#jozi My dad has been posting some of his pics from Hilbrow and Berea in the 1960s when he lived there. This is Hilbrow now. It doesn’t look like all that much to people in many places around the world - really just some grubby 50s-70s high-rises. But Johannesburg is unique in Africa for having a true ‘urban jungle.’ Nowhere else has such a concentration of tall buildings - not Cairo. Not Lagos. It was all built on the gold dug far beneath the Earth by workers treated as less-than second-class citizens sweltering in the darkness.
Johannesburg experienced classic ‘white flight’ South Africa style as landlords in the early ’90s crammed as many poor families into as many delapidated, unserviced buildings as they could fit. Alternative financial centres opened in the suburbs that partially preserved the old status quo (though Johannesburg has integrated far better after apartheid than Cape Town - which has barely changed). During the ’90s crime was bonkers. That too has dropped dramatically since. Although it remains very worryingly high for citizens.
But Johannesburg remains among the most exciting and vibrant cities in the world. A new melting pot for people seeking better lives from across the continent and even the world. I am confident that it will one day be a great world city when its fantastic talent and diversity can be harnessed by the alleviation of the poverty of so many citizens.