Timeline

Born at Florence Nightingale Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa, to Emil Solomon ‘Solly’ Sachs and Rachel ‘Ray’ (née Ginsberg) Sachs.

His parents name him Albert after Albert Nzula, communist and trade union leader. He grows up known as ‘Albie’.

His family is anti-fascist, anti-racist, anti-imperialist and anti-monarchist. They are surrounded by an activist community. His mother works as the typist for Moses Kotane, the general secretary of the communist party. The family are close to activists like trade unionists Pauline Podbrey and H.A. Naidoo and lawyer Sam Kahn.

His parents separate and Albie moves with his mother and brother Johnny to Cape Town. The family stays with anti-apartheid political leader Cissie Gool in Glen Beach, before moving to Clifton where Albie spent his early childhood.

Albie attends school at South African College School (SACS) for both junior and high school. The school is based in central Cape Town at the time.

In his first report, Albie is described as ‘a dreamy boy’. While at junior boarding school he suffers months of sadistic caning by a housemaster. He plays rugby and cricket, becomes a mountain climber, and is active in debating and quiz shows. His first published work appears in the school magazine.

He is in Grade 10 (Std. 8) when formal apartheid is born in 1948 under the Nationalist Party, and matriculates two years later at age 15.

At the age of 16, Albie starts as a legal BA student at UCT.

In his second year of university, he becomes interested in art and poetry and a lecture given by poet Uys Krige impels him into political activity.

He joins the Modern Youth Society, which deeply influences his political education in the mid-1950s. It includes young white, coloured and African intellectuals all in one group, including Denis Goldberg, Ben Turok, Mary Butcher (later Turok), Amy Thornton, George Peake, Joseph Morolong and Toivo ya Toivo.

6 April 1952: Albie attends a meeting at Salt River Town Hall. It is the announcement of the ANC’s Defiance of Unjust Laws campaign seeking volunteers.

Nine months later, he becomes a volunteer in the ANC Defiance Campaign leading a group of anti-apartheid activists to sit on benches designated for ‘non-whites’ only, and resulting in his first arrest at age 17.

Albie delivers his first public speech at UCT in front of thousands of students, arguing in favour not only of academic non-segregation, but also of social non-segregation for the 10% quota of black students at the university.

Albie gives night study classes by candlelight to people in informal dwellings on the Cape Flats in Cape Town.

Works several hours a week for the New Age Newspaper (leftist newspaper operating 1952 – 1963).

Albie becomes a member of the South Africa Congress of Democrats (SACOD) – a radical left-wing organisation of whites set up in response to a request from the ANC to work at its side as part of the Congress Alliance.

Completes his BA Degree at age of 18 at the University of Cape Town.

In 1954, Albie goes to London to spend a year with his father who is living in exile. During this time, he travels on the Trans-Siberian railway to China for a conference of the World Federation of Democratic Youth.

Albie returns from London and embarks on two years of study for his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) at UCT.

25 and 26 June 1955: Adoption of the Freedom Charter by the Congress of the People in Kliptown, Soweto. Albie sits at the press table representing the New Age newspaper and is part of the process.

September 1955: Due to his political activity, Albie becomes the first white student at UCT to receive a banning order.

December 1956: Albie graduates with Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from University of Cape Town.

December 1956: At the time of the Treason Trial pre-dawn raids, Albie is raided but not arrested. He is told he was on a reserve list of people arrested for treason in the Treason Trial which runs from 1956 – 1961.

January 1957: At the age of 21, Albie begins working as Advocate of the Supreme Court of South Africa (Cape of Good Hope Division) and uses the chambers of Lionel Forman who had been arrested for treason. Albie defends activists from the ANC, PAC, and the Trade Union Movement. He is the only advocate who appears in the Native Administration Court in Langa.

21 March 1960: Sharpeville Massacre when hundreds of PAC members march without passes to the police station in Sharpeville and 69 were killed, most shot in the back.

30 March 1960: Nine days after the Sharpeville Massacre, Philip Kgosana (PAC leader) leads the famous march, at the age of 23, of 30 000 protestors, opposing pass laws, from Langa and Nyanga to Cape Town. Albie watches the march from Buitenkant street. Later Philip Kgosana is tried in court and Albie appears for some of Kgosana’s co-accused.

Albie helps convicted clients Chris Hani and Archie Sibeko escape from Cape Town.

The General Law Amendment Act commonly known as 90-Day Detention Law is passed in 1963.

