Inside the Old Fort

Tourist sites at Constitution Hill The Constitutional Court The new Court is designed to be accessible and transparent. It is built around the remaining stairwells of the old Awaiting Trail Block. Light filtering through sloping columns of glass on the roof, shifts through the day, as if filtered through trees, reminding us that in African culture, elders would decide important matters under the shade of a tree. The court building is open to the public who want to attend hearings or view the art gallery in the court atrium flanking the Great African steps. The more than 200 artworks here represent one of the finest collections of contemporary South African art. Great African Steps The Great African Steps are built with the bricks of the demolished Awaiting Trial Block. They run between the solid-stone wall of the notorious Number Four prison to the right and the imperious glass facade of the Constitutional Court. The Bill of Rights is engraved on atrium windows and directly ahead light shines through luminous panes representing the South African flag. Constitution Square At the heart of Constitution Hill is Constitution Square, a large outdoor piazza in which people can meet, relax in the shade and enjoy a snack. The square also provides an important east-west pedestrian linkage for Hillbrow and Braamfontein. Visitor Centre Situated at the entrance to Number Four, the Visitor Centre is located in what is believed to be the oldest building on Constitution Hill, a stable used to house police horses, built circa 1896. Here you can obtain information about events and purchase an admission ticket for exhibitions. Number Four This old prison is where tens of thousands of black men were imprisoned and brutalised over close to a century. Many of the men incarcerated here fell foul of race laws while others were guilty of resisting those laws - men such as Mohandas 'Mahatma' Gandhi and Robert Sobukwe. Leaving No.4, there is a Memory & Response Room. Here you can listen to visitor responses and memories and record your own in a soundproof booth with a microphone and a touch-screen computer, the first facility of its kind at a South African heritage site. These recordings will become part of the Constitution Hill Oral History Database, to be listened to by future scholars and visitors and contribute to the next layer of history at Constitution Hill. Nearby is the We, The People: Portraits Exhibition, a series of extraordinary photographs, the result of a nationwide project conducted between October and December 2003. South Africans across the country were asked whether the Constitution had changed their lives, and their responses are recorded here. Women's Jail Built in 1910, the grace of this Victorian brick building obscures the humiliation meted out to women detained within it. The jail held black and white women in separate sections. Serial poisoner, Daisy De Melker was held here before she was executed, as were prominent political activists including, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Albertina Sisulu, Helen Joseph and Ruth First. From the mid-1950s two-thirds of those held here were pass offenders. The Old Fort The Old Fort was built by Paul Kruger from 1896 to 1899 to protect the ZAR from the threat of British invasion, it in turn, was built around a prison for male prisoners. Only whites were held in the Old Fort itself, but for Nelson Mandela, who was given a bed in the hospital section when he was arrested in 1962. Below the courtyard are buried the bones of three Boer sympathisers who were shot by firing squad and buried, wrapped only in shrouds, in the courtyard. The Old Fort Rampart Walk has the most beautiful panoramic view of Johannesburg. RELATED LINKS: Constitutional Court, an artwork through and through The Constitutional Court houses one of the finest art collections in the country - some 200 works, many by South African artists. Read more Recollecting the past brings the Old Fort alive 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. Read more Constitutional Court opens for business The first sitting of the country's highest court, the Constitutional Court, in its brand-new building in Johannesburg, took place on a rainy February morning amid construction vehicles, muddy puddles and hardhatted workers. Read more Johannesburg Development Agency The Johannesburg Development Agency has targeted the following areas for development: Newtown, Constitution Hill, Fashion District, Braamfontein, Greater Ellis Park, Jeppestown, Kliptown, Hillbrow and Berea. Read more

