Travels with Olga: South Africa -- Prison Number Four in Johannesburg

Johannesburg is a modern city like any modern city: dense population, skyscrapers, lots of traffic, lots of money flowing through it. But the history of this town surpasses most as an icon of suppression and subsequent freedom for a non-white majority that lives here. One of the worst examples of suppression is Prison Number Four that housed criminals and political prisoners alike. Mandela served time here as did Mahatma Gandhi. Conditions were horrible beyond belief. And yet, the 1990s would see a dramatic change that would reverse all that had gone on before, namely, the end of apartheid. The prison would become Constitutional Hill where a beacon of truth and justice were guaranteed for all people not only of Johannesburg, but South Africa itself.

Black People and Prison

Prisons like Number Four were part of a system of maintaining racial discrimination during the apartheid era. Going to prison was part of everyday life for black people. People whose only crime was they were black would be thrown together with thieves, rapists, and murderers. In1960, one in eight of the black population was convicted. This turned innocent people into criminals. Some became political activists in prison.

"Racism, one of the great evils of our time, bedevils human relations, between individuals, within and between nations and across continents. It brutalizes entire peoples, destroys persons, warps the process of thought and injects into human society a foul air of tension, mutual antagonism and hatred."

Oliver Tambo, former president of the African National Congress

Prison Number Four

This is section Four and Five of the Old Fort Prison Complex, commonly known as Number Four. The original 'Native Jail' was built on this site between 1902 and 1904 to house black make prisoners. Because of its location in the inner city, the Johannesburg City Council planned to move it to a more suitable location. However, it was only closed in 1983. From the beginning, the prison was overcrowded. At times, tents were erected in the yards to accommodate new prisoners. In 1953, Number Four had a capacity of 979 but it held 2,207 prisoners. Cells designed to hold 30 prisoners often held up to 60. In contrast,White prisoners in the Old Fort were kept in smaller cells, usually on their own.

"We knew Number Four to be a very scary place, like going down a mine, because when the police car arrived at the reception, you used to go deep down, deep, deep into the earth." Sipho Sibiya, prisoner, 1960

Number Four was once home to prisoners such as Mahatma Gandhi, Robert Sobukwe (an anti-apartheid revolutionary and founding member of the Pan Africanist Congress who served as the first president of the organization) and the students of the 1976 Soweto uprising.

Entrance to Number Four for processing

Entrance to a communal cell

Overcrowding was a constant problem in Number Four. These communal cells often housed twice the number of prisoners they were designed for. While the cells may have appeared chaotic, they were highly organized spaces run by cell bosses. Strict hierarchies divided the prisoners, whose social power and status determined where and how they slept as well as what they could and could not do in the cells.

The bosses slept furthest from the toilets. They robbed other prisoners of their blankets and personal belongings to create comfort, space, and privacy for themselves.

The emaphanga was an area reserved for the sakabams, the bosses' lieutenants, who used violence and intimidation to control the cell. The besoekers also slept here. They used the goods they received from visitors to buy the privilege of sleeping in this area. The besoekers were easily demoted if their visits stopped.

The "specials" or cleaners, whose role it was to serve the bosses, slept between the toilet and the mapanga in and area called the "bush".

The Gubudweni was the most overcrowded and cramped space in the cell. Prisoners slept head to toe 'like sardines'. These underlings did not have anything to trade for comfort or privilege or they were simply the newcomers in the cell. They could only be promoted by proving they were part of a prison gang or by fighting on behalf of the sakabams or fighting the sakabams themselves.

According to the Minister of Prisons, 1970

White prisoners have:

a divan (or 2 sleeping mats if floor space is limited)

a mattress, pillow, and bedspread

3 blankets

4 sheets

2 pillowcases

Non-whites have: 2 sleeping mats and 3 blankets

Dining

"The whites ate as if they were at a restaurant where you look at the menu and choose what you want. Their menu was not the same everyday. They ate better food than the owners of the country. For black people, there was nothing like that. They ate rubbish." Martin 'Panyaza' Shabangu, prison warder, 1973-80

"You stay away from the food until hunger starts pushing you towards eating it. And once you are sufficiently hungry, the food is okay." Khehla Shubane, political prisoner, 1977

