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Stuff from Johannesburg

Dutch government compensates victim of airstrike in Iraq | MyJHB.co.za

Johannesburg in the news:

  1. Dutch government compensates victim of airstrike in Iraq: The Netherlands’ defense minister announced Tuesday that the government is paying an undisclosed sum to an Iraqi man who lost four family members and his home … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. South Africa’s ruling party rejects Trump comment on Mandela: The report that U.S. President Donald Trump made crude, disparaging remarks about Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning former leader, has drawn an angry response from South … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  3. S. Africa’s economy contracts by 51 pct in Q2: South Africa economy contracted by 51 percent in the second quarter of 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19 said Statistics Sou … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. 2 Bedroom Apartment / Flat for Sale in Parkview: A top floor apartment situated in a much sought after complex in Parkview. Comprising of two bedrooms and two bathrooms (MES), the unit also offers a well-spaced reception area and a balcony filled … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. Young man with Down syndrome killed by police: “He was just eating a cookie”: Country in shock for the death of a 16 year old. The agents, on trial, claim that he was the victim of a clash between gangs … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews

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Did you know this about Johannesburg? Midrand was established as a municipality in 1981 (in an area known as Halfway House, after its position between Pretoria and Johannesburg), but ceased to be an independent town in the restructuring of local government that followed the end of apartheid in 1994. It was incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in 2000.

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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.