MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

Emfuleni mayor and community march to Eskom

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa in the news:

  1. Emfuleni mayor and community march to Eskom: JOHANNESBURG – Emfuleni residents are fuming after Eskom disconnected electricity to their homes. Community members along with municipal officials united in a march to Eskom’s headquarters in … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. ‘Stop the Koko hunt’ – Matshela Koko tells Zondo commission: Picture: SABC/YouTube JOHANNESBURG — Former Eskom CEO Matshela Koko on Monday said the state capture commission must stop what he called “the Koko hunt” or targeting him in its investigations. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  3. Mthethwa: Alleged mismanagement of funds for artists will be investigated: Minister Nathi Mthethwa stresses that money has not gone missing and that the the National Arts Council has simply overcommitted funds to be disbursed. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. In-house design teams: how an internal studio keeps Wikipedia weird: As part of our series looking at in-house design teams, we talk to Wikipedia’s Khanyi Mpumlwana and Zack McCune about “breaking” the online encyclopedia and spreading its mission globally. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. SA venues will suit Pakistan, says coach Misbah-ul-Haq: Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq said he believed the venues for two white-ball series in South Africa would suit his team. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews

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Have you tried: Travelling to South Africa?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? Johannesburg is the world’s biggest man-made forest, with over 10 million trees. This number is set to grow, as City Parks launched the Greening Soweto project in 2006, with the goal of planting an extra 200 000 trees in the famous township. Not only do Joburg’s trees combat the greenhouse effect, they help reduce noise in this ‘urban jungle’.

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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.