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Stuff from Johannesburg

Be extra vigilant amid third wave, Makhura warns Gauteng residents

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa in the news:

  1. Be extra vigilant amid third wave, Makhura warns Gauteng residents: The Gauteng Premier said the province could not afford to shut to down the economy to mitigate the rising COVID-19 infections. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. Covid-19: Makhura – Gauteng is in third wave: Gauteng is officially in the third Covid-19 wave, Premier David Makhura said on Friday. Makhura said new cases in the province had doubled from Monday’s. The premier was speaking at the newly … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  3. S. Africa: Top official in ruling ANC takes party to court: A top official in South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has taken the party to court to challenge his suspension pending charges of fraud and corruption against him, heightening tensions … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. For waste pickers, one man’s trash becomes another one’s treasure: Waste pickers perform a critical yet thankless job that is vital to waste management systems not only in South Africa but all over the world. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. DBE supports schools cancelling sports activities: JOHANNESBURG – The Basic Education Department supports the decision by some schools to halt sporting activities. The department says more than 10 schools in Gauteng have reported new COVID-19 cases. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews

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Have you tried: Travelling to South Africa?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? Sophiatown was originally part of the farm Waterval. In 1897 the speculator Hermann Tobiansky acquired a 237-acre portion of the farm, which was situated about four miles or so west of the centre of Johannesburg. In 1903 he had some of the land surveyed as leasehold township, divided into almost 1700 small stands. The township was named after Tobiansky’s wife, Sophia, and some of the streets were named after his children Toby, Gerty, Bertha and Victoria. Blacks started acquiring land in Sophiatown.

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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.