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Stuff from Johannesburg

Jan Oberholzer cleared of all wrongdoing in Aveng payment dispute – Eskom | MyJHB.co.za

Johannesburg in the news:

  1. Jan Oberholzer cleared of all wrongdoing in Aveng payment dispute – Eskom: Eskom COO Oberholzer cleared of all wrongdoing in payment dispute with Aveng. Friday, 25 September 2020: Following the court’s findings against Eskom on a payment dispute with c … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. Severe thunderstorms expected to continue in Gauteng on Tuesday: Flooding over parts of Johannesburg this afternoon (05 October 2020). Source: Gauteng Weather FB. Drive safely. pic.twitter.com/fjwXsLQjRJ The South African Weather Service says the likelihood of … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  3. Family of Portuguese farmer violently assaulted by armed gang in Johannesburg – Observer: The family of a 53-year-old Portuguese farmer were violently assaulted at gunpoint at his farm in Westonaria, near Johannesburg, by seven individuals who threatened to murder the couple’s children in … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. South African CHPC National Conference 2019: Secure Cyberinfrastructure Within Fast-Converging Platforms: Following a brief welcome by Conference Chair Samuel Mabakane (CHPC), CHPC Director Happy Sithole called the 13th annual conference to order on December … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. TakeOver – Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout: Dirk Uys was born in Cape Town in 1945 and has been in the theatre since the mid-1960s. Closely associated with both the Space Theatre in Cape Town and Johannesburg’s Market Theatre during the 1970s … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews

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Have you tried: Visiting Port Elizabeth?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? The Soweto Uprising was a series of protests led by high school students in South Africa that began on the morning of 16 June 1976. Students from numerous Sowetan schools began to protest in the streets of Soweto in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in local schools. It is estimated that 20,000 students took part in the protests. The number of protesters killed by police was officially given as 176, but estimates of up to 700 have been made. In remembrance of these events, the 16th of June is now a public holiday in South Africa. A thirteen year old Black boy, Hector Pieterson, is the iconic first victim of police brutality, but Dr Melville Edelstein, who had devoted his life to social welfare among blacks, was soon forgotten. He was stoned to death by the mob and left with a sign around his neck proclaiming “Beware Afrikaners”.

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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.