Nelson Mandela, “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails”.

I never understood the true meaning of these words until my visit to Constitution Hill, the “Robben Island” of Johannesburg.

Constitution Hill is situated on a hill in Braamfontein, overlooking the busy activities of the city and showcase South Africa’s rich heritage. The history of this site goes back to 1892 when it was first built. Between the periods 1899 to 1902 it was a military defence post. New cells were added in the late 1900s and early 2000s, the “Native’s” block and women prison. The Awaiting Trial building was added in 1920 where prisoners were held awaiting trial before they were sent off to other prisons like Robben Island. The site housed prisoners until 1983 when it was closed.

In 1990 the site also became the home of South Africa’s Constitutional Court which is the highest court on constitutional matters, the highest law of the Country. The court is built around the remaining stairs of the Awaiting Trial block and have a feeling of transparency right from the moment that you enter the building. Various artworks is on display in this building.

Constitution Hill is home to three museums, the Women’s Gaol, Number Four and the Old Fort;

The Women’s Goal – The prison is not only well known for the inmate murderer, Daisy de Melker until she was hanged but it also known for the thousands of women who was arrested for pass offenses or the illegal brewing of beer. It cells also tells the story of those who stood up for democracy, Winnie Madikizele-Mandela and Albertina Sisulu.

Number Four – “Who is a criminal?” This question with photo’s of inmates left me speechless. Thousands of non-white men were classified as criminals for believing in what they stood for, freedom. They were incarcerated, brutalised and humiliated, leaving behind their ghosts.

The Old Fort – One of Johannesburg's oldest building and was used as a fortress by Paul Kruger during the Anglo Boer War. It is also one of Johannesburg most intriguing buildings, the prison for the whites except for one notable exception, Nelson Mandela who was given a bed in the hospital section with his arrest in 1962.

These prisons were home to not only to mine workers, military leaders, common criminals, passive resisters but thousands of men and women who contravened the apartheid legislation which became so part of South Africa’s history.

On visiting these three museums the first thing I noticed was the absolute silence not only from the area but also from the visitors. Was this because of respect, shame for the way in which the prisoners were treated or is it because of the proudness for those who stood up for human rights? People like Nelson Mandela, Joe Slovo, Albert Lutuli, Bram Fischer and Robert Sobukwe. Let’s not forget Mohandas Gandhi, civil rights activists, with his evolving methodology of Satyagraha (devotion to the truth)

I felt cross about the injustice of South Africa’s past and yet, I felt humble and was inspired by the smell of advocate in human rights of South Africa’s darkest pass.

The two most famous inmates of Constitutional Hill, Nelson Mandela and Mohandas Gandhi

The outside of Constitutional Hill doesn’t prepare you for what waits in the inside

Number Four with its tiny “open” cells where men were kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day

Outside in the court yard where prisoners were told to "'Strip!'” They had to take off their clothes to stood naked for inspection

The showers where men could shower once a week

The outside of the Women’s Goal

Art work on a wall at the reception desk

Outside, built into one of the stairwells of the old prison is the Flame of Democracy as a celebration of the 15th anniversary of the signing of the constitution

Carl Sandburg wrote, as he claimed, the shortest poem in the English literature “Born. Trouble. Died.”
Can this be said about the inmates of Constitutional Hill?