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Stuff from Johannesburg

African Union organ welcomes Chinese pledges at FOCAC Senegal conference

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa in the news:

  1. African Union organ welcomes Chinese pledges at FOCAC Senegal conference: The Johannesburg-based African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) welcomed the pledges made by China to help Africa with vaccines and investment as well as … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. COVID-19 in SA | Makhura says Gauteng ready to ride fourth wave: The Omicron variant, discovered by South African scientists is also gaining momentum both here and in countries around the world. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  3. CDC expanding surveillance at SFO and 3 other major US airports to look for Omicron: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expanding surveillance at four major international airports to keep an eye out for the Omicron variant of coronavirus in travelers, the … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. South Africans Cleaning Up in England with Fantastic Services: The Van Der Merwe’s are literally cleaning up in England, as are other South Africans like Jorge Santos who moved to London, aged 24, to seek his fortune. “Twenty plus years later and I still love … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. Canada’s stranded women’s field hockey team has flights booked home from South Africa: Canada’s junior women’s field hockey team could be headed home from South Africa next week. The under-21 team has been waiting to travel home from Potchefstroom since the Junior World Cup there was … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews

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Have you tried: Visiting Port Elizabeth?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? The Standard Bank Centre is in Fox and Simmond Streets in central Johannesburg. During the excavation, three stories below ground level, they came across an old stope. It was part of the workings of the old Ferreira Mine. The building’s foundations were stabilised by backfilling the No. 1 level of the workings with concrete grout, but part of the stope was preserved as a museum. The building was completed in 1970. It was constructed by first building a central core and cantilever arms and then suspending the floors from the arms. The Centre houses a renowned art gallery.

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Ponte City: Transformation

As the “white flight” of the 1980s and 90s drained the inner city of capital, Ponte City underwent a dramatic and terrifying transformation. By the late 1990s, the building had become a “vertical slum” and a symbol of urban decay. It was famously “hijacked” by gangs; the retail levels were stripped, and the building became a fortress for drug dealing and human trafficking. The most haunting image from this era was the central core. Originally designed to be a light-filled courtyard, it became a literal trash heap. Residents on the upper floors would throw their refuse into the center of the building rather than taking it down. At its worst point, the trash in the core reached five stories high—a mountain of rotting debris, discarded furniture, and even, legend has it, the remains of those who had fallen or jumped.

During this period, the reputation of Ponte was so toxic that there was a serious proposal in 1998 to turn the entire skyscraper into a vertical prison. The plan was eventually scrapped, but the building remained a “no-go zone” for nearly a decade. The turnaround began in the mid-2000s when developers New Metro Property Group and later Dlala Nje began a massive, painstaking refurbishment. They cleared out the tons of trash from the core, restored the lifts (which had often been out of order, forcing residents to climb 50 flights of stairs), and implemented strict security protocols.