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Stuff from Johannesburg

Zondo commission – Parly report on Bosasa not credible, Makwetla tells Zondo

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa in the news:

  1. Zondo commission – Parly report on Bosasa not credible, Makwetla tells Zondo: Deputy minister of military veterans Thabang Makwetla has told the state capture commission that the document purported to be a report of the parliamentary ethics committee that found him guilty of … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  2. Cops foil possible robberies, arrest four men and confiscate guns: The Tactical Response Team in Welkom received a tip-off about four men suspected to be in possession of firearms which they allegedly intended to use to commit robberies in Lejweleputswa. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  3. Alberto Calderon is new AngloGold CEO: The board of AngloGold Ashanti on Tuesday announced the appointment of Alberto Calderon as the new CEO of the gold-mining company, effective September 1. Mining Weekly can report that Calderon has … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  4. CIT vehicle bombed near N17, guards have lucky escape: Four security guards were fortunate to have sustained only minor injuries when their cash-in-transit vehicle was bombed along the N1 south near the N17, west of Johannesburg, on Monday evening, … – “Johannesburg” – BingNews
  5. Exciting British & Irish Lions side to blow away Sharks: The British and Irish Lions play their second match of their South African tour when they take on the Sharks in Johannesburg on Wednesday. – “Johannesburg” – BingNews

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Have you tried: Reach Trust for Solar and Building Management?

Did you know this about Johannesburg? The Johannesburg Zoo is more than 100 years old: The zoo was founded in 1904 and covers 55 hectares of land. The zoo used to house the only two polar bears in 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.