1 October 1963: Albie is arrested under the 90-Day Detention Law and placed in solitary confinement at Maitland Police Station. He is moved to the Wynberg Magistrates Court Prison, where he hears juveniles screaming as they are being caned every afternoon. He is then moved to a cell in the police headquarters at Caledon Square in central Cape Town. After 90 days, he is released and immediately re-arrested for a further 78 days. Upon release, Albie runs several kilometres from prison to the sea in Clifton.

Albie clandestinely writes his account of being in prison. This eventually leads to his first book: ‘The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs’, which is later published in London in 1966.

Late 1964: Albie meets activist Stephanie Kemp and spends hours with her in a prisoner’s interview room at Roeland Street Prison. He acts as junior counsel in her trial on charges of sabotage, and an undeclared romantic relationship emerges. Stephanie is sentenced to prison. After her release two years later, she comes to warn him about impending police activity against him.

January 1966: Albie is arrested for the second time. He spends two-and-a half months in solitary confinement. After he is subjected to torture by sleep deprivation in Caledon Square Police Station, he is moved to a cell in Roeland Street Prison. Shortly after his release, he applies for an exit permit to leave the country and goes into exile in London.

July 1966: Albie departs Cape Town on Union Castle ship to go into exile in London.

September 1966: Stephanie Kemp arrives at Southampton on Union Castle to join Albie in exile. They marry in London. Both work in the ANC anti-apartheid movement in London, mobilising international opinion against apartheid South Africa.

Albie’s first book, ‘The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs’, is published and receives critical acclaim. It is dramatised by playwright David Edgar for the Royal Shakespeare Company and later televised by the BBC.

During 1966 – 1967, Albie writes an account of Stephanie’s trial and imprisonment, and his own second detention without trial. It is published in 1968, titled ‘Stephanie on Trial’, and includes a chapter written by Stephanie.

Albie embarks on his PHD in Law at Sussex University with financial aid from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

Albie completes his doctoral thesis in 1970 and successfully defends it in 1971. Titled ‘Justice in South Africa’, it deals with how the judiciary functioned in a racially stratified South Africa from 1652 – 1970. It is published in the UK and USA but is banned in South Africa.

Between 1970-77, Albie is a Senior Lecturer at the Law School of University of Southampton, UK. While at the university, he writes ‘Sexism and the Law: A Study of Male Beliefs and Legal Bias in Britain and the United States’ with historian Joan Hoff-Wilson.

During the early 1970s, Albie and Stephanie’s sons, Alan and Michael Sachs, are born in the UK.

June – October 1976: Albie is invited to teach at the Law School at Dar-es-Salaam University for 8 weeks, where he hears news of the Soweto uprising. He is accompanied by Stephanie and their two children Alan and Michael. They also travel to Lusaka and Victoria Falls. Stephanie, Alan and Michael return to London, and Albie visits Mozambique for the first time.

26 September 1976: While in Maputo, Albie is one of 60,000 people present when Samora Machel speaks at Machava Stadium on the anniversary of the launching of the armed struggle in Mozambique. Albie then returns to London.

1977: Albie moves to Mozambique. Stephanie decides not to join him. They separate and later divorce, in 1980. He becomes a ‘holiday dad’ to his children.

1977 – 1983: Albie works as a Law Professor at Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo. He learns to write and speak in Portuguese.

The premiere of the stage production of ‘The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs’, by David Edgar and the Royal Shakespeare Company, takes place at The Donmar Warehouse Theatre, London, in 1978. It is televised by BBC2 and broadcast on BBC Radio in 1979, and later staged at The Dukes Playhouse, Lancaster, in 1981, and The Young Vic, London, in 1984.

The book ‘Sexism and the Law: A Study of Male Beliefs and Legal Bias in Britain and the United States’, written by Albie and Joan Hoff-Wilson, is published in 1978.

30 January 1981: 15 Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) members in Mozambique are killed by the South African National Defence Force in the Matola Raid Massacre.

17 August 1982: Ruth First is killed by a letter bomb sent to her university office by South African security agents.

20 August 1982: Abdullah Ibrahim visits Maputo and as part of his Freedom Concert he closes by reciting a poem by Bridget O’Laughlin in memory of Ruth First.

Publication of the book ‘Island in Chains: Prisoner 885/63: Ten Years on Robben Island as told by Indres Naidoo to Albie Sachs’, by Albie and Indres Naidoo.

