Political Events

1893 Paul Kruger, the president of the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek (ZAR), built the first high-security prison on a strategic hill overlooking Johannesburg to keep control over the uitlanders (foreigners) in the mining village below.

1896 Kruger turned the newly built prison into a military fort after the Jameson Raid of 1896, when mainly English-speaking immigrants attempted to overthrow the Boer government.

1899 After the outbreak of the South African War (Anglo-Boer War), the Boers kept watch over developments from the ramparts walls. Artillery was stored in rooms beneath the ramparts.

1900 The British took occupation of Johannesburg. The Boers handed the British the keys of the Old Fort.

1902 After the war ended, the Public Works Department authorized the Fort's temporary use as a prison pending the erection of a new jail. The Johannesburg City Council was opposed to a prison in the middle of a growing residential area. But this temporary arrangement was to stay in place for the next 80 years.

1904 The ‘native' prison, better known as Number Four, was built outside of the rampart walls to accommodate convicted black male prisoners.

1910 A new Women's Jail was built. The Victorian building held white and black women in separate sections.

1928 The Awaiting Trial Block was built to house male, black awaiting trial prisoners.

1948 The Nationalist government was voted into power and an increasing number of people were incarcerated as a result of apartheid laws. The prisons were severely overcrowded.

1964 Amidst much controversy as to whether a prison site was worthy of such a title, the Old Fort was proclaimed a National Monument.

1983 On 31 January 1983, nearly one hundred years after the Old Fort was built, all prisoners were transferred to the new Diepkloof prison (Sun City) outside Soweto.

1990 Funding to turn the Old Fort into a prison museum did not materialise. Parts of the Old Fort and Women's Jail continued to be occupied but as a whole, the site was neglected and all but forgotten.

1994 The Constitutional Court was established as a completely new court by the interim constitution of 1993. President Mandela inaugurated the Constitutional Court on 14 February 1995.

1996 Having occupied temporary accommodation since 1994, the judges looked at a number of sites for the new court building. They chose the site of the prisons partly because of its accessibility and sense of space but primarily because of its historical and symbolic importance.

1998 The anonymous competition to design the court building was won by OMM Design Workshop in partnership with Urban Solutions.

2001 New impetus was given to the project when Blue IQ, established by the Provincial Government to turn Gauteng into a smart province, assisted with the financing for the court. The JDA, a city-wide economic development agency, became responsible for the completion of the court building and the development of  Constitution Hill as a major heritage site.

2004 The Court moved into its new home in February. President Thabo Mbeki inaugurated the court on Human Rights Day, 21 March 2004. Constitution Hill opened to the public from 22 March 2004.

2007 The restoration of the Women's Jail, Old Fort and Number Four Museums had been completed by end of 2007.