SA's history tied to the story of a fort March 8, 2004 By Philippa Garson WHEN Joe Slovo was held at Johannesburg's Old Fort prison, now part of Constitution Hill, warders queued to seek legal advice from him in his "Chambers". In the prison setting this was the toilet - the only private place for white males. Black males had no such privileges - their toilets were located in the middle of their cells. Inside the Old Fort, jail for white men This is one of many fascinating anecdotes about the Old Fort's history that a group of keen young tour guides were imbibing this week in preparation for the big day - 21 March, Human Rights Day - when Constitution Hill opens to the public. Over the past five months the group of 15 tour guides has been on an intense learning curve, preparing to tell the thousands of visitors expected about the 80 years of brutality witnessed by Johannesburg's Old Fort prison complex, about the country's miraculous transition to democracy and the evolving culture of human rights, about the challenges facing the future … This week the young guides were being put through their paces by Mark Gevisser, content adviser for Constitution Hill's heritage education and tourism team. The group, consisting of 12 tour guides and three education officers for school tours, has already been in training for five months, completing basic tour-guiding courses as well as focusing for the past three months on Constitution Hill. Tour guides catch a view from the ramparts Their challenge will be to get visitors, both local and foreign, interested in the country's liberation history and in the very building where human rights are being safeguarded every day - the Constitutional Court. Their task is immense in a society that has begun to take both its liberation history and its much-envied Bill of Rights for granted. "Johannesburg doesn't have a culture or populace that visits heritage sites or museums. It's not something they usually consider doing at the weekend with their family or friends," says Tshepo Nkosi, spokesperson for the Johannesburg Development Agency, the body responsible for Constitution Hill. But there will be plenty to draw visitors - 120 000 are expected this year alone - to the R492-million precinct, which forms part of the inner city regeneration project and the cultural arc of Johannesburg, stretching from Newtown, across Mandela Bridge through Braamfontein to Constitution Hill. Comments Nkosi: "At Constitution Hill we have created an international tourist destination that gives communities the opportunity to come up with innovative ideas and services to tap the tourist rand." Sections of the prison complex - comprising the awaiting trial prison; Number Four and Five for black male prisoners; the Old Fort, the white male prison; and the women's gaol - have been preserved and are being transformed into museum and exhibition spaces. Masses of photographic, audio and video material has been put together by Constitution Hill marketers Ochre Media to capture the rich heritage of the site and tell the stories of the many famous and infamous prisoners held there - from rebel Boer leaders to Mahatma Gandhi to Nelson Mandela to serial murderer Daisy de Melker to the Foster Gang to the many ordinary people held every day under the inhumane pass laws. Former prisoners from the Old Fort have also recreated blanket and soap sculptures similar to those made by the prisoners. View from the ramparts The Constitutional Court, an artwork in itself, and the impressive selection of contemporary artworks it houses, will also be a major draw card for tourists. As will the children's interactive museum, restaurant, hotel, library and shops and offices set to open there. But much of the attraction lies in the prison buildings themselves: a walk around the Old Fort brings one eerily close to the turbulent and disturbing history embedded in its dark cells. From the ramparts one has a breathtaking 360-degree view of Johannesburg, of its old and new parts and those parts under construction. Constitution Hill captures all of this - the country's brutal struggle history, the transition to democracy and the forging of the future - in one place. For several of the tour guides, acquainting themselves with Constitution Hill and the prison complex has been part of an important personal journey, given that their parents and relatives were held here. Says Dorah Molefe: "It's been very important for me. My father was arrested here in 1958 under the pass laws. I knew all about it but I didn't know what the place was like. I thought it was a hole. It's been important for me to learn about what happened then and link it to today." Dorah, Mkumzi and Clement It is no surprise that Molefe imagined the prison as a hole: over the years it was referred to as "Ekhulukhuthu", the deep hole, by those who experienced the terrible conditions in Number Four. Mkumzi Nkabinde, a lesbian activist and sangoma, says learning about the prison "has been a wonderful experience. We've always been told about the Old Fort in black culture - my uncle and grandfather were held here - but we never knew what it was really like. " She is also looking forward to telling tourists about a Bill of Rights that ensures that homosexuals are not discriminated against. "We will have tourists who are homosexuals and they should not be afraid of coming here," she says. For Clement Masemola, ending up as a tour guide for Constitution Hill is the natural culmination of his work with Wits University's History Workshop project. His job there was to gather oral history from Alexandra residents and of course "Ekhulukhuthu" cropped up many times. "I felt myself caught in the spell of this place. I wanted to find out more." Tours around Constitution Hill start on 1 May. There will be no extra charge over and above entrance fee, which is R15 for adults, R10 for pensioners and R5 for children under 12. Before 1 May visitors may view exhibitions at Constitution Hill for free. Tours will leave every half an hour from outside the Visitors Centre on Constitution Square. To book call 274-5300. 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