Constitution Hill Trust

The Constitution Hill Trust is public benefit Trust that was established in May 2006 to preserve and develop the Constitution Hill precinct as a heritage site that symbolises South Africa’s constitutional democracy; conduct educational programmes to educate South Africans about constitutionalism, human rights and democracy; raise funds in and outside South Africa for the Trust and other public benefit organizations; and provide grants to promote the Trust’s goals.[1]

The Trust was founded with the aim to promote respect for the Constitution, democracy and human rights, including through experiencing the Constitution Hill precinct.^[2] In 2023, the Constitution Hill Trust began operating as We the People South Africa, which aims to advance constitutional literacy, archive the making of the Constitution, and to preserve and develop the Constitution Hill precinct as a heritage site.[3]

The Constitution Hill precinct serves as a living memory of South Africa’s transition to democracy and a place where the shared heritage and common future of South Africans, founded on South Africa’s constitutional values, is celebrated.[4] We the People South Africa also runs programmes that teach young South Africans to the Constitution, its principles and workings, and the value and importance of the Constitution’s impact through democracy and human rights.[5] This is done through constitutional literacy programmes, archiving and retelling the story of the making of the Constitution and by preserving the Constitution Hill precinct as a heritage site.[6]

Fundraising

Since its inception, the Trust has hosted biannual dinners to raise corporate sponsorship for its work. Over R7-million have been raised this way. This funding has been used primarily to bring more than 100,000 school-going youngsters from underprivileged schools to visit Constitution Hill. Once at the site, the learners participate in programmes that focus on understanding South Africa’s transition to democracy and the importance of our constitution as our guarantor of human rights.

The Trust has also channelled money to several non-governmental organisations working on constitutional issues. The South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights & International Law (SAIFAC) has received the most funding to date. In 2011, the Trust raised an additional R6-million for a special celebration in honour of the 15th anniversary of the Constitution.

Trustees

Founding trustees (2006 to 2014)

Cyril Ramaphosa – Founding Chairperson.

Arthur Chaskalson – Former Chief Justice of South Africa.

Sidney Lewis Frankel (deceased) – South Africa Businessman and Philanthropist.

Cheryl Carolus – Former South African High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Michael Katz – Chairman at ENSAfrica.

Joyce Piliso-Seroke – Former Chair of the Commission for Gender Equality.

Michelle Constant – CEO.

Current trustees [^7]

Valli Moosa – Chairperson.

Michael Katz – Chairman at ENSAfrica.

Donné Nicol – Special Advisor to the President of South Africa.

Robert Brozin – Founder and Owner at Nando’s.

Adila Hassim – Senior Advocate of the High Court of South Africa.

Albie Sachs – Former Justice of the Constitutional Court.

Lebogang Mulaisi – Chief Operations Officer for the Climate Commission.

Dawn Robertson – Former CEO at Constitutional Hill Development Company.

Khumo Shuenyane – Independent Non-Executive Director of Vodacom, Bidvest, Hollard and Ninety-One.

Lindiwe Mazibuko – Co-founder and CEO of Futurelect.

Richard Sizani – Former Chairperson of the Public Service Commission.

Mojanku Gumbi – UN Special Advisor for addressing racism in the workplace.

Bulelani Ngcuka – Former Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions of the National Public Prosecuting Authority.

Smangaliso Mkhatshwa – Chairperson of the Moral Regeneration Movement.

Projects

The Archive

The Trust launched a project to archive the making of the Constitution. Our researchers were granted special permission to access the Codesa (Convention for a Democratic South Africa) and constitutional assembly archive at the National Archives of Pretoria.

We accessed important documents and videos and produced digital copies of some of the most seminal material, which is now stored at the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The team also drew up an inventory of where all the other important collections related to the Constitution are housed.[8]

The book

Using the archival material, the Trust published One Law, One Nation, a book that documents the history of the struggle for constitutional rights in South Africa, and the complexity of, and obstacles to, the constitution-making process after 1990. Using archived photographs and interview material unseen until then, including Mr Nelson Mandela’s handwritten notes from the negotiation process, the book tells the story of South Africa’s remarkable constitution.[9]

Many books have shed light on the legal aspects of the South African constitution, but few offered first-hand perspectives of the hidden history of its development. One Law, One Nation also reflects on the Constitution as a living document, and how the Constitutional Court plays an instrumental role in ensuring that the human rights enshrined in it are upheld in South Africa’s democracy.

^[10]

Its publisher, Jacana Media, described the book as “an inspiring and moving book, a gift to South Africa”.[11]

The exhibition

The Trust also mounted an exhibition in the foyer of the Constitutional Court in honour of the 15th-anniversary celebrations. For the first time, each of South Africa’s five consecutive Constitutions was on view. Seen together, they graphically illustrated the country’s journey to democracy. Indeed, the final signed copy of the 1996 Constitution, which had never before been on display, took pride of place directly outside the chamber of the Constitution Court. The exhibition was housed in the Constitutional Court building for four months.

^[12]

The Flame

As part of the 15th-anniversary celebrations, the Trust also installed the perpetual Flame of Democracy to symbolise the enduring commitment of South Africans to democracy and constitutionalism.

The flame was ignited by Nelson Mandela. Trustees flew to his hometown Qunu in the Eastern Cape, and the former president lit a paraffin lamp that was brought back to Johannesburg. On 10 December 2011, then Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and then Chief Justice Moegeng Moegeng used the lamp to light the Flame of Democracy in front of a large gathering of dignitaries and corporate sponsors, as well as many of those who were intimately involved in the writing of the final constitution.

Workshops on the Constitution

In 2016, an educational initiative was incorporated into the programme offering at Constitution Hill. The Trust created a curriculum for more in-depth workshops on the Constitution and its meaning in our democracy. These workshops are held on Saturday mornings for small groups of learners from schools throughout Johannesburg. Law clerks of the Constitutional Court and volunteers from different law firms run the programme as volunteers.^[14]

References

https://www.constitutionhill.org.za/constitution-hill-trust
https://wethepeoplesa.org/about-us/
M Sauthoff “An alliance of style, situation and content: the design of a typeface for South Africa's Constitutional Court” University of Pretoria Visual Arts Repository 2006, 4-6.

[1] Trust Deed of the Constitution Hill Trust.

^[2] Constitution Hill Trust – Constitution Hill

[3] WeThePeopleSA ‘About Us’ https://wethepeoplesa.org/about-us.

[4] M Sauthoff “An alliance of style, situation and content: the design of a typeface for South Africa's Constitutional Court” University of Pretoria Visual Arts Repository 2006, 4-6.

[5] Constitution Hill Trust – Public programmes.

[6] (About U)

^[7] About Us – We the People South Africa (wethepeople.org)

[8] Digital Archive – We the People South Africa.

[9] https://ourconstitution.wethepeoplesa.org/south-african-constitution/writing-one-law-for-one-nation/

^[10] https://www.constitutionhill.org.za/uploads/lawnation.jpg

[11] https://ourconstitution.wethepeoplesa.org/landmark-projects/

^[12] https://www.constitutionhill.org.za/uploads/_imager/uploads/3043/FLM-98_dd45fb9e747b591534bbbdc31d169dc8.JPG

^[13] https://www.constitutionhill.org.za/uploads/_imager/uploads/2831/FLM-118_dd45fb9e747b591534bbbdc31d169dc8.JPG

^[14] https://www.constitutionhill.org.za/uploads/_imager/uploads/2825/FLM-24_dd45fb9e747b591534bbbdc31d169dc8.JPG