Johannesburg, South Africa
by Mike Manegold, Switzerland

Missing one of the many junctions towards Sandton City, we suddenly ended up on the corner to Elof Street. My companion and I decided to get out of the car and to do a round of shopping. It was the same kind of experience as in many boring American cities, asphalt jungle and standardised stuff, and I never felt the desire to go back.

But times changed. The media reports about the bad things and the crime  rate in Johannesburg worried me. 97 and 98 seemed the worst: Rape, robbery, murder, crime statistics reaching and surpassing Washington DC‘s level. Only Kingston, Jamaica, ranked higher in crime, but only just. The media loved it:

Crime sells. And all the sceptics who always knew that even with a democratic constitution, things in South Africa would never work out: “See? They can‘t handle it! They‘re corrupt, biased, inefficient and incompetent!”. Johannesburg is at the source of the reputation of the entire country: Talk about South Africa, its people and its beauty, but you‘ll always be asked this question first:

“and.....are you safe?”

So I wanted to find out. Time for a second look. I asked Nan Hill from Infoshop North West to bring me right into the centre. Having lots of violent pictures in my mind, I have to admit that I was worried. I have been around, so to say, and seen nasty things in Buenos Aires, Miami or Los Angeles. I knew how a greenhorn could be targeted and victimised in an anarchic, uncontrolled and derelict place.

Johannesburg is a big city. You can drive for hours and still be in it. And to me, everything looked the same. Oversized, well maintained, highways with up to 3 lanes, heavy traffic, plethoras of houses or bungalows with little gardens, hidden behind walls or just open like in a little Irish Town. And all over it, everywhere, constructions sites are bustling with activity! Lots of shopping malls and industrial buildings, reminding me in a strange way of Berlin. And everything looked surprisingly clean and well kept.

Our first stop was the Hide Park Shopping Mall. Nan wanted to show me the good things first. Beautiful fashions shops and a great selection of foodstuff at the delicatessen corner. The same kind of place you would find in Paris, London or alongside Singapore’s Orchard Road, quite worthwhile to go to if you‘re keen on fashion and not too short on cash (The opposite season to Europe might be a little bit of a problem).

Next we went to the West Cliff Hotel, only to see the last bit of civilisation and then through Hillbrow, Pretoria Street and on into the heart of Johannesburg downtown (or shall I call it the previous downtown - or rather what is left of it?) Well, it‘s bad! It‘s very bad!  Blade Runner-kind of bad! All the buildings seemed to be either condemned or condemnable.

Dirt and chaos ruled! Lot‘s of very poor people on the street! Shabby, grimy, desolate! The shops were open, but, I thought, who wants to go there? Certainly nobody from out of town! I felt like an outsider. Or an intruder. Or an unwanted visitor. Is my French good enough? Algerians have taken over. The area reeks of drugs and prostitution.

The lyrics of a film song about Johannesburg came to my mind. They say:

“Jo‘burg is the city, where the dreams come to die”.

But the traffic lights were still working. Still, I did not want to stop my rental car anywhere in there, albeit an old Polo, and there are people who insist you never should slow down with your car. Nan told me they had installed outside cameras in this area to monitor for possible crimes. I told Nan I wanted to leave. I didn‘t feel safe. I was depressed and repelled by the poverty and the hopelessness of this downtown. Minutes later, the world is back to its normal beauty: Perfect roads, perfect houses - this is much more like it! I had thought that it would be much bigger, this evil downtown. But no, it was quite small, compared to other bad places in major cities around the world. But cancer is cancer and it tends to spread out. I do hope that the politicians and the police will cut the cancer out, before it is too late. Nan said they were trying to.

A 10 minute ride took us to Melville, a nice and quite little place in the middle of Johannesburg. I bought some bakery goods, sat down in one of the street cafes and hoped that the cancer will not grow until here. What to do with the old downtown? Put a lid on it and let it go down the drain? What makes Melville a cute and cosy place and turns the centre district into hell on earth? Is it possible to have one without the other?

Back to Sandton, in the North of the city. Will this be the new centre of Johannesburg? Or will it be Randburg, with it‘s beautiful waterfront and many great restaurants, shopping malls and theatres? Time will tell. But I know now that to miss out on the many great places Johannesburg has to offer, simply because of these few acres of evil downtown, is really a shame! Go there and enjoy it. Most of it. But if you are a first-timer, don‘t go alone.  You might take a wrong turn.