Albie visits Lusaka to work at the ANC headquarters under the leadership of Oliver Tambo. Albie helps draft the statutes for the ANC in exile and a Code of Conduct that forbids the use of torture.

Samora Machel closes the Eduardo Mondlane University School of Law, and Albie moves to the Mozambique Ministry of Justice to become Director of Research.

Albie works on the legal bulletin Justica Popular (People's Justice), which reflects the research that he, Gita Honwana Welch and others conduct on community justice in Mozambique.

The Nkomati Accord agreement between Samora Machel and PW Botha is announced, stating that South Africa would stop supporting RENAMO and FRELIMO would stop supporting the ANC.

16 June 1985: Albie presents the proposed ANC Code of Conduct at the ANC National Consultative Conference in Kabwe.

Albie produces a book on the murals of Mozambique, publishing it in Portuguese and English.

19 October 1986: Samora Machel is killed when his plane is brought down by a false beacon in South Africa.

Oliver Tambo establishes the Constitutional Committee within the ANC. Albie becomes a member and travels to Lusaka on numerous occasions to work with the committee on drafting of the Constitutional Guidelines for a future democratic South Africa.

The draft Constitutional Guidelines document is presented at the ANC in-house seminar in Lusaka. Inputs are received from ANC there, most notably to do with sexism, and revisions are made.

Albie and filmmaker Sol Carvalho produce ‘The Deeper Image’, a documentary about culture in the midst of war in Mozambique.

7 April 1988: A bomb placed by a South Africa security agent explodes as Albie opens the door to his car. He is rushed unconscious to hospital where his life is saved by Mozambican doctors. He loses his right arm and vision in his left eye. Once stabilised in Maputo, he is flown to London where he receives treatment at Royal London Hospital.

While recovering in hospital, Albie receives a letter promising that he would be avenged. He decides not to seek revenge, but rather ‘soft vengeance’, which he envisages as the achievement of freedom in a new non-racial and democratic South Africa based on social justice and the rule of law.

Back in London, Albie undergoes an intense rehabilitation process, and for a short while wears a prosthesis, which he later decides to live without. Important to the recovery process is learning how to accept being different. His convalescence continues through the emotional care he receives on trips to Portugal and Vienna with friends.

At the invitation of the director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London, Albie establishes and becomes the founding director of the South African Constitutional Studies Centre at the university.

Oliver Tambo arranges for the ANC Constitutional Committee to meet in London. The committee then asks Albie to go to Ireland to work with Kader Asmal on a draft Bill of Rights for a democratic South Africa.

6 November 1988: A benefit performance of ‘The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs’ stage production takes place at The Young Vic in London. The four actors who originally played Albie take part.

Early 1989: Albie travels to the United States to work at Columbia University Law School, and the School of International and Public Affairs. While in New York, he learns to use a computer and writes the book ‘Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter’.

In a talk given at the House of Culture, Sweden, Albie controversially says that for five years we should stop saying ‘art is a weapon of struggle’. Barbara Masekela, then Head of the ANC Department of Culture, is present and invites him to present his thoughts on the ANC position regarding art as a weapon of struggle at an upcoming ANC in-house seminar on culture. He is unable to attend but sends a paper, based very much on his experiences in Mozambique, entitled ‘Preparing Ourselves for Freedom’.

The Harare Declaration is drafted in 1989. It becomes the basis for negotiations and lays the foundation for a new constitutional order in South Africa. Albie travels to Lusaka and then to Harare for meetings with South African lawyers, and to Victoria Falls for meetings with South African writers.

‘Liberating the Law: Creating Popular Justice in Mozambique’ is published. Co-written with Gita Honwana Welch, this book is based on the research published in the bulletin ‘Justica Popular’.

2 February 1990: Then-president FW De Klerk announces in a speech in parliament that the ANC has been unbanned which means exiles can return home. The ANC Constitutional Committee meets in Lusaka, and new members from South Africa attend.

Albie returns to South Africa, on invitation from Dullah Omar to be Professor at the Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape (UWC).

Most of 1990 is spent getting the Constitutional Committee of the ANC organised, expanded, and planning for the future.

2 - 4 May 1990: The ANC and the government meet at the Groote Schuur Estate in Cape Town to discuss obstacles to negotiations.

6 August 1990: Negotiations begin between the ANC and the government to end apartheid.

December 1990: Oliver Tambo, weakened by a stroke, returns to South Africa.

