MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

Denel goes after former staff

Johannesburg in the news:

  1. Denel goes after former staff: JOHANNESBURG – State-owned arms manufacturer Denel is targeting former employees and senior officials who may have benefited from the … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  2. Rand Water expects pipe repairs to be completed Sunday night: JOHANNESBURG – Rand Water expects to be "pumping water" by late on Sunday night to the communities in Gauteng affected by a mayor water pipe … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  3. Rand Water says technicians working to repair burst pipeline: JOHANNESBURG – Rand Water said on Sunday its teams were working throughout the night to repair a burst pipe that resulted in water cuts in and … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  4. Old Mutual seeks to block Moyo: JOHANNESBURG — Old Mutual said on Friday there were conflicting interpretations of the High Court ruling, which found that it's CEO Peter Moyo … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  5. Cheap flights to Johannesburg this week – valid until 11 August: Are you travelling on a budget and need the best deals on cheap flights to Johannesburg this week? If you're flying out from Cape Town or Durban, … – Google Alert – Johannesburg

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Have you tried: Visiting Port Elizabeth?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? The region surrounding Johannesburg was originally inhabited by San people. They were hunter-gatherers who used stone tools. There is evidence that they lived there up to ten centuries ago. By the 13th century, groups of Bantu-speaking people started moving southwards from central Africa and encroached on the indigenous San population.

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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.