MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

Industry insight: Motorists score as OEMs look to evolve their business models

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa in the news:

  1. Industry insight: Motorists score as OEMs look to evolve their business models: It’s said that if car makers don’t change the way they do business with customers, they will lose out to companies that evolve … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. Graft trial resumes for South Africa’s jailed ex-president: The corruption trial of former South African President Jacob Zuma has resumed more than a week after his imprisonment for contempt of court in a separate case set off rioting. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  3. EXPLAINER: What caused South Africa’s week of rioting?: South Africa has been rocked by the worst violence since the nation achieved democracy in 1994. Here is a closer look at the unrest. WHAT TRIGGERED THE VIOLENCE? The unrest began on July 8 when former … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. Virgin Atlantic reopens on-board bars and JFK lounge: Virgin Atlantic has reopened its on board bars for the first time in 15 months in line with Covid restrictions on hospitality being lifted in the UK today. The airline’s social spaces are open to … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. ‘Embarrassing’ red card that divided rugby is overturned after huge outcry: Wallaby wing Marika Koroibete was sent off for a high tackle just five minutes into Saturday’s victory over France … – “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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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.