Two books by Albie are published in 1990: ‘The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter’, which wins the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award for non-fiction in 1991, and ‘Protecting Human Rights in a New South Africa’. A third book, ‘Spring is Rebellious: Arguments about Cultural Freedom’, co-authored by Karen Press and Ingrid de Kock, is also published in 1990. It centers on Albie’s paper ‘Preparing Ourselves for Freedom’.

The ANC holds its first conference on South African soil in over 30 years, at the University of Durban-Westville, and elects its new leadership. Albie is elected as a member of the ANC National Executive Committee.

21 December 1991: Albie attends the first general meeting of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) at the World Trade Centre, Kempton Park. He helps draft the CODESA Declaration of Intent, which was signed by the participating parties to mark their commitment to negotiations.

Albie’s book ‘Advancing Human Rights in South Africa’ is published as a follow up to ‘Protecting Human Rights in a New South Africa’.

Negotiations break down after the Boipatong Massacre on 17 June.

26 September 1992: Following rolling mass action, the Record of Understanding is signed at a summit between the ANC and the government. It sets up a timetable for establishing a constitutional assembly, an interim government and dealing with political prisoners, amongst others.

Albie encounters Vanessa September for the first time at a dinner party organised by the friend of a friend of a friend of hers. The friend of a friend of a friend gives her a copy of ‘The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter’ and she is smitten by the narrator.

10 April 1993: Chris Hani is assassinated at his home.

24 April 1993: Oliver Tambo dies from a stroke.

A date is fixed for the first democratic elections to be held on 27 April 1994.

25 June 1993: Members of the Afrikaner Weer-standsbeweging (AWB), Afrikaner Volksfront (AVF) and other right-wing Afrikaner groups storm Kempton Park World Trade Centre.

May - November 1993: An interim constitution is drafted to create South Africa’s first democratically elected parliament. This parliament is to function as a Constitutional Assembly, drafting South Africa’s final Constitution, in keeping with 34 principles agreed to in advance. Albie is part of the team that works on the elaboration of the interim constitution and the 34 principles.

March 1994: Albie repeats his run from Caledon Square Police Station to Clifton, commemorating 30 years since his first release from prison.

On the eve of the first democratic elections, Albie steps down from the ANC National Executive Committee

27 April 1994: The first democratic elections in South Africa take place.

After the elections, Albie steps down from his ANC branch. His hope is that he will be considered for a position on the new Constitutional Court to be established.

Albie accepts the nomination to become a member of the Constitutional Court; one of whose tasks will be to certify whether the text of the Constitution drafted by the Constitution Assembly complies with the 34 principles.

12 October 1994: Albie is officially appointed by President Nelson Mandela as a Judge on the bench of the first Constitutional Court of South Africa, with effect from 12 October 1994. He and the other Judges are sworn in on 14 February 1995.

The first case heard by the Court raises the question of the constitutionality of the death penalty. In its judgment, handed down on 6 June 1995, it unanimously finds the death penality to be unconstitutional.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is formed in 1995. Because of the TRC process, Albie meets Henri van der Westhuizen, the officer who organised the placing of the bomb in his car.

Albie and Vanessa meet again, by chance, in the South Africa Airways business class lounge at OR Tambo International Airport. Vanessa asks her friend of a friend of a friend to organise another dinner with Albie included, and then what he calls his ‘late-life love’ relationship begins.

4 December 1996: The Constitutional Court refuses to certify that the 34 principles have been complied with and sends the text back to the Constitutional Assembly. Finally, after corrections are made, the Court certifies compliance.

10 December 1996: President Nelson Mandela signs the new Constitution into law at Sharpeville on International Human Rights Day.

An international architecture competition is held in 1997 for the design of a building for the Constitutional Court, to be constructed on the site of the Old Fort Prison in Braamfontein. The winning submission is based on the concept of ‘Justice under a tree’, by young South African architects Janina Masojada, Andrew Makin and Paul Wygers. The new Constitutional Court building, the flagship structure of Constitution Hill, is officially opened on 21 March 2004. It receives wide critical acclaim and wins numerous South African and international awards, in particular for its distinctly African architecture and people-friendly atmosphere.

The moment when Albie and Justice Yvonne Mokgoro are given the portfolio of decor for the Court, with a budget of R10,000, in 1994 marks the inception of what becomes the Constitutional Court Art Collection, a unique collection of over 800 artworks by around 400 different artists and organisations, providing a visual and emotional counterpoint to the legal reasoning of the Judges.

