MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

S.African court gives Old Mutual CEO his job back, for now

Johannesburg in the news:

  1. S.African court gives Old Mutual CEO his job back, for now: By Emma Rumney. JOHANNESBURG, July 30 (Reuters) – Shares in South Africa'sOld Mutual fell more than 5% on Tuesday after a High Court judge … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  2. Joburg court orders Old Mutual to reinstate former chief Peter Moyo: JOHANNESBURG – The High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday ruled that Peter Moyo be reinstated as chief executive officer of Old Mutual. – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  3. South Africa's Eskom facing 'death spiral' – departing CEO: JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's state power utility Eskom needs to change its outdated business model to escape a “death spiral,” its outgoing … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  4. Scrapyard owner, truck driver nabbed in R500k copper cable bust: A scrapyard owner was arrested on Tuesday after attempting to bribe City of Johannesburg law enforcement officers with R50 000 during a bust which … – Google Alert – Johannesburg
  5. Old Mutual to Appeal Court Ruling Reinstating Insurer's Ex-CEO: The Johannesburg High Court had ruled that Old Mutual acted unlawfully when terminating Moyo, while also blocking the business from continuing a … – Google Alert – Johannesburg

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Have you tried: Travelling to South Africa?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? Where Johannesburg got it’s name from: The fledgling town of Johannesburg was laid out on a triangular wedge of “uitvalgrond” (area excluded when the farms were surveyed) named Randjeslaagte, situated between the farms Doornfontein to the east, Braamfontein to the west and Turffontein to the south. The property belonged to the government. The Surveyor-General of the ZAR issued an instruction that the farm be surveyed as a township, consisting of 600 stands measuring fifty feet by fifty feet. The first auction of stands took place on 8 December 1886. The settlement was named after two officials of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR), Christiaan Johannes Joubert and Johannes Rissik, who both worked in land surveying and mapping. The two men combined the name they shared, adding ‘burg’, the archaic Afrikaans word for ‘fortified city’.

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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.