The entrance to the Old Fort, with the lonely guardhouse in the south-western corner, now visible

RELATED LINKS: SA's history tied to the story of a fort 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. Read more Constitution Hill tour captures essence of SA A TOUR of Constitution Hill this week gave a group of education officials and schoolchildren from all over South Africa a harrowing insight into what it was like to be a prisoner during the dark days of apartheid. Read more Building the 'Robben Island of Jo'burg' JOHANNESBURG, the city of commerce, lacks the powerful public architecture of Cape Town or Pretoria. But that's about to change. Three major public buildings are under construction in the city, each an attempt to capture the multi-cultural ethos of the country, and each a powerful demonstration of the best in modern South African architecture. Read more

The northern rampart, clear of long grass and bushes

The parade ground has been excavated and the shrubs removed from the northern rampart

Old Fort ramparts being restored The Old Fort was the look out point Paul Kruger used to keep an eye on the uitlanders, a fort to protect the town during the South African War and a prison. Now its ramparts are being restored as part of Constitution Hill. December 14, 2006 By Lucille Davie IN 1899 the ramparts of the Johannesburg Fort prison were completed on the Hillbrow ridge. Now, 107 years later, those ramparts are being restored and will become a vantage point for Joburgers to size up their city. "The restoration of the ramparts is a commemoration of the military period of the Old Fort – there has been too much emphasis on the present era," says Lebowa Letsoalo, the Constitution Hill development manager with the Johannesburg Development Agency. Major work has already taken place on the hill, now known as Constitution Hill. A new Constitutional Court has been built; the notorious No 4 prison and the Women's Jail remain as a sombre reminder of apartheid; and the Old Fort has become a place of functions and exhibitions. The southern ramparts, shorn of grass and vegetation The whole precinct is now a major tourist attraction, and links with the inner city as a cultural arc, running through Braamfontein and ending in Newtown, an entertainment and restaurant hub. The Old Fort was originally a prison, built in 1893 by Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek president Paul Kruger, just seven years after the gold town sprung up from the dusty veld. Three years later, in 1896, suspicious and uneasy after the failed Jameson Raid, an effort by the uitlanders to take over Joburg, he turned the prison into a fort, building four high ramparts around the buildings, giving him a good view of the goings-on in the burgeoning town. The fort was complete by 1899, just before the start of the South African War. He positioned two cannons on the ramparts – one on the south-west corner, facing the town, and the other on the north-east corner, facing Pretoria, against potential threat. In 1899, at the outbreak of the Great South African War, the Boers used the ramparts for vantage points, storing artillery in the storerooms built into its walls. In 1900 when the British took occupation of Johannesburg, the Boers handed over the keys of the Old Fort. When the war ended in 1902 the public works department took control of the building, planning to use it as a temporary jail while plans were made for the construction of a new jail. That new jail was built 81 years later - prisoners were moved to Diepkloof Prison, nicknamed Sun City, outside Soweto, in 1983. In the meantime, the prison complex grew. In 1904 No 4 was built north of the Old Fort, to house black prisoners. In 1910 the Women's Jail was built, housing black and white women in separate sections. In 1928 the Awaiting Trial Block was built, imprisoning black men awaiting their trials. The Old Fort was used to incarcerate white male prisoners. Letsoalo says the restoration of the ramparts is part of the broader restoration of the Old Fort, still on the drawing board. Now the ramparts look shaved and shorn, the long grass, wild shrubs and trees having been brought under control. The process started on 20 November and Letsoalo says it will be complete by 18 December. "As a fort it had no trees, so they have to be removed." Then a bricked path will be created around the top of the ramparts, including a lift for the disabled, and a bridge will be constructed in the north-west corner, where the ramparts are broken to allow passage down to the other prison buildings. Letsoalo is hoping to restore the cannons to their positions, and has a military historian searching the country for the same or similar cannons. He thinks one has been located. The original guardhouses still stand on the corners of the ramparts – these will also be restored. The restoration of the ramparts will be complete by the end of April, and it is hoped that the cannons will be in place by the end of June. Courtyard excavation The courtyard below the northern rampart is also undergoing restoration. Archaeologist Dr Alex Schoeman has excavated the area, with the brief of tracing the original building that stood in the courtyard. She was requested also to establish the source of a damp problem in the fort. "We had to understand the slope of the courtyard," she says. It appears there were barracks in the courtyard, built in the early 1900s, when the building was still a fort. In the 1940s and '50s these buildings were converted into cells, possibly for mentally unstable prisoners, being the equivalent of "modern padded cells", says Schoeman. This building would have looked much like the coffee shop on the courtyard, with solid walls, small windows and decorative roof edging, but with grey exterior walls and green interior walls. In the 1980s, after the prison was closed down, the Rand Light Infantry moved in, requiring the courtyard for a parade ground, so the building was demolished. The courtyard slopes to the east, hence the run-off into the fort. When the building was demolished all drainage channels were removed and the problem of damp in the Old Fort was exacerbated. During excavations, a round shape was uncovered, possibly a well, Schoeman says. Letsoalo says the footprint of the original building will be constructed. At the same time draining and channelling will be installed to solve the damp problem. The present staircase up the northern rampart will be moved further east, where it originally would have been positioned. The original staircase up to the western rampart will be restored. The project is being funded by the philanthropic organisation, Atlantic Philanthropies, which makes grants worldwide to projects in four categories: ageing, disadvantaged children and youth, health of populations in developing countries, and reconciliation and human rights. The full project will cost R7,5-million. Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page Send an online postcard E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za