Having just come back from a few days in Johanesburg, only the second substantial visit since 1992, I was once again struck by the differences with Cape Town.
I like Joburg. It’s got a big city buzz, things are happening, it’s got an African feel to it. It gives me a perspective on Cape Town – international tourist flavour of the day, but also provincial backwater as far as commerce goes. And it does sometimes feels as if it comes from a different continent (I won’t say European, because there’s nothing quite like it in Europe – the first world shopping centres notwithstanding, there’s also the massive wealth gap, the barely-existent public transport, the bergies).
I’m reminded of an enjoyable series of books by Kim Stanley Robinson.They’re set in the same area of California, with overlapping characters. One was based upon a utopian green revolution (Pacific Edge), one was the apocalypse (The Wild Shore), while Joburg reminds me of the third (Gold Coast). It’s a more of the same scenario, massive development, highways, traffic accidents, malls. The roads in Joburg are a maze – last time I hired a car and got horribly lost. This time I was ferried around, with barely a clue of my bearings. The malls sicken me, pale teenagers frantically buying the latest and most expensive designer clothes. But also fun, with bookshops where the entire bestselling list is South African (that doesn’t happen in Cape Town), and great games arcades (it’s been a while). There are billboards everywhere, the highways infested with commercial pleas. The city is sprawling in all directions, linking up with Pretoria, Soweto, Midrand. Residents in the well-to-do suburbs have walled themselves in, every house sporting an electric fence and a siege mentality.
The inner city appeals to me the most though. Rundown, but regenerating. Art galleries hanging on for survival, but producing interesting work. Ugly office blocks from the sixties next to modern architectural creations, both malignant and benign.
But overall, a feeling of regeneration and vibrancy that appeals to me. Perhaps it comes from living in South Africa through the 80’s, seeing the negativity turn around, and I’ve become addicted on a mini scale. Muizenberg, or the city centre in Cape Town. Not sterile, a shiny new gated suburb such as Westlake, but rather covered in a coating of grime, unconventional vibrancy, not too respectable. Joburg fits the bill.
Of course it’s easy to say this from afar, and I won’t voluntarily be moving from my sterile suburb with a house bordering the nature reserve anytime soon. But it’s not the big bad bogie so many in Cape Town make it out to be.
Thank u for your refreshing and enlightening post on Jozi. We are a truly African city and getting better everyday… it’s an exciting place to be in and we love it!
CT is always good for holidays!
Check out site for your next visit on things to do in Jozi.
http://www.represent.co.za
I really enjoy going to Jozi too, for the reasons you mention. Last year I spent a total of about a month, spread over the year, working in and around Braamfontein, and it was an amazing and dynamic experience.
Jo’burg and indeed Gauteng is not really a pleasant place to be. What strikes and remindes me most of Gauteng or the old Transvaal, is the impact of mining. It’s like Lord of the Rings where the orcs (I hope this is the right terminology) scour underground for some master and make weapons. Only here they don’t make weaponry or armour, but bring the earth up to daylight, pile it on and process it with giant amount of chemicals, mostly SO2. My first visit since childhood took us up by Shosholoza Express, through Potch, Klerksdorp and the like. It was amazing, sitting in the Wimpy dining carriage witnessing the change in landscape and humanscape as one make one’s way through the Karoo. Of course the last hour of trainride was not to be, someone had stolen the tracks or something, so we eventually arrived in Krugersdorp by coach/ bus.
The one thing you won’t find in the Cape is that silver colour they use for iron fences and cast-iron goodies. It’s remarkably non-Cape really, here rust would’ve devoured cast-iron in some decades, but there the silver coating just gleams on and on.
One thing that seems to picked up in the Cape over the last 3 years though is palisade fencing which is being touted as secure and beautiful (I guess everyone can see in and stand by as the intruders make away with your appliances). It’s already starting to take over the ‘burbs here… when I first visited in Gauteng in 2001 it was already vollop there.
Roadhouses, not that they’re around a lot in Gauteng, but you’ll find a couple of good ones. Cape Town roadhouses – you have to go and search on Voortrekker Rd for them (well one, and one in Tableview which is crap) Ideal place for Gauteng people-watching – you’re right back in McGyver hairstyle era where it was cool to have a mullet 🙂
Ahh, sweet memories.
I am going to visit friends in Botswana at Christmas: my first port of call will be my old home at Midrand.
I left Johannesburg in 1991 after 16 years and am a little concerned after all the scare stories I’ve read.
Can I safely visit; the Art Gallery at the bottom of Claim Street adjacent as it is to the bus station?
Do I really need to drive with the doors locked?
Has Egoli really changed all that much?