7:45 am there is a knock at my door; my breakfast has arrived. For approx $10 I received coffee, juice, two baby croissants (delicious by the way), a container of yogurt, jam & butter. By 9 am I’ had walked to the Radisson for my tour to Johannesburg. Joe was very nice, polite and talkative and provided a lot of historical detail about South Africa, the natives, the Dutch and the British. I’ve read a lot of historical fiction novels ( ex Wilbur Smith) about this so the memories come flowing back.
We first toured the very rich section of the city where properties are worth millions of dollars. Every house is hidden behind high walls, with electrified wires on the top or laser beam security, plus cameras filming the perimeter. This is also where the Nelson Mandela Foundations is located (Central Street); they have helped with education of the young and ensuring that the orphans and the old are taken care of. We drove past Mandela’s house as well and saw the “rock birthday messages” which had been left for him.
Birthday wishes stones in front of Nelson Mandela's house. He is away in the township where he was born for the holidays.
Streets of the rich !The only people I see walking around in the streets are gardeners or maids. We drive up a hill in this area to get a nice view of the city. Johannesburg is huge and has trees everywhere, all planted by the Europeans as they arrived to the area.
Some look like they are living behind prison walls
Others have "beautified" and have lovely landscaping.We drove up a hill in the rich section and from there had a nice panoramic view looking north west away from the city centre.
All these trees are not native to this area, they were planted by Europeans as they arrived and colonized, to provide much needed shade.
Sandton district in the distance
From there we drove into one of the central parts of Johannesburg which has been completely abandoned by whites. The high-rises are in very poor condition, broken windows and garbage everywhere. Joe tells me that the men on the street corners are drug dealers and we see their clients staggering around all over the streets. The buildings are no longer being maintained, the slum lords just collect the rents. It is a sad situation. For obvious reasons, I kept my camera out of sight while we drove through here.
Broken windows everywhere
No Christmas decorations anywhere in the streets, only in the shops and in the malls.
From here we headed to what is now called Constitution Hill. The ramparts of the original fort were built in 1893 by Paul Kruger to defend the city from a possible British invasion.
The old fort and rampart wallsIt became a jail during the Boer war. In later years more jails (gaols here) were built just outside the fort; the notorious “number four” where Mahatma Ghandi was held in his early formative years (1908 to 1913 for refusing to carry a pass in protest) and where Nelson Mandela & Robert Sobukwe spent some of their jail time.
Robert Sobukwe - On 21 March 1960, the PAC led a nationwide protest against the hated Pass Law which require black people to carry a pass book at all times. Sobukwe led a march to the local police station at Orlando, Soweto in order to openly defy the laws. He was joined on route by a few followers and, after presenting his pass to a police officer, he purposely made himself guilty under the terms of the Pass Law for being present in a region/area other than that allowed in his papers. In a similar protest the same day in Sharpeville, police opened fire on a crowd of PAC supporters, killing 69 in the Sharpeville Massacre.Following Sobukwe's arrest, he was charged and convicted of incitement, and sentenced to three years in prison. After serving his sentence, he was interned on Robben Island. The new General Law Amendment Act was passed, allowing his imprisonment to be renewed annually at the discretion of the Minister of Justice. This procedure became known as the "Sobukwe clause" and went on for a further three years. Sobukwe was the only person imprisoned under this clause.
There is also a women’s jail which was built in 1909 and the museum portion here includes messages from past prisoners who were asked to contribute their stories. One of the most telling was this: “My grandmother had taught us to say goodbye every time we left home because we never know if we would come back or not.” If the non-whites were caught in white areas without a pass, they would be arrested and detained; some for days, some for months, some for years; no explanation given and the families were not contacted to let them know a family member had been detained. If someone disappeared, the family knew to come to the prison to check. Segregation ruled here as well, whites being kept in one area and non-whites in another. Whites received better treatment, better food, better conditions in general. Political prisoners were housed with the criminals and suffered not only by the hands of their jailers but also by the criminals who ruled the cells. They were tortured as well and the instruments of torture are on display as well as photographs. Very emotional visit.
The women's gaol. Notice the grid on the ground on the right side of the lawn. There was no grass when it was used as a jail; it was soil. When the women arrived they had to strip in the yard and be body searched to ensure they were not bringing in anything.
Inside one of the wards, memories from the women who were imprisoned here. The wards had closed cells in the beginning, but as overcrowding occurred the inner walls came down and 60 women were housed where only 24 should have been. If they were pregnant, they had their babies in jail. After a certain age the children were taken away from them and kept in a seperate area. 
That grid in the yard used to have this type of structure on it. The yard was filled with these zinc corrugated structures to hold the overflow. Zinc in the hot sun meant that they literally baked in their cells and froze when it was cold.
One of the closed cells in the women's block
The white women were housed in a seperate building and had more room, better food, better overall conditions. White women murderers were better treated than the black prisoners.
Cells in the men's block where overcrowding also existed. Gang leaders took over a larger floor area and took other prisoners' blankets to be more comfortable (below). The remainder of the prisoners had to do with what was left over (above). Warders did not intervene.
Quotes: Gandhi – “I have a call I must answer. I must deliver my message to my people. This humiliation has sunk too deep in me to remain without an outlet. I, at least, must act up to the light that has dawned on me.” Mandela - “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals.” Mandela was finally released in 1990 and by 1994 he had helped to write a new constitution and the first democratically parliament was elected in South Africa. Mandela was the first president and only remained for 4 years, retiring from political life and moving on to the creation of his Foundation.