"The tin plates...were unwashed and encrusted with layers of dried food accumulated over months, well mixed with rust." Alex La Guma, political prisoner, 1956

"Supper was a mixture of old rotten boiled fish whose stink would reach us, permeating from the prison's kitchens, long before the fish itself had arrived; and when it did so, it was hardly recognizable as fish, with hundreds of thin bones which made it difficult to eat, quite apart from the disgusting smell of it. On the day it was pig skins, the fat had long curdled...with the pieces of skins sticking out of the mess like shark fins." Molefe Pheto, political prisoner, 1975

"The biggest thing in prison is sex. The way that the cell bosses would entice young men to have sex with them was by giving them better food." Molefe Makiti, political prisoner, 1963

"When I worked in the kitchen we prisoners used to mix the phuzamandia (fortified powdered drink) in a big pot with water. We didn't mix it properly so that the residue remained at the bottom. When we dished, the bomgwaja (the underlings) would get the water. My friends and the other bosses would always get the hard part. We'd also keep some to sell." Jack Mabaso, prisoner cell boss, 1967-83

"If you did something wrong in prison, like not shaving your head, you were punished by being put in the ekhulukhuthu (isolation cells) for the day and you were denied three meals. We called this punishment 'drie maal tye' (three times a day). When the guard opens the next day, you are so weak that your knees are wobbly. You can't even make it to your porridge." Jack Mabaso, prisoner cell boss, 1967-83

Christmas Treats (The Prisoners Handbook, 1960)

White prisoners: 1 lb. pudding or cake

Non-white prisoners: one pint coffee or tea with one ounce of sugar, milk if available from ordinary supply, may be given

Health

The prison was a health hazard. Over the year, there were outbreaks of diseases like Enteric Fever and Typhoid. Hospital facilities were inadequate and doctors were present for only part of the day.

"One of the reasons for my disease (Typhoid) is found in this jail. Filth. The mats are filthy, the blankets are filthy, the latrines are filthy, the food is filthy, the utensils are filthy, the convicts' clothes are filthy. The latrines overflowed and made a stench." Alex La Guma, political prisoner, 1956

"The bosses again. If they felt a man seemed to enjoy the shower, he was assaulted. One of the bosses would stand at the gate with a dish full of soft soap better known as 'sop-sop'. He would scoop it with his hand and paste it onto our heads as we rushed past him..." Godfrey Moloi, prisoner, 1956

"After we arrived in Number Four we did not have a shower for three or four months. Because of the interaction of our lawyers, tackling the authorities, threatening them with an interdict, they allowed us to shower. It was cold water, but at least it was a shower, it was quite a relief. Then we were allowed to shower about once a week." Prema Naidoo, political prisoner, 1982

"It was wrong, it was not nice. For us, the children of the Basotho Nation, we respect elderly people. A man can never undress in front of me. But in this place they don't care. You undress, the older men in front of the younger men. But we could do nothing about it, absolutely nothing." Samuel Nthute, political prisoner, 1963

The Yard of Number Four

Mahatma Gandhi in Number Four

Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned here in 1906. He is honored for his time in Number Four. Here is his prison record during his 21 years in South Africa.

Jan 10-30, 1908 Arrested for failing to register or to leave Transvaal

October 7, 1908 Imprisonment and hard labor for not having his registration, which he burned

Feb - May, 1909 Imprisonment at Transvaal for not having registration certificate

Nov 6-7, 1913 Arrested for conducting the "Great March" and out on bail

Nov 8, 1913 Arrested again and released on bail

Nov 9 - Dec 18, 1913 Arrested and sentenced to 9 months imprisonment but unexpectedly released

Nelson Mandela and the Old Fort

This is the hospital ward where Nelson Mandela stayed during his second incarceration at the Old Fort in 1962. He was considered to risky to be among the other prisoners, so he was isolated from them. His cell has been reconstructed to look much as it did during his time here.

Correspondence that Mandela wrote or received have been preserved.

The first time Mandela was imprisoned at the Old Fort was in the awaiting trial block on December 5, 1956, when he was arrested in the Treason Trial, along with 156 others. Bail was granted two weeks later, but the trial only ended over three years later, on March 29, 1961, when the last 30 defendants were found not guilty.

