News

Serious hiccup in an ambitious plan

Derived from Thabiso Thakali’s article in the Saturday Star

The Gauteng Provincial Government had a brilliant plan to place all the provincial government departments into one central hub in the Joburg CBD. This would centralize and therefore improve service delivery, and also help to revitalise the CBD.

Work on this ambitious project, which was to be called the Kopanong Precinct, was started in 2007 and has however been put on hold for the last six months, at great cost to the taxpayer. Cranes and other equipment have been standing idle and assets such as lifts that were purchased are just gathering dust. Now some buildings, which have inadequate security, have also been invaded by vagrants at night.
 
Photo: A proposal for a new office block in the Kopanong precinct in central Johannesburg

Rissik Street Post Office to be restored

Hans Jooste of the Johannesburg Inner City Business Coalition (JICBC) writes:

The Rissik Street Post Office building caught fire on 1 November last year, and the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality has since taken measures to ensure that the safety and security of the general public is not compromised. There is a strong security presence on site and access to the building is restricted.

Photo: Steps are being taken by the City to restore the historic Rissik Street Post Office

Pay more for better roads

Gauteng's prepaid toll solution is to become the national standard. When Gautengers are tolled for using the province's busiest freeways in early 2011, the system will work somewhat like a prepaid cell phone contract.
To see the details of how this sytems works – and how it affects YOU as a commuter, visit the www.joburgcentral.co.za website and click under “news”.
 

Budget and Tariff Guide

For up-to-date info on the Joburg 2010/11 Budget and Tariff Guide, visit the www.joburgcentral.co.za  website, or click on this link http://www.joburgcentral.co.za/images/cst/file/Budget%20&%20Tariff%20Guide.pdf  
 

Acid water IS a threat, but no cause for panic

This SAPA story appeared in Business Report

The Grootvlei mine near Springs, Gauteng, was making repairs to equipment which would almost double the capabilities of acid mine water pumping, Aurora Mines, the mine's owners, said.

If this toxic water is left to rise underground, it will flood the Witwatersrand basins - and Joburg - and have catastrophic consequences for the environment, human and animal life and future mining.

Photo: There are measures in place to deal with acid mine water, says City spokesman, Nthatisi Modingoane

Gautrain a big hit

Gautrain commenced operations between Sandton and OR Tambo International Airport on 8 June 2010.

The number of train passenger trips in July were 331 344 with 31 days of operation, compared to 283 552 in June, when there were only 23 days of operation. That’s around 10 000 trips a day!

Photo: Park Station is nearing completion

Gunshots rock Joburg

This story was derived from IOL early in August

Shell casings littered Sauer Street on a Thursday night and several cars had bullet holes after a shootout between metro police and a gang of robbers who robbed a butchery.
 

Row, row, row your boat

South of Johannesburg (SOJO) and Golden City Dragon Boat Club present the South of Johannesburg Annual Dragon Boat Corporate Spring Festival Regatta, in partnership with Joburg City.

The regatta takes place on Sunday 5 September from 9am to 5pm at Wemmerpan Lake, Pioneers Park, south of the City. It costs R2 500 per boat of 20 paddlers and one drummer, which is only R125 per participant!

For more information contact: Lionel Benham of the Golden City Dragon Boat Club at 076 130 8734, or Nicky Vakaloudis at 082 481 8746 from SOJO Business and Tourism.

Photo: This is your chance to become a dragon boat racer!
 

Women hit JAG

Transformations: women's art from the late nineteenth century to 2010 is an exhibition of women's art from the collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, curated by Nessa Leibhammer, Reshma Chhiba and Musha Neluheni.

It runs from 11 August to 31 January 2011.

Photo: Billie Zangewa's Pillow Talk, 2004, cut silk and cotton

New dance space in town

New venue Le Mix Room boasts a whopping 1000 square metres of dance floor space, with state of the art LED lighting system, a video jockey and a sound system that leaves you giddy.

With a comfortable lounge area and three bars (including a massive 18-metre main bar), more and more people are enjoying the CBD party atmosphere that the venue creates. Manager Nikko says: “Most of the South African artists who have played in our club have all said it was one of the only ‘real’ night clubs around.”

