Constitutional Court

We went to visit the Constitutional Court, South Africa's highest court (equivalent to the US Supreme Court) which rules on matters of constitutionality. It was a breathtakingly beautiful, modern, and meaningful structure - and that's saying a lot because I typically prefer classical to modern architecture. I think the main point of interest, it is probably safe to say, was that it looks unlike any other courthouse/courtroom in the world. I don't think I can fully describe what it was like.

Inside the courtroom, the 11-judge seats had animal skins hanging over the front, each with a different pattern to show the diversity of the judges. There were one-way windows from which a person can look to the outside world while weighing matters of law. There were glass booths for interpreters to sit since South Africa is a nation with more than a handful of national languages, and in this country, it is a right to be heard in your native tongue. I loved it.

The carpet was uniquely patterned; it represented the shade of a tree which connected the past times when African leaders would hear complaints of their people under the shade of a tree. This was also the theme of the court lobby.

Outside the courtroom, in the court lobby, there was a wall of bricks. These old, red bricks were salvaged from the old prison which used to stand beside the existing court. We toured the now-closed prison grounds which have been made into a museum.

The exhibits showed the extremely degrading, dehumanizing conditions of the prison during the apartheid era in remnants of the edifices showing what the prisons were like on the inside. Many prisoners were put there for such crimes as not carrying a "pass book." During the apartheid regime, black and coloured individuals were not considered to be South African citizens although they were (as the British say) "born, bred, and buttered" in SA. Instead, if they lived outside of the regions to which they were arbitrarily assigned by the government (although having no connections to the area or culture), they were required to carry "pass books" to show their status.

It was a strange experience for me. In some ways, the prison cells appeared to be quite sanitized. I couldn't help but compare them to the ghastly equivalents which I visited in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Dachau, Germany. I remember the strange parallels in human cruelty I drew when comparing the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge camps and the Nazi internment camps. What I saw in the old Johannesburg prison was similar in some ways, but also different somehow. I'm not sure if I can explain the difference I felt.

I also learned that Gandhi was held there for a time - I had no idea that he was initially a practicing lawyer in Johannesburg.