In October 1958, he visited the Fort in a different capacity, this time as a lawyer to 1000 women--soon to be 2000--who were arrested in Johannesburg during a protest against the pass laws. One of them was his pregnant new wife, Winnie Mandela. The women spent two weeks in unsanitary conditions in a hopelessly overcrowded prison.

On February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years of incarceration. He immediately resumed his fight against apartheid and helped lead South Africa through a peaceful transition to democracy. In 1994, he became the country’s first black president.

Punishment

Over the decades, the prison authorities employed various means to enforce power and inflict punishment on the prisoners. This included the tausa "dance" where the naked prisoner lept in the air, spun around, clapped his hands overhead, and bent over for the warder's inspection.

In the early 1900s, prisoners who contravened prison rules and regulations had their punishments handed down to them by visiting magistrates and these had to be recorded in the Journal of the Prison. These punishments included solitary confinement for up to seven days, up to 25 lashes or hard labor for up to 21 days. Prisoners were also ordered to wear leg irons for indefinite periods and frequently complained to the visiting magistrates.

Later on, punishments and beatings were more arbitrary in nature and became a constant feature of prison life. Prisoners had little recourse to complain if they were assaulted or punished.

Throughout the years that this prison was open, the flogging frame was one of the most extreme forms of punishment. Testimonies describe how prisoners were tied to the frame and lashed on their backs in the full view of other prisoners. Doctors were obliged to be present at these lashings. Different numbers of lashes were meted out for different crimes. For sodomy, prisoners were usually sentenced to 15 lashes. The frame was in operation until the mid-1980s.

"Deep Dark Hole"

The most extreme form of punishment was to be placed in the isolation cells. Prisoners spent 23 hours a day inside these cells on a diet of rice water. They could officially be held here for 30 days but some spent over a year in these cells.

"There was never any question when you looked at this jail that it was designed to punish...there was never any intention here of treating prisoners with any degree of humanity."

Flo Bird, Heritage Practitioner

In South Africa, we actually had a robust bill of rights protecting all people, even those who find themselves behind bars. This bill clearly states that prisoners have the right to conditions "that are consistent with human dignity, including at least exercise, adequate accommodation, nutrition, reading material and medical treatment." But this bill of rights was drawn up only in 1997, which means that prisoners at the Fort prior to that date endured almost a century of abuse.

Every aspect of a prisoner's life was controlled. Each morning he would wake up, clean his cell and prepare for warder inspection. The contents of the shared open latrine bucket would have to be flushed down the toilet in the courtyard or poured down an open drain. Up until the 1959 outbreak of typhoid at the Fort, prisoners did not have access to flushing toilets. Punishments were meted out on a daily basis and these included solitary confinement, withholding of meals, lashings and, in the early days, leg irons and chains.

Yet despite this incredibly repressive environment, prisoners did manage to cling to their humanity. Relief was found in outside courtyard activities such as soccer or table tennis. Games such as bridge and chess were played inside the cells and, for some, reading was permitted. Engaging in smuggling activities also helped break the monotony.

These prison cells that are shown to the public are simply a section representing an entire complex of claustrophobic chambers constructed from a range of materials, such as wire mesh, solid metal, slate, and wood.

From pimps and pickpockets to war heroes and political activists, the many people confined in the Fort cohabited this cruelly-textured world. Their stories offer us fascinating insight into South Africa's checkered past.

Women's Prison

The women's prison was originally built in 1909 as a Victorian-style building with separate sections for whites and other races. Treatment meted out on prisoners depended on their racial background. The white prisoners were given better treatment as compared to other races who were crowded in their cells with bad and inadequate sanitary conditions.

Some of the notable prisoners who were once imprisoned here include Winnie Mandela and Albertina Sisulu who were both political activists and were arrested on account of their activities with the African National Congress.

The wardresses entered the name of every woman brought to this jail in large prison registers. Black women were entered in blue ink and white women were entered in red, clearly emphasizing the racial segregation that dominated life in the jail.

