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Stuff from Johannesburg

Uniting to Drive Sports Tourism and Economic Growth

Johannesburg: Lions Cricket is thrilled to add even greater value and pride to the City of Gold while creating meaningful opportunities for employment, SMMEs and local economic growth.

The exciting three year destination marketing collaboration between Lions Cricket and the Joburg Tourism Company represents a significant step towards unlocking the full potential of sports tourism in Johannesburg.

The strategic partnership will see the alignment of integrated marketing campaigns, travel packages, fan experiences and infrastructure readiness, ensuring Johannesburg continues to position itself as one of Africa’s leading sporting destinations.

Lions Cricket CEO Jono Leaf-Wright believes the partnership perfectly reflects the Pride’s commitment to serving both the game and the city it proudly calls home.

“We are incredibly fortunate to be based at the very heart of the City of Gold, surrounded by passionate and driven people, exceptional resources and enormous potential. When you combine everything Johannesburg has to offer with our iconic home at the DP World Wanderers Stadium, this partnership not only makes perfect sense, but is filled with the potential to impact, empower and inspire – and that’s exactly what #ThePrideOfJozi stands for.

Together with Joburg Tourism, we will continue to uplift the communities we serve because we know that the fan experience extends far beyond the boundary ropes – cricket is so much more than just a game. We want powerful storytelling, meaningful media engagement, continued investment in infrastructure and visitor readiness, and to continue to create a welcoming, memorable atmosphere ensuring that Johannesburg remains the destination of choice.”

The partnership will strengthen both organisations through increased destination and brand awareness, the shared utilisation of world-class facilities including the DP World Wanderers Stadium, enhanced event management capabilities and collaborative marketing initiatives designed to attract greater crowds across multiple sporting and entertainment events in the Province.

Joburg Tourism CEO Thandubuhle Mgudlwa views the collaboration as a strategic tool to leverage prime destination brand exposure through the Lions Cricket’s captive audience.

“Through joint online and offline marketing, Joburg Tourism will enhance Johannesburg’s reputation as a vibrant, worldclass destination. We look forward to building on the successes achieved together and to delivering even greater value for the city and its communities – while continuing to foster meaningful connections with local and international audiences.”

The DP World Wanderers Stadium has long been recognised as one of South Africa’s premier sporting and events venues, having hosted ICC Cricket World Cup finals, Davis Cup tennis, international music concerts, product launches, weddings, Presidential addresses, the SA20 Final and countless other world-class events.

With South Africa preparing to host the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2027, Johannesburg—and more specifically the DP World Wanderers Stadium—is expected to play a central role in welcoming the world’s greatest cricketers and fans.

The tournament presents an extraordinary opportunity to showcase the city’s warmth and hospitality, generate significant economic impact and deliver unforgettable visitor experiences.

Together, Lions Cricket and the Joburg Tourism Company remain committed to ensuring the DP World Wanderers Stadium, its surrounding precinct and the City of Gold continue to be recognised as destinations of choice—creating memorable, authentic and joyful experiences that inspire visitors to return to Johannesburg and South Africa time and time again.

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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.