In 2004, ‘The Free Diary of Albie Sachs’ is published. It is written by Albie, with comments by Vanessa September.

26 August 2006: Albie and Vanessa marry at the Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court Choir, created on the initiative of Albie, dance Vanessa in, and Chief Justice Pius Langa invites Albie and Vanessa to take their vows.

At the age of 71, Albie becomes a father again, when his son with Vanessa, Oliver Lukho-u-Thando September Sachs, is born.

October 2009: The 15-year term of Albie as a Constitutional Court Judge ends, together with the terms of Justices Pius Langa, Yvonne Mokgoro and Kate O’Regan.

In his 15 years on the Court, Albie's involvement covers key landmark cases on themes such as the death penalty; equality; gender justice; same-sex marriage, sexual orientation and the right to be different; freedom of conscience, belief and religion; socio-economic rights; freedom of expression; the rights of vulnerable groups; war and the TRC; participatory democracy; governance and administration; detention without trial; search and seizure; soldiers' right to a trade union; judges' recusal; land rights; the rights of migrants; age of admission to school; deliberative democracy and local government; property rights; extradition; and the rights of occupants of informal settlements. He writes over 55 judgments in his own name, with a number of them quoted in courts around the world.

After leaving the Court, Albie spends 6 months on sabbatical in New York with the support of the Ford Foundation, to write a book reflecting on his life, work and thinking as a judge. ‘The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law’, is published in June 2009. It wins the Sunday Times Literary Award for non-fiction in 2010.

6 June 2010: Albie receives the Lincoln Medal, awarded by the Ford’s Theatre Society in Washington DC, for ‘his outstanding courage and character in his work as a human rights activist and Constitutional Court Justice in South Africa’.

Albie spends 15 months in Kenya as a Commonwealth Judge serving on the Kenya Judges and Magistrates Vetting Board.

The documentary by award-winning director and producer Abby Ginzberg titled ‘Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa’ is launched in New York in 2013, and South Africa in 2014, where it travels to educational institutions around the country. It wins a Peabody Award in 2015.

In 2014, the Tang Prize Foundation awards Albie the Tang Prize in Rule of Law ‘for his many contributions to human rights and justice globally through an understanding of the rule of law in which the dignity of all persons is respected and the strengths and values of all communities are embraced.’ Albie is the first recipient in this category.

With a portion of the Tang Prize, Albie establishes The Albie Sachs Constitutionalism and Rule of Law Trust (ASCAROL). Its main purpose is to raise awareness of constitutionalism through ensuring that the story of the making of the South African Constitution is fully recorded and communicated.

In the same year, Albie is featured in The 21 Icons Project, a visual celebration of South African individuals who have made a positive impact on the world.

November 2016: A collection of essays and talks by Albie Spanning 25 years is published as the book ‘We, the People: Insights of an Activist Judge’.

In 2017, the book ‘Oliver Tambo's Dream: Four Lectures’ is published. It is based on a four-part lecture series that Albie delivered at four universities in South Africa during the centenary of Oliver Tambo's birth.

August 2022: ASCAROL publish the book ‘Dear Comrade President: Oliver Tambo and the Foundations of South Africa's Constitution’ by André Odendaal, with editorial support from Albie.

After meeting Albie and Vanessa in New York, George and Amal Clooney ask Albie if they could call their annual Clooney Foundation for Justice award which recognizes people and organisations that fight for justice at great personal risk ‘The Albies’. He agrees, and at an inaugural ceremony in September 2022 he receives ‘The Albie’, which is presented to him by Michelle Obama.

Constitution Hill Trust

Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation

Albie Sachs Constitutionalism and Rule of Law Trust (ASCAROL)

Albie has received five Presidential awards, 28 honorary University doctorates and numerous other awards, including the Lincoln Medal, the Tang Prize for the Rule of Law and The Albie Award for Justice named after him by the Amal and George Clooney Foundation for Justice.

Albie continues to share South African experiences of restorative justice with divided societies such as Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Colombia, Angola, Guyana, Sudan and South Sudan. He remains actively engaged in public life, with a particular focus on sharing his experiences with younger generations. At the time of writing, he is preparing for multiple events locally and abroad to mark his 90th birthday, including the creation of an exhibition at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, and the production of a feature-length documentary on his life.