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Stuff from Johannesburg

Supermarket in Soweto is ransacked as unrest continues

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa in the news:

  1. Supermarket in Soweto is ransacked as unrest continues: Supermarket in Soweto, Johannesburg, is ransacked and armed police deployed as unrest continues in South Africa. Like us on Facebook to see similar stories Please give an overall site rating: … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. Portugal: Government advises Portuguese in S. Africa to ‘act with utmost caution’: The same source confirmed that 26 people have so far died in this province. Another six deaths in Johannesburg were confirmed on Monday night by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. The regional … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  3. Death toll rises to 72 in South Africa as violence triggered by Zuma arrest escalates: The spasm of unrest is South Africa’s worst since the first all-race election in 1994 ended decades of apartheid rule that made the country an international pariah. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. South Africa unrest hits farming, threatens food supply: JOHANNESBURG, July 13 (Reuters) – South African farmers have been hit by days of unrest and looting as trucks carrying produce are prevented from delivering to markets, threatening food supplies, … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. Deaths climb to 72 in South Africa riots after Zuma jailed: The death toll climbed to 72 from rioting in South Africa on Tuesday, with many people trampled to death during looting at stores, as police and the military fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews

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Have you tried: Whale and Dolphin Watching in Algoa Bay?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? It’s been rebuilt four times: Within one century, Johannesburg has been transformed from a tented camp, a tin shanty town, four-storey Edwardian brick buildings and now, a city of modern skyscrapers.

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Ponte City: Transformation

As the “white flight” of the 1980s and 90s drained the inner city of capital, Ponte City underwent a dramatic and terrifying transformation. By the late 1990s, the building had become a “vertical slum” and a symbol of urban decay. It was famously “hijacked” by gangs; the retail levels were stripped, and the building became a fortress for drug dealing and human trafficking. The most haunting image from this era was the central core. Originally designed to be a light-filled courtyard, it became a literal trash heap. Residents on the upper floors would throw their refuse into the center of the building rather than taking it down. At its worst point, the trash in the core reached five stories high—a mountain of rotting debris, discarded furniture, and even, legend has it, the remains of those who had fallen or jumped.

During this period, the reputation of Ponte was so toxic that there was a serious proposal in 1998 to turn the entire skyscraper into a vertical prison. The plan was eventually scrapped, but the building remained a “no-go zone” for nearly a decade. The turnaround began in the mid-2000s when developers New Metro Property Group and later Dlala Nje began a massive, painstaking refurbishment. They cleared out the tons of trash from the core, restored the lifts (which had often been out of order, forcing residents to climb 50 flights of stairs), and implemented strict security protocols.