Outdoor eating area right beside the latrines therefore disease was unavoidable and dishes were filthy.
Open shower area beside the yard where they were allowed only 1 hour per day, 20 minutes of which water was available. If the gang leaders decided to use the entire 20 minutes, others did not get to wash.
Solitary confinement cell
and there were many of those available.It was then time to visit the Constitutional Court, the main reason this area is now called Constitution Hill. One of the older prison blocks was completely dismantled and the bricks were reused to build the walkway between Number Four and the new Court buildings; it has been named the Great African Steps. The bricks were also used to build part of the Constitutional Court and are vey symbolic: bricks with no mortar symbolizing freedom, bricks which were used to imprison people and take away their rights are now used to protect their rights and freedom. The new flag of South Africa also reflects this.
Great African Steps
Built with the bricks from the old prison
Site of the old prison. Only the staircases that led to the holding cells have been kept. The one in the foreground holds the Eternal Flame of Hope
There are ELEVEN (11) official languages in South Africa and these appear on the walls of Constitution Hall. And some people in Canada complain about having TWO! 
Joe, my guide for the day, in front of the carved wooden doors that contain the 27 clauses to the Constitution.
Columns symbolize tree trunks, leaves hanging above are actually sun lights. 
The tree is represented on their logo as well. Just as historically in Africa elders sat under trees and provided judgements, the eleven constitutional judges provide judgements today under a symbolic tree.
The chambers are open to the public when the Constitutional Court is siting and judging cases. The front of the desks where the judges sit are covered in cow hides. A beaded South African flag hangs from the ceiling.The exhibition hall is filled with the history of the four constitutions which have been used by South Africa throughout the years, but the main display is about the 1970s and 80s and the culmination of years of oppression.
"Freedom"
Jail Baby Carriage, symbolic of the children who were born in jail and kept away from their mothersFrom here we drove south west toward the Soweto Township, crossing more of the downtown area, this time the business portion where the BIG mining offices are located. Along the way we drove past huge hills and mountains, all man made from the remnants of the gold mines. With the new technology available today, many of these hills are being re-sifted to collect more of the gold dust which was left behind.
Diamond building in the middle (narrow black)
How's that for advertisement !
Mandela bridge
Central Johannesburg skyline
Street view
Soccer City: Calabash (african cooking pot) shaped stadium
Close up of the windows in the stadiumImages for soccer city johannesburg
Man made mountains of earth from the gold mines
We arrived in Soweto and Joe had told me we would be driving through the Rich part, and the Poor part before making our way to the Hector Pieterson museum.
The steets in this sector are lively and children were playing everywhere.
Just down the hill from the rich section and clearly in view is the extremely poor section which used to house the miners. No running water and no eclectricity.
This is the oldest section of Soweto where some of the houses have not changed (below)
Where some have running water in their back yards, but others have to use communal water spouts.
Where some of the old houses remain as is, but others have been completely renovated
And where new developments are being built to replace the slum areas.
No, these are not golf tees, they are vuvuzelas, those really noisy horns they honk during socker games.
Biggest hospital in all of Africa is located in Soweto !
The grounds and buildings takes up what must be an entire mile along the road.
A new church in SowetoThe museum is located in the Orlando section of Soweto. This is where both Nobel Prize winners lived on the Vilakazi street: Benjamin Tutu & Nelson Mandela. It is also the sector where hundreds of students were killed during what started as a peaceful “walk” protesting the language of instruction in Africaan.
Arriving in the Orlando area
Benjamin Tutu's house is behind these walls.
This used to be Mandela's house, it is now a museum
Hector Pieterson Memorial June 1976
Street where the students marched. Memorial on the sidewalk.Hector Pieterson (1964 – 16 June 1976) became the subject of an iconic image of the 1976 Soweto uprising in South Africa when a news photograph by Sam Nzima of the dying Hector being carried by another student while his sister ran next to them, was published around the world. He was killed at the age of 12 when the police opened fire on protesting students. For years, 16 June stood as a symbol of resistance to the brutality of the apartheid government. Today, it is designated National Youth Day — when South Africans honor young people and bring attention to their needs.
In the ensuing months the black people revolted and things got really ugly here. Thousands of people were arrested and the jails were overcrowded. Cells which were meant to hold 24 now contained more than 60. Outside zinc walled sheds were built to house the overflow. Pictures above. On the drive out of Soweto we passed the Orlando Soccer stadium. I also got a few nice shots of the Johannesburg skyline.
Nuclear cooling towers no longer in use, nicely decorated with art.
Orlando Soccer Stadium
Commuters bus stop
Skyline of the city
Back at the Radisson Hotel, I checked on the status of my car rental enquiry. No news. The lady at the counter suggested I may want to go to the agency and check in person. She also indicated that there were other rental agencies nearby that I could check with. It was within walking distance so I stretched my legs and went for a walk. The young lady at the Avis counter could find nothing on their computer with regard to my enquiry, but confirmed that a vehicle was available for pick-up tomorrow. YEAH !
Well I’m glad I’ll have the vehicle for 15 days so I can drive down to Cape Town and come back up along the coast line, but I am worried about having to drive on the wrong side of the road; and sitting in the driver’s seat on the wrong side of the car ! I asked Joe a lot of questions today about driving rules and what to watch out for. TIME WILL TELL.
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