Carnegie Reporter, Vol. 4, No. 2 | At The Heart of South Africa: A Constitution & A Court, page 2

In addition to its tremendous and varied historical significance, the geography of Constitution Hill is also central to the design of the Court. To the south lie the impoverished slums of inner-city Johannesburg. North of the hill, the wealthy, gated, still mostly white communities can be found. On another side, government buildings can be seen. On still another part of the site sits Hillbrow, where Africans from across the continent have settled, bringing with them languages, crafts, cuisines and customs from every corner of Africa.

The hill literally cleaves South Africa in two. It sits atop a mountainous ridge known as the Witwatersrand. Rainfall on one side winds up in the Atlantic Ocean. Rainfall on the other side flows to the Indian Ocean.

“All of that meets on Constitution Hill,” Masojoda says. “Andrew and I were two small mavericks who had an advantage over the larger commercial firms because the big guys were probably too bogged down in other projects to give the site and its historical significance the focus it deserved. Other firms came in with concepts that looked like an African hut on steroids. We made the decision,” Masojoda continues, “to link the insular neighborhoods through roads and pedestrian paths into what had been a foreboding and impenetrable location, and we surrounded the Court with open spaces that invite people to gather, or even sit and have lunch. The freedom to gather is the most fundamental right. The Court is about listening to the voices of the people and that ideal is central to the design. It is very transparent from outside and from inside. It was made to be accessible, as is the Constitution. And we placed the Court foyer right in the middle of that. Even the most private areas—the judges’ private chambers—face Hillbrow. There is no place inside the building where you are not aware of its proximity to the people.”

“Here in the Court, there is
an experience of intense satisfaction; a sensation of infinite joy.”

—Justice Albie Sachs.

Photo: © Thomas Khosa

The building has won many citations, including the award of excellence by the South African Institute of Architects. One critic said the design sets the tone for a new South African architecture. Perhaps more importantly, it is fast becoming the venue of choice for the events of ordinary South Africans, who come to hear concerts, attend book launches and hear poetry readings.

“We created a new kind of building that didn’t exist before,” Masojoda says, with pride. She blinks back tears when asked what it feels like to know her grandchildren will likely continue to enjoy the building with their peers. “It’s been something we have been so immersed in, that I haven’t taken the time to think of it in historical terms.”

But history remained uppermost in the mind of Justice Sachs once he was chosen, along with another judge, to chair the design competition committee and to oversee the Court’s construction.

“The main reason the site was chosen,” Sachs explains, “was that it is at the heart of South African history. Number 4 was the symbol of oppression. Under apartheid, light was taken away, and the Court and the Constitution brought it back. In many countries,” he continues, “courts tend to be dark and gloomy. We wanted a building full of light, evocative of the new South Africa.”

Sachs points to an old prison staircase, complete with inmate graffiti, that was incorporated into the design of the Court building. “The prison staircases stand like sentinels,” he declares, “saying never again will human dignity, equality and freedom be denied.”

Reminders of prison run throughout the building design. The passage leading to each judges’ chamber is fitted with a metal gate, each one individually designed as a reminder of metal prison cell gates. The judges’ chambers are housed in offices separated by walkways and narrow bridges reminiscent of prison tiers in cellblocks.

Building Up Human Rights Upon Prison Bricks
Sachs started his tours of the Constitutional Court immediately after its 2004 inauguration, which was attended by 185 Supreme Court Justices from around the world. The tours proved so popular that he continues to do them monthly. Regular Court staff conducts other tours throughout the month.

On this day, Sachs begins the tour on a long, downhill walkway separating the Court from the solitary confinement cells of the old prison. The walkway, named The Great African Steps, was constructed using bricks from the demolished portions of the prison. It is a path between South Africa’s past and its future.

“We made a choice to use many of the prison bricks in the construction,” he points out. “One hundred fifty thousand of the very bricks that were used to lock up people are now used to protect human rights. You don’t deny the past. You transform it. That’s another reason we have so much glass in the construction. It represents transparency. The whole message was, ‘out of darkness…light.’ Out of cruelty and oppression, we have created freedom and justice.”

Running the length of the steps is a walled dubbed “We the People.” Seven hundred engraved metal panels hang on the Court windows containing the opinions and impressions of visitors to the Court, especially former inmates of the jails.

One former prisoner of the women’s prison is Joyce Seroke, Chairperson of the Commission on Gender Equality, which has offices in the complex. “It is ironic,” Seroke’s engraving states, “that every day I walk through the same entrance of the women’s jail that I walked through on that fateful day in 1976 when I was detained. I proceed past the same garden into the same atrium where I was stripped of my name, identity and given a number…Instead of being ushered into my cell where I spent six months in solitary confinement,” the statement continues, “I walk through this old communal cell into my beautiful office…My coming here represents the triumph of our nation over a system that once denied people their humanity and dignity. My being here emphasizes that our sacrifices and struggles were not in vain. It is a clear sign that as a country, we have come a long way. The wounds are being healed and we are able to transcend all the bitterness and to embrace hope, love and faith in our democracy.”

Next page: The Great African Steps lead to the thirty-foot-tall wooden door at the main entrance to the Court.

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