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Stuff from Johannesburg

Health dept expands capacity as hospitals buckle under COVID pressure | MyJHB.co.za

Johannesburg in the news:

  1. Health dept expands capacity as hospitals buckle under COVID pressure: Hospitals across the country are becoming increasingly overwhelmed with the second wave spreading rapidly across the country. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. Gospel fraternity mourns passing of Pastor Israel Mosehla: Details surrounding Mosehla’s passing are yet to be announced. His strong religious and musical background come from his parents, who were both preachers and musicians. The fami … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  3. Covid-19 claims life of one of PAC founders: Johnson Phillip Mlambo was subjected to inhumane treatment by the white warders at Robben Island and one time he was buried up to his neck and urinated on by prison officials. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. Basic Education Dept confident matric marking will be completed on time: The matric marking process rolls into the second week today, where more than 45,000 assessors have been hard at work at 177 centres nationwide. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. Teen is the only survivor of family among 7 killed in three vehicle crash: Seven people were killed after a collision between a truck, a Kombi and a Pajero on the N3, Harrismith, on Sunday evening. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews

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Have you tried: Visiting Port Elizabeth?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? Johannesburg City Hall was constructed in 1914 by the Hawkey and McKinley construction company. The plan for the building was drawn in 1910 and construction was started in 1913 and finished in 1914. The style is described as Edwardian Baroque with a portico of Ionic columns and tower with a half dome entrance described as neo-Renaissance. Florence Phillips, an art collector and the wife of mining magnate Lionel Phillips, established the first collection for the Johannesburg Art Gallery using funds donated by her husband. The architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens, came to South Africa in 1910 to examine the site and begin the designs, after Lady Florence Phillips had secured funding from the city for a purpose-built museum. The gallery was possibly Luytens’s first public building in the Beaux Arts style. It was built with a south-facing entrance, but was not completed according to the architect’s designs. It was opened to the public, without ceremony, in 1915, just after the start of the First World War.

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From Sophiatown to Triomf

By 1963, Sophiatown had been physically razed to the ground. In a final act of psychological warfare, the government built a white working-class suburb over the rubble and named it Triumph (Triomf). They wanted to erase the very memory of Sophiatown from the landscape. For decades, the name Sophiatown disappeared from maps, replaced by the neat, sterile streets of the victors.

The “resurrection” of Sophiatown began officially in 2006, when the City of Johannesburg formally restored the original name to the suburb. Today, the neighborhood is a quiet, leafy residential area, but the ghosts of the “Paris of the Transvaal” are everywhere. The Sophiatown Heritage Centre, housed in the former home of Dr. A.B. Xuma (a former ANC president), is one of the few original buildings that escaped the bulldozers. Walking through the streets today, you can still find small markers of the past: a lone Victorian pillar, a specific tree mentioned in a poem, or the rebuilt St. Joseph’s Church.

The legacy of Sophiatown is not just one of tragedy, but of an indestructible cultural spirit. The music, the slang (Tsotsitaal), and the “Drum” era aesthetic continue to influence South African fashion and film today. It serves as a reminder that while you can bulldoze a house and rename a street, you cannot kill the soul of a place that once danced to the sound of a thousand saxophones.