In the 1950s, the jail could accommodate between 355 and 375 prisoners, most of whom were serving sentences of less than six months. In November 1965, the average daily number of prisoners in the Women's Jail was 300 blacks, 30 coloureds, and 9 whites.

Prisoners remember the registration process as frightening and violent with wardresses shouting commands and sometimes beating prisoners to keep order. After being entered into the register, prisoners were herded into a courtyard where they were showered, stripped, searched, and then taken to the cells. Black and white women were taken to separate sections of the Jail.

"When you arrived here you knew you were in prison. If you didn't talk when the white lady asked you something, she would shout, 'Praat jong, praat' (speak man, speak). Then she would take a bunch of keys and hit you with it. You couldn't say anything. You would cry and shiver. She didn't care. She would just kick you. She just didn't care." Sarah Sematlane, pass offender, 1981

"They would shout, 'I'm innocent,' and I would say, 'It's not my fault you're here--don't shout at me.' You had to be in control all the time." Theresa Swanepoel, prison wardresses, 1980

Even in a system designed to dehumanize, both jailers and prisoners found moments of connection and compassion. Black wardresses say they were often treated like prisoners themselves and were pitied by the inmates over whome they were supposed to exert their authority.

Prisoners saw how black wardresses walked with their hands behind their backs and curtisied to their white colleagues. They saw that white juniors resisted taking instructions from black sergeants. They saw the way in which white wardresses sat on chairs and called out instructions to black wardresses. They saw black wardresses standing all day.

"You would be wandering outside while the white senior member was sitting by the main gate. You just wandered around in the yard with nowhere to sit." Princess Nomakhosazana Mncedana, black wardress 1982

"You were not allowed to sit down as a black wardress. You had to stand all the time. We would stand from 7 am to 7 pm. We would get some assistance from the political prisoners who were locked in isolation--people like Sis Debs, Winnie and others. They gave us chairs to sit on because they felt sympathy for us." Linda Xamesi, black wardress, 1974

Black workers employed in Johannesburg were accommodated in sprawling townships built on the outskirts of the city. Although the townships had very few facilities and conditions were bleak, black people created vibrant social worlds. Economic development, however, was severely constrained by apartheid laws and the small spaza shops in the townships were forced to charge higher prices than the large supermarkets in town. Black women went to the "white city" to trade or shop.

The city was a dangerous place if you were black. Women going about their business shopping or trying to make a living by selling fruit or other food were vulnerable to arbitrary arrest. They were randomly accosted by the police, herded into kwela-kwela vans or marched on foot to this Jail for transgressing petty apartheid laws. With babies on their backs, shopping bags in their hands and dreams in their hearts, their daily lives were regularly disrupted.

"My grandmother sent me to town to buy fish for Good Friday. I was about to cross De Villiers Street, when a man came from behind and touched me on the shoulder. 'Where's your pass?' he asked. I did not know what to say. I was thinking. 'Am I going to jail?' I explained that I didn't have it with me and that I was going to the OK Bazaars to buy fish. He said, 'I don't want your stories. I want your pass.' He walked me to the gumba-gumba van. I was arrested.

My grandmother had taught us to say goodbye every time we left home, because we never knew if we would come back or not. We used to say, 'If you don't see me, check for me at Number Four.'" Nolundi Ntamo, pass offender, 1980 and then repeatedly

Wardress uniforms (left and center for whites and right for blacks)

headscarf (left) and passbook for blacks (right)

As resistance against apartheid intensified from the 1950s onwards, increasing numbers of political prisoners came to this Jail. When 13 political were held here together after the Soweto uprising of 1976, they were able to use their collective strength to effect important changes.

"As the prisoners were polishing the floor, we saw that they didn't have panties. Somebody would be kneeling down to polish and the sanitary pad would just drop." Joyce Piliso Seroke, political prisoner, 1976

"We were outraged it was so undignified. These women were also very uncomfortable. They kept putting their hands between their legs and walking funny." Vesta Smith, political prisoner, 1976

Prison regulations demeaned prisoners in every aspect of their lives. This was particularly so for black women.

