The Constitution Hill precinct in Johannesburg is the seat of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. The first court session in the new building at this location was held in February 2004. City motto: Unity in Development Province Gauteng Mayor Amos Masondo Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ... The South African Constitutional Court was established in 1994 by South Africas first democratic constitution: the Interim Constitution of 1993. ... February is the second month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

History

The hill was formerly the site of a fort, and was also used as a prison. The original prison was built to house white male prisoners in 1892. The Old Fort was built around this prison by Paul Kruger from 1896 to 1899 to protect the South African Republic from the threat of British invasion. Later, Boer military leaders of the Anglo-Boer War were imprisoned here by the British. Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paul Kruger (10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904), fondly known as Oom Paul (Afrikaans for Uncle Paul), was a prominent Boer resistance leader against British rule and president of the Transvaal Republic in South Africa. ... Capital Pretoria Created 1857 - Independence 1881 - Boer Rebelion Dissolved 1877 - 1st British Annexation 1900 - Formal Annexation Language Afrikaans The South African Republic (Dutch: Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, or ZAR), often informally known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent country in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century. ... Boer is the Afrikaans (and Dutch) word for farmer which came to denote the descendants of the Afrikaans-speaking migrating farmers of the expanding eastern Cape frontier. ... The Second Boer War, also known as the South African War, was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902. ...

The Old Fort prison was later extended 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. Both political activists opposed to apartheid and common criminals were held at the prison. Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned here in 1906, and striking white mineworkers in 1907, 1913 and 1922. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Devanagari/Hindi: मोहनदास करमचन्द गांधी; Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી; October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) was the spiritual and political leader of India who led the struggle for Indian independence from the British Empire, empowered by tens of millions of Indians. ...

Under the apartheid government, only whites were held in the Old Fort itself, except for Nelson Mandela, who was given a bed in the hospital section when he was as an awaiting-trial prisoner in 1962 prior to the Rivonia Trial. Joe Slovo, Bram Fischer, Albert Luthuli and Robert Sobukwe were also inmates. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, (born July 18, 1918), was the first democratically elected President of South Africa, having previously been a prominent anti-apartheid activist there. ... The Rivonia Trial was an infamous trial which took place in South Africa between 1963 and 1964, in which ten leaders of the African National Congress were tried for 221 acts of sabotage designed to ferment violent revolution. Origins It was named after Rivonia, the suburb of Johannesburg where 19... Joe Slovo Joe Slovo (May 23, 1926 – January 6, 1995) was a South African Communist politician and long time leader of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and leading member of the African National Congress. ... Abram Louis Fischer, commonly known as Bram Fischer, (1908-1975) was a South African lawyer of Afrikaner descent, notable for anti-apartheid activism and for the legal defense of anti-apartheid figures, including Nelson Mandela at the Rivonia Trial. ... Albert John Lutuli (also known by his Zulu name Mvumbi, his surname is sometimes and probably more phonetically spelt Luthuli) (1898? - 21 July 1967) was a South African teacher and politician. ... Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (1924 – 27 February 1978) was a South African political dissident, who founded the Pan African Congress in opposition to the Apartheid regime. ...

The site housed prisoners until 1983, when it was closed. In 1995, the Constitutional Court justices began looking for a permanent location for the new Court.

The Constitutional Court

The court building itself was built using bricks from the demolished awaiting-trial wing of the former prison. The court building is open to the public who want to attend hearings or view the art gallery in the court atrium. The court houses a collection of more than 200 contemporary artworks chosen by Consititutional Court judge Albie Sachs, including works by Gerard Sekoto, William Kentridge, and Cecil Skotnes. Albie Sachs (1935-) is a justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. ... Gerard Sekoto (9 December 1913 - 20 March 1993), is an South African artist and musician. ... William Kentridge (born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1955) is a South African Artist. ...

The hill overlooks downtown Johannesburg to the South and the wealthy northern suburbs of Houghton, Parktown, Sandton, etc to the North.

References

• Official website
• Constitution Hill

From the city of Johannesburg official website

The following links are from the city of Johannesburg official website.

• The Fort turns into the Court
• Recollecting the past brings the Old Fort alive
• Constitutional Court, an artwork through and through
• Constitution Hill tour captures essence of SA
• SA's history tied to the story of a fort
• On tour with Albie Sachs