in the hospital section. Via a video screen, Madiba recounts this experience. Mandela shared his cell with another white inmate, whose name he does not remember. • Outside Mandela's cell was Joe Slovo's "Chamber", a toilet that Slovo used to hold legal consultations. A mark notes the spot where inmates and warders alike would queue in order to seek legal advice from him. This Courtyard is aptly named the Slovo Courtyard, where south Africans now gather to learn about their proud Heritage. • One of the main cells in the Old Fort has now been turned into the children's room, to be used as a classroom for the three-hour schools' programme, which involves a tour of the site, interactive projects and pre- and post-site activities.

  9. The Management of Constitution Hill • Invites you and Your company to become Part of • The History in the Making • For • If we do not know the past, • how will we know how far we have come • And • How Far we have yet to go! • Constitution Hill is A Living Heritage site for the People of South Africa

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