.....about Johannesburg
History
Just over 100 years ago, the economic and industrial centre of South Africa today was an endless untouched savannah. This changed very fast when the first gold was found in 1886. The news spread like wildfire and the area experienced an unprecedented gold rush. The government sent two deputies, who founded a little settlement and named it after the first name they both had in common, Johannesburg. Three years later the place was the biggest town in the country. By 1875 almost 100,000 people lived in Johannesburg and the mines employed more than 75,000 workers.
Black people from the reservations were forced to work in the mines. The men had to do that for at least a year. During this time they were separated from their wives and children and were living under inhumane conditions in the so-called "hostels". To stay emotionally in contact with their home and their culture, many of the men started to practise their traditional dances. In the course of the years these performances of the mine dancers also became part of the weekend entertainment for many whites in Johannesburg.
The City
Mandela Statue JohannesburgJohannesburg or Jo'burg, as the locals call the city of the gold, is the biggest metropolis in South Africa. With its 3,2 million citizens (sensus in 2001) the city on the Witwatersrand is the predominant commercial centre and the economic motor of the Republic of South Africa. One fifth of the country's Gross Domestic Product is being produced in Johannesburg. More than half of its population live in the suburbs of Soweto, Diepkloof and Orange Farm south-west of the city.
Johannesburg is the centre of the Gauteng Province, a densely populated Mega-Metropolis with numerous satellite towns as well as the South African capital of Pretoria. The population of Gauteng exceeds 8 million people by now.
Johannesburg's economical backbone still is the gold industry. Only a few of the initial mining oprations in Johannesburg are still active in the city area, but the former mines and the mine dumps had a lasting impact on the appearance of the urban landscape and the industrial structure.
All mining companies and the big banking and investment institutions have their headquarters in Johannesburg. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange, founded in 1887, is the centre of the capital markets for he whole of southern Africa There are only few South African companies which are not represented in Johannesburg.
Johannesburg is also the first address for international tourism. Most of the major airlines call at Johannesburg International Airport in the southeast of the city and most travel agencies and tour operators choose Johannesburg as the starting point for journeys through the country. The lively metropolis offers a wide spectrum of culture, combining European and African components.
Cooling tower art in SowetoSafety is a big issue as far as Johannesburg is concerned. After the end of apartheid, the crime rate rose dramatically, and the city got the reputation to be the "world's crime capital". Especially Johannesburg's Central Business District (CBD) was hit badly. Many shops and offices moved to the suburbs, to Rosebank, Sandton and Benoni. But in the year 2002 the business community took action and installed a surveillance camera web. More than 200 video cameras are covering virtually every corner of the CBD around the clock. Police and security officers can be at the scene of an assault in a minute. Since then the crime rate in the inner city has dropped considerably.
Gold Mines
The largest gold resources in the world were found in the area of the Witwatersrand and it is therefore not a surprise that South Africa is one of the world leaders in gold mining. Johannesburg's other name, "Egoli" means City of Gold. The gold-bearing stone is mined at considerable depth. The Western Deep Level Mine, with its shafts of depths to 3900 m, is one of the deepest in the world. Mining at such deep levels is usually highly problematic, because the temperature rises by 1 degree every 33 metres.
However, the geo-thermal conditions in South Africa are favourable. Nevertheless, immense machinery and air-conditioning are still required to make the working conditions underground tolerable. The air is cooled down to 32 degrees, but the workers have to cope with almost 100 percent humidity.
The material, work and energy needed for gold production is enormous. To produce one single fine ounce (= 31,104 g), 3,3 tons of ore, 5440 litres of water, 572 kilowatt hours electricity, 12 cubic metres of compressed air, lots of dynamite and tons of chemicals are used. After the gold-containing ore has been brought to light, it passes many more processing stages in a gold refinery, until the precious metal eventually reaches the state of absolute purity.
The price of gold has declined constantly in the last few years, mainly because of competition from cheaper gold from Russia and Australia. South Africa's gold industry has been under enormous pressure at times and could only survive because the Rand constantly lost its value against the major currencies. Only recently the gold price has improved.
Gold Reef City
The many visitors to Gold Reef City see a combination of show, pleasure resort and a little “living theatre.” On the grounds of a former gold mine, houses and entire streets have been rebuilt true to the originals from the gold-rush times. Most of the employees of the resort are dressed in costumes of that era.
Interested visitors can take the nostalgic steam-train or a historical coach for a sightseeing tour through the extended premises. Those interested in gold mining can see the gold-containing ore veins in an old mine, or observe in a small museum how real gold is poured into barrels. Adequate accommodation is also provided. In the Gold Reef City Hotel - just 10 minutes from central Johannesburg you can spend the night in the ambience of the oldern days.
Soweto
Famous or notorious, Soweto is a former township from the times of Apartheid. Starting about 15 km away from the centre of Johannesburg, it comprises some 63 sq. km, where an estimated two million people live.
Originally there were only temporary living quarters for the mine workers, before Soweto was declared a ghetto for the black population of Johannesburg by the infamous "Urban Areas Act" in 1923. Although the government had a housing program to build hundreds of thousands of plain two-room houses here, the illegal squatter camps kept on growing and spreading.
Still Soweto is by no means only an accumulation of tin shacks. There are also better suburbs and a number of more or less functioning social institutions like schools and hospitals. The main impression though is that of great crowding and poverty. Violence and crime are a result, which the police can hardly handle.
