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Stuff from Johannesburg

President Ramaphosa to deliver virtual Human Rights Day address

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa in the news:

  1. President Ramaphosa to deliver virtual Human Rights Day address: JOHANNESBURG – President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver a virtual Human Rights Day address on Sunday. This year’s Human Rights Month is being commemorated under the theme ‘The year of Charlotte Maxeke – … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. COVID-19 in SA: Death toll increases by 47: JOHANNESBURG – The health department said 47 more people have died of COVID-19 in South Africa. This brings the total number to just over 52,000. The number of confirmed cases is also up, now to more … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. A year in the life of doctors on the frontline of SA’s Covid-19 battle: Makaulule, who works in a public hospital in Johannesburg, would remove her clothes in the garage and shower before going anywhere near her family. Because of a shortage of personal protective … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. Vimbai burial today: We are expecting the body later today [yesterday]. It will go briefly to the parlour and then lie in state at home,” Chibagidi Nhira said. “Tomorrow we will have a short church service to be … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews

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Have you tried: Travelling to South Africa?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? There is only one other city on the continent that is bigger than Joburg, and that is the bustling metropolis of Cairo in Egypt. Johannesburg is the second biggest city on Africa.

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The Randlord Mansions: History

The history of these mansions is also a story of urban warfare and preservation. In the 1960s and 70s, as Johannesburg expanded, many of the original Parktown estates were ruthlessly demolished to make way for the M1 Highway and the massive concrete campus of the Wits University Medical School. The “Parktown War” saw heritage activists fighting the bulldozers to save what remained of the city’s architectural soul. Today, several of the surviving mansions serve as corporate headquarters, schools, or museums, stripped of their private domesticity but preserved as monuments to a gilded age.

Interestingly, these mansions also played a secret role in the city’s political evolution. It was in the drawing rooms of Parktown that the “progressive” mining elite would meet to discuss the future of the country, often finding themselves at odds with the more conservative Boer government. Lady Florence Phillips, in particular, used her influence to found the Johannesburg Art Gallery, insisting that a world-class city needed world-class culture, not just gold bars. Today, walking the “Heritage Trail” through Parktown offers a haunting contrast; you stand in the quiet, manicured gardens of the victors, looking down at the pulsing, crowded city that their gold mines created. It is the ultimate “view from the top,” a reminder that the extreme wealth of Sandton today has its DNA rooted in the stone-and-timber palaces of the 1900s.