Constitutional Court

In the article below, journalist Lucille Davie tells the story of the creation of the Constitutional Court's iconic South African flag. The piece first appeared on the City of Joburg's website on 8 September 2006. Click here to view more of Davie's work.

The Constitutional Court has a new artwork – a beautifully beaded and embroidered South African flag, positioned above the judges’ seats in the courtroom.

Measuring six metres by 2.5 metres, the hand-stitched flag with its bright colours, hangs in a wave shape, a striking counterpoint to the muted, earthy tones in the courtroom. Its fine detail of neatly stitched beads, sequins and embroidery attests to hours of meticulous work.
 
Completed in March this year by a group of six KwaZulu-Natal women, led by Leonie Malherbe, it took around five months to finish and is described by her as a task equivalent to “swallowing an elephant”.

The flag had been commissioned last year by the artworks committee of the Constitutional Court, consisting of judges Albie Sachs, Yvonne Mokgoro and Johann van der Westhuizen. The art collection of the court consists of 200 works, collected since 1994 when the court came into being.

Constitutional Court from above (The Heritage Portal)

Malherbe approached the project with some trepidation, daunted by the enormity...

In the remarkable article below, journalist Lucille Davie describes her tour of the Consitutional Court with Justice Albie Sachs. She delves into the history, art and architectiure of a hugely significant site. The piece first appeared on the City of Joburg's website on 6 August 2004. Click here to view more of Davie's work.

The invitation said: "Join a tour of the Constitutional Court at 5.30pm on Friday, conducted by Justice Albie Sachs." I didn't hesitate for a moment and discovered that it was as much a tour of the court as a tour as Sachs's life and passions.
 
Sachs says he was appointed, together with fellow judge Yvonne Mokgoro, to take charge of decor when the Constitutional Court came into being in 1994 at its old location in Braampark in Braamfontein, just across the road from its present position. Not a job most employees would relish, but Sachs gathered it up with gusto.
 
What the job essentially means is that he gets to badger artists into donating the court an artwork or two - although most seem to have given willingly. Who wouldn't, after all, give an artwork to be displayed in the highest court in the land, in one of the most exciting buildings to be built in the city in the past year or so?

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