MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

NICD: New COVID-19 variant in India not detected in SA

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa in the news:

  1. NICD: New COVID-19 variant in India not detected in SA: JOHANNESBURG – The National Institute for Communicable Diseases is refuting claims that the new Covid-19 variant in India has been detected in South Africa. The institute says South Africa has not … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. Trust and Triumph: There’s a moment in The Underground Railroad that is so visceral it may linger in your mind long after you see it. Cora (Thuso Mbedu), a formerly enslaved runaway, walks slowly toward her estranged … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  3. Can you help Liliesleaf Farm – an icon of freedom – stay open?: In the 1960s, the ANC used Liliesleaf Farm in the north of Johannesburg as a safe house. Police raided the farm in 1963 and arrested more than a dozen leaders and activists, who were tried and … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. Absa PMI expands at slower pace in April: South Africa’s seasonally-adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) expanded at slower pace in April as growth in business activity and new sales orders slowed, a survey showed on Monday. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. Public Enterprises welcomes SAA business rescue practitioners exit: The Department of Public Enterprises has welcomed the notice of substantial implementation filed by the Business Rescue Practitioners (BRP), which signals the exit of the BRPs at South African Airways … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews

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Did you know this about Johannesburg? It’s also home to the world’s largest man-made forest: Johannesburg is home to 10 million trees, which helps the city cope with greenhouse effects and also lowers the noise levels within the city.

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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.