January 12, 2004
By Thomas Thale
A PROJECT to document memories of former prisoners of the Fort, a historic prison which gained notoriety for its brutal treatment of prisoners for almost a century, promises to shed light on the experiences of its inmates and to bring that past alive to present day visitors to the new Constitution Hill Precinct.
Black ex-prisoners will remember the Fort as a dungeon where they were stripped of their dignity as they were forced to perform the "tauza dance" - a display during which prisoners had to display their private parts so that warders could inspect them.
Former prisoners of Johannesburg's Old Fort
It was at the Fort that different kinds of prisoners, including Boer military leaders of the Anglo-Boer War, striking white mineworkers in 1907, 1913 and 1922, political activists opposed to apartheid, and hardened common criminals, were put behind bars.
The Fort boasts the distinction of being the only prison in the world to have had both Mahatma Ghandi and Nelson Mandela as inmates. Ghandi served his term at the Fort in 1906, while Mandela spent time as an awaiting-trial prisoner at the prison in 1962 prior to the Rivonia Trial.
Built to house white male prisoners in 1892, the Old Fort was extended, first at the turn of the century, to include "Native" cells, called Section 4 and Section 5, and, in 1907, a women's section was added. An awaiting-trial block was constructed in the 1920s.
In the 1990s, a decision was taken to build the new Constitutional Court on the grounds of the prison, turning what was once the site for the debasement of humanity into a symbol of respect for human dignity enshrined in the new constitution.
Writing in the University of Chicago Law Review (Spring 2000), Justice Albie Sachs of the Constitutional Court explained that retaining the old prison structures right next to the new Constitutional Court building symbolised "not only the never-again principle, but also the theme of survival, of hope, of the triumph of courage and humanity over despair and cruelty".
Now the memories of former inmates of The Fort are being recorded, to form part of a multi-media exhibition when the new Constitution Hill Precinct is officially opened on 21 March. The exhibition will include written, audio and visual texts. But researchers working on the project have had a hard time locating former inmates.
Joy Pelo, a researcher with Ochre, a production company contracted by the Johannesburg Development Agency to conduct the research, admits that tracing former prisoners has been difficult. "We have had some success tracing political prisoners, but common criminals tend to be sceptical about the project.
Researchers have found it particularly difficult to get hold of white ex-prisoners. The only whites to come forward, says Pelo, are former political prisoners, who take obvious pride in their historical role. Whites who served time at the Old Fort for committing common crimes, says Pelo, have been particularly reluctant to come forward. "We gathered much information from the archives kept by the South African Police and by correctional services. We have also relied on referrals."
Among prominent political prisoners interviewed for the project are Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada and Johannesburg City Councillor Prema Naidoo.
The tales recorded up to now, says Pelo, have been both revealing and emotionally charged. "Some of the ex-prisoners broke down and cried when they were brought back to the site. Many exploded in anger. You must remember that many of the inmates were victimized." Apart from in-depth interviews conducted with individuals, the researchers have also organised group sessions to trigger the memories of ex-inmates.
But the recollections of prisoners, according to Pelo, are not just about the woes of prison life. What is coming through, says Pelo, is that despite the harsh treatment they were subjected to, inmates still managed to put up informal forms of resistance. "They would for instance, reject the unsavoury food they were served, sing political songs, play games, form debating clubs, smuggle in newspapers, and even refuse to do the tauza dance."
According to Pelo, counselling has been arranged to help some of the ex-inmates deal with their emotions. Some 200 inmates have already been interviewed for the project. The interviewees fall into three main categories: those who were imprisoned for their political activism, ordinary people who were arrested for violating petty apartheid legislation and those who were locked up for committing common crimes.
Exhibiting the experiences of ordinary people within the premises of the new Constitutional Court is designed to serve as a constant reminder to uphold the human dignity of all citizens, especially the downtrodden. "There is something about standard court architecture that proclaims authority, that says beware the state is on top of you. Yet our court does not express power, it restrains power," says Justice Sachs.
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