Photo: The rooftop area makes Le Mix Room really special

Local jazz show shot in CBD

There’s a 10-series new show on e.tv about jazz artists, and its being shot on a rooftop in downtown Joburg.

Unplugged Joy of Jazz features some of South Africa’s hottest musicians, such as BLK Sonshine, UJU, Wanda Baloyi, Brian Themba, Nhlanhla Nciza, MXO and Kyle Shepard.

Photo: There's great jazz on SA's TV screens, played from a rooftop in Joburg’s CBD

Jozi Township theatre to enter a new golden age

This August and September, Joburg will pulse with cutting-edge community plays as the Arts Alive Alternative Spaces 2010 Festival travels around the city, riding the crest of a township theatre revival.

After auditions were held throughout the metro’s six regions, attracting an impressive 90 groups, five groups per region have been selected to take part in their respective regional festivals up until 19 September.
 

How to survive in Joburg

Unhinged: Surviving Joburg is a ‘Black Documentary’ which deals in its own way with the endless trials, errors and frustrations, as well as the magic, opportunities and workings of Johannesburg, South Africa's largest city and the world's gateway to Africa.

Director Adi Loveland writes: “This place is our war zone and in any combat situation, you need to know as much as possible about the enemy in order to up the chances of victory. Unhinged: Surviving Joburg will show you where the enemy lies in wait, as well as the magic and potential in store for those that get through the mine fields. Of course you need to be around to enjoy the benefits, and in Joburg the number one pre-requisite for thriving…”

Loveland made the movie after his mother was hijacked and his friend killed in another hijacking. The film is an attempt to ascertain what makes the city so special that people are willing to make their livelihood here despite Joburg’s dangers. You can buy the movie for just R50 from www.survivingjoburg.com  

Photo: The latest movie about Joburg's madness is available for 50 bucks

Pay more for better roads


Gauteng's prepaid toll solution is to become the national standard. When Gautengers are tolled for using the province's busiest freeways in early 2011, the system will work somewhat like a prepaid cell phone contract.

Budget and Tariff Guide

For up-to-date info, see the Joburg 2010/11 Budget and Tariff Guide

The Central Johannesburg Partnership transforms Joburg into an art gallery

This article was derived in part from Nechama Brodie’s article in the Mail and Guardian

Johannesburg has just become the world’s first city art gallery, with Mary Sibande as the first contemporary artist to have her work exposed on the massive urban canvas.

Photo: Mary Sibande's works from the exhibition Long Live the Dead Queen are up all over central Johannesburg

Acid mine water threatens Joburg

This SAPA story was found on Business Report

Millions of litres of highly acidic mine water was rising up under Johannesburg and, if left unchecked, could spill into its streets in 18 months, Parliament's water affairs portfolio committee heard yesterday.

Photo: Joburg may soon be awash in highly acidic water, unless something is done about rising mine water

Energy efficient buildings are the future

This was derived from Makoena Pabale’s story on www.joburg.org.za

Joburg was recently rewarded for saving energy through implementing energy efficiency measures in the Braamfontein Metro Centre.

MMC for environment and corporate and shared services Matshidiso Mfikoe received the EnerKey Performance Certificate from the EnerKey Project during a brief ceremony at the centre.

Photo: The Metro centre in Braamfontein is energy efficient - something all buildings will have to be soon

A retrospective on the World Cup

“The expensive lessons we learnt were 1) An effective and visible police force lowers the crime rate 2) African national teams cannot match European national teams in this kind of competition 3) An effective late night public transport system means fewer deaths by drunken driving 4) More public rubbish bins means less litter 5) If you can’t see poverty it doesn’t exist and 6) Large spectacles divert our attention away from the issues.

These were hardly lessons we needed to spend a couple hundred hospitals and schools on ...”

Photo: It’s now time to sum up what the world cup actually meant for South Africa

Xenophobia never went away

This article was derived from Nicole Johnston’s article in the Mail and Guardian

The public perception of an "outbreak" of xenophobia is somewhat mistaken -- xenophobic attacks have never stopped, and research by the Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP) at Wits University shows that in the past two years there has been at least one attack a month on groups of foreign nationals.

Photo: Prompt action by the police has helped to dispel the fear of another spate of xenophobia, similar to the 2008 tragedy, after the World Cup. But xenophobia never really stopped ...