MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

Counting the costs: SA businesses wrecked by unrest

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa in the news:

  1. Counting the costs: SA businesses wrecked by unrest: Many of SA’s small, medium-sized and micro enterprises (SMME) are not insured, compounding any attempts of recovery of those damaged in the unrest. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. South Africa beat British and Irish Lions 17-13: South Africa ‘A’ ran in two tries to hand the lions their first defeat of the tour of South Africa led by stand in captain Lukhanyo Am. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  3. South African government asks for 25,000 troops to curb unrest: The South African government on Wednesday sought to deploy around 25,000 troops to curb unrest, now in its sixth straight day, amid fears of food and fuel shortages as disruption to farming, … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. 3 Things to Know Today: Authorities have honed in on a Florida suspect who they believe played a part in the assassination of Haiti’s president Wednesday, July 7. Haitian authorities identified the suspect as … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. Violence in SA: Army Reserve Members instructed to report for duty: All South African Army Reserve Members have been instructed to report for duty on Thursday morning with their equipment. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews

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Have you tried: Visiting Port Elizabeth?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? In 1971 the South African Broadcasting Corporation was eventually allowed to introduce a television service. When television was finally introduced, there was only one channel with airtime divided evenly between English and Afrikaans, alternating between the two languages. Test transmissions in Johannesburg began on 5 May 1975, followed in July by ones in Cape Town and Durban. Nationwide services finally commenced on 5 January 1976.

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Top Star Drive-In: The Cinema on the Mountain of Gold

The Ferreira Dump began growing in the late 1800s, composed of the crushed rock and chemical residue left over after early, inefficient mining processes had extracted as much gold as the technology of the time allowed. By the 1960s, it was a flat-topped, man-made mesa overlooking the city. In a stroke of entrepreneurial genius, the surface was tarred and the Top Star Drive-In was opened. It quickly became a South African institution. Its appeal was not just the movies, but the unparalleled view: as the sun set, the massive white screen would flicker to life against a backdrop of the glowing skyscrapers of the Central Business District, separated from the viewer only by the elevated M2 highway.

In the decades before television arrived in South Africa (1976), the Top Star was a primary social hub. It was a democratic space in an undemocratic time; while the city below was strictly segregated, the “car” served as a private bubble that allowed a degree of social freedom not found in traditional theaters. For many Johannesburgers, the Top Star was a site of nostalgic rites of passage—first dates, family outings where children were piled into the back of station wagons with blankets and flasks of tea, and the Saturday “car market” where the parking lot transformed into a sprawling hub for buying and selling second-hand vehicles.