MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

CAF presidency: Motsepe vows to make Africa global force

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa in the news:

  1. CAF presidency: Motsepe vows to make Africa global force: CAF presidency candidate Patrice Motsepe addresses a press conference in Johannesburg ThursdayConfederation of African … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. SA records 1,676 new COVID-19 infections, 144 deaths in last 24 hours: In the last 24 hours, 1,676 infections have also been reported, with more than 1.5 million positive cases identified since the start of the pandemic. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  3. Remembering the ‘Unpredictable Journey’ of Ernlé Young, Stanford bioethicist and pioneer: Young was an educator, anti-apartheid activist, ordained minister and printer who left a strong impression at Stanford and beyond. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. Sue board members for SOE losses, says Justice Zondo: Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo wants board members to be held accountable for losses incurred by the state-owned entities they led. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. COVID-19: 1,676 new cases, 144 more deaths: JOHANNESBURG – The Health Department reported 144 more COVID-19 related deaths, taking South Africa’s deaths toll to 49,667. A total of 1,676 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the last 24 hours. … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews

Click here to submit your Johannesburg, Gauteng News – free.

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

Did you know this about Johannesburg? It has the world’s largest hospital: The Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital has the ability to serve up to 3.5 million people in Johannesburg.

Category: Tag: , , , , ,

Top Star Drive-In: Destroyed by What Created it

However, the very thing that created the Top Star eventually destroyed it. Because the early miners had used crude methods, the Ferreira Dump—and dozens of others like it—still contained significant traces of gold. As the price of gold rose and new chemical extraction technologies (like the carbon-in-pulp process) made it profitable to “mine the waste,” the ground beneath the Top Star became more valuable than the cinema itself. In 2006, despite fierce opposition from heritage groups who argued that the dump and the drive-in were culturally significant landmarks, the projectors were turned off for the last time.

The reclamation of the dump was a staggering industrial feat. Starting in 2008, mining giant DRDGold used high-pressure water cannons to “monitor” the dump, turning 5 million tons of solid earth back into a liquid slurry. This slurry was then piped 40 kilometers across the province to a processing plant in Brakpan. By 2011, the “mountain” had completely vanished. The 50-meter-high plateau that had dominated the southern skyline for a century was reduced to a flat, dusty crater.

The disappearance of the Top Star is a poignant symbol of Johannesburg’s “extractive” nature. It is a city that consumes itself to stay alive; even its historical landmarks are subject to the fluctuating price of minerals on the London and New York stock exchanges. Today, if you drive along the M2, there is an empty space in the sky where the Top Star used to be. While the reclamation removed a source of toxic dust and “acid mine drainage,” it also erased a piece of the city’s collective memory. The land where the gold-flecked mountain once stood is now being rehabilitated for light industrial use, proving that in eGoli, even the horizon is for sale if there’s enough gold hidden inside it.