MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

Region F Open Day – Brixton

The City of Johannesburg will host a Region F Open Day at the Brixton Multipurpose Centre on Saturday, 28 March 2026, from 08:00 to 15:00. The event is designed to be family-friendly and accessible to all residents.

This initiative is part of the City’s ongoing effort to address municipal account-related queries directly with residents and property owners. By bringing services closer to communities, the City aims to improve access, convenience, and overall customer experience.

Residents from Region F—including Fordsburg, Crown Gardens, the Inner City, Aeroton, Mondeor, Winchester Hills, Benrose, and surrounding areas—are encouraged to attend and make use of the available services.

Kgamanyane Maphologela, Director for Communications and Stakeholder Management in Group Finance, highlighted the importance of these engagements: “By bringing our services closer to residents, we make it easier for them to get assistance, engage directly with officials, and have their municipal queries resolved efficiently. These Open Days allow us to meet our customers where they are.”

The Open Day will also assist pensioners and qualifying residents with applications for rebates and registration on the Expanded Social Package (ESP), which provides additional support to low-income households.

Additionally, the event will raise awareness about the Debt Relief Programme (Phase 4), which helps qualifying customers bring their accounts up to date through structured payment arrangements, including relief on interest and penalties.

“The City wants residents to know that support is available. The Debt Relief Programme provides an opportunity for customers to make affordable payment arrangements, clear arrears, and stay connected,” added Maphologela.

Residents are encouraged to bring the following documents to ensure efficient assistance:

  • Municipal account statements
  • Reference numbers of any queries logged
  • South African ID or valid identification documents
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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.