Until 1976, all black prisoners were forced to remove their shoes and their panties on admission to the Jail. Sentenced black prisoners ere presented with formal uniforms and headscarves. They were instructed to look respectable and neat at all times. To humiliate prisoners, wardresses did not issue prison shoes or panties.

Long-term black prisoners were issued with three pads with loops. When the pads perished, they were issued with a further three.

Short-term black prisoners were given two pads without loops. These had to be handed in after use each month.

"We used to call them manhole covers." Theresa Swanepoel, white wardress, 1990

"You didn't just get a pad. You had to prove that you were bleeding by showing them." Palesa Musa, prisoner, 1981

"We were not allowed panties and we had to hold the pad between our legs. If it fell down, we'd get a hit. But then we got advice from those who had been here for long to hold it with shoelaces that were stolen from the storerooms. Pads used to have loops and that's where you inserted the shoelaces and tied them around your waist." Bella Diamini, prisoner, 1973

Constitution Hill and the Old Fort

The Old Fort Prison complex also known as Number Four was originally built to house white male prisoners in 1892. The Old Fort was built around this prison in 1896-99 to protect the South African Republic from the threat of British invasion. Later, the British imprisoned Boer military leaders of the Anglo-Boer War.

The Old Fort Prison was later extended to include cells for Black men. In 1907, a women's section was added. An awaiting-trial block was constructed in the 1920s.

Both political activists and common criminals were held at the prison. During the apartheid era the prison became a detention center for apartheid dissidents, striking white mineworkers (in 1907, 1913 and 1922), those deemed "anti-establishment", those who violated the pass laws, homosexuality, sex across the color bar, and blacks brewing beer. Prisoners were then sent to Robben Island or Pretoria to serve their jail terms. The site housed prisoners until 1983, when it was closed.

The Old Fort was declared a National Monument in 1964 although it continued as a functioning prison until 1987. The buildings and the complex as a whole suffered from neglect and vandalism.

Constitution Hill opened as a museum in 2004, with tours taking the visitors to three prison museums: Number Four, the Women's Gaol and the Old Fort. The site also features the Constitutional Court and the court's collection of 200 South African artworks.

Outside the wooden doors of the court building, in the middle of a plaza and built into one of the stairwells of the old prison is the Flame of Democracy. The Flame was lit on December 10, 2011, when South Africa celebrated the 15th anniversary of the signing of its constitution.

Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court, opened on Human Rights Day, March 21, 2004.

The building was designed by OMM Design Workshop in collaboration with Urban Solutions. The building uses elements of the site's past, including old bricks from the demolished awaiting-trial wing of Number Four prison. The stairwells of the old prison were kept and incorporated into the new building as a reminder of South Africa's dark days of oppression that were overcome.

The actual courtroom, which is open to the public, is presided over by 11 judges, who sit in chairs backed by distinctive Nguni cow skins. (Judges of the Court may only serve until age 70.)

Long, shallow windows look out on the feet of people walking by as a reminder that the court sits at the feet of the people.

The carpet inside the Constitutional Court building resembles the shade of a tree, as a modern echo of the traditional African justice system, which took place under trees. (During the Truth and Reconciliation Committees both victim and guard met with the community under a tree, as was done in traditional African society.)

The South African flag was designed in March 1994 and adopted on April 27, 1994, during South Africa's 1994 general election, to replace the previous flag used from 1928–1994.

The flag has horizontal bands of red (on the top) and blue (on the bottom), of equal width, separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal "Y" shape, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side (and follow the flag's diagonals). The "Y" embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow or gold bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes. The stripes at the fly end are in the 5:1:3:1:5 ratio. Three of the flag's colours were taken from the flag of the South African Republic, itself derived from the flag of the Netherlands, as well as the Union Jack, while the remaining three colours were taken from the flag of the African National Congress. Nicknames for the flag include the Seskleur (lit. 'six colour') and the Rainbow Flag. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_South_Africa)

The Constitutional Court building houses the actual court, but it also is home to the offices of the Constitutional Court judges (not open to the public), the Constitutional Court Library and an impressive collection of modern South African art.

The court also houses an art gallery with a collection of more than 200 contemporary artworks chosen by Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs, including works by Gerard Sekoto, William Kentridge, and Cecil Skotnes.