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Stuff from Johannesburg

At least 13 Gauteng pupils face criminal charges – Lesufi

Johannesburg in the news:

  1. At least 13 Gauteng pupils face criminal charges – Lesufi: Lesufi revealed this at Forest High School in Johannesburg at the memorial service for the slain 16-year-old Daniel Bakwela on Tuesday. The MEC … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  2. Tencent exposure may be cheaply available in Johannesburg after Naspers listing: Naspers' weight in the main Johannesburg index has often exceeded 25%, with many funds not allowed to have more than 20% or 25% in a single … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  3. Art that speaks to artists: William Kentridge on Antoine Bourdelle: Before his big sculpture survey, Kentridge discusses the Bourdelle sculpture in Johannesburg that first made him feel the power of art. – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  4. [VIDEO] 32-year-old man robbed of R20 000 on the M1 freeway in Johannesburg: Johannesburg Central Police spokesperson Captian Xoli Mbele said, “A car hijacking took place where a 32-year-old man in his white vehicle was … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  5. No influenza or 'swine flu' outbreak in SA: Health authorities: This week Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi closed down Laerskool Kenmare in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg following the emergence … – Google Alert – Johannesburg

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Have you tried: Whale and Dolphin Watching in Algoa Bay?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? 40% of all the world’s human ancestor fossils have been discovered in and around Johannesburg: Most of the fossils were found in the area which is now known as the Cradle of Humankind. It was declared as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. The site currently occupies 47,000 hectares and contains a complex of limestone caves.

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The Randlord Mansions: History

The history of these mansions is also a story of urban warfare and preservation. In the 1960s and 70s, as Johannesburg expanded, many of the original Parktown estates were ruthlessly demolished to make way for the M1 Highway and the massive concrete campus of the Wits University Medical School. The “Parktown War” saw heritage activists fighting the bulldozers to save what remained of the city’s architectural soul. Today, several of the surviving mansions serve as corporate headquarters, schools, or museums, stripped of their private domesticity but preserved as monuments to a gilded age.

Interestingly, these mansions also played a secret role in the city’s political evolution. It was in the drawing rooms of Parktown that the “progressive” mining elite would meet to discuss the future of the country, often finding themselves at odds with the more conservative Boer government. Lady Florence Phillips, in particular, used her influence to found the Johannesburg Art Gallery, insisting that a world-class city needed world-class culture, not just gold bars. Today, walking the “Heritage Trail” through Parktown offers a haunting contrast; you stand in the quiet, manicured gardens of the victors, looking down at the pulsing, crowded city that their gold mines created. It is the ultimate “view from the top,” a reminder that the extreme wealth of Sandton today has its DNA rooted in the stone-and-timber palaces of the 1900s.