Photos: views of the new Constitutional Court & old prison building for black inmates; view of new Court building from old solitary confinement cells; MA at the Mai Mai Market; scenes from downtown Jozi;
“You must know your past and the cruelty that was committed to your people. But don’t keep this too much in mind because we are here to build a new South Africa. That is what you must commit yourselves to. You remember what has happened in the past so that, in future, you can avoid it.”- Nelson Mandela, upon his return to the Old Fort prison in 2003
We took and organized tour of JoBurg (or Jozi as the locals also call it), to get a better sense of the city. JoBurg is actually quite huge – the population totals are often estimated, since there are many “unauthorized:” settlements and more refugees from neighbouring countries coming in all the time, so I don’t think anyone knows how many people there are for sure – but it is estimated somewhere between 6-8 million. The city has a number of suburbs/townships within that, and it’s very spread out, comprising over 250 square kilometers. Our first stop was Constitutional Hill, where South Africa highest constitutional court was built just a few years ago. It site on the site of an old Boer fort, which was built to protect the city from the original British invasion, and then later served as a prison for both white and black residents. It’s history in this century is best know for it housed ANC and white anti-apartheid political prisoners, as well as those who were incarcerated for more minor infractions (for example, being caught without your pass card was a jailable offense for blacks) – the prison housed both men and women, in very deplorable conditions. Mandela was also jailed here for a time when he was first arrested, before he was moved to Robben Island. You can see his old cell, and they have a great collection of his personal writings etc. kept there. He was moved from the black prison across the compound to the larger white prison – he was told it was because he could have a larger room to have his books and prepare his case. But the warders feared he would escape (there was an escape plan in the works that never came to pass), and they felt they would be able to spot one black prisoner amongst a large group of white men, and be able to shoot him, should he try to escape.They have built the new Constitutional Court building adjacent to the site of the prisons, and have incorporated both building beautifully, and have built a museum through the jail site, through which you are toured and told about its history. They have incorporated some incredible public art and architectural details, rich with symbolism for a new and building country. And the fact that the Constitutional Court, which defends their new Charter of Rights document, is incredible important and meaningful to South Africans. The whole complex was built in 1994, and sits on a major hill in town. It’s an incredibly moving experience to witness it. Again you are struck by how YOUNG the country is, in terms of when apartheid was banished and SA became a fully free nation.
We left there and visited the downtown core – Duncan, our guide, explained that the reason that we were seeing only black people on the streets is that the white workers drive directly to their offices, and then return to their (predominately white) suburbs at the end of the workday. If you drove by some large office buildings, you could see white workers congregated into lobby restaurants having lunch; but you rarely see a white person on the street, it’s truly bizarre. The city is very bustling, lots of activity, but still quite segregated – very strange when coming from a place like Vancouver, where one is so used to have so many different people everywhere, and getting to enjoy that diversity every day on the street with others. I think it goes to a larger sense of paranoia amongst white JoBurg residents – partly it’s come from a place of reality, since from everything that people told us (white and black) the crime rate in the 1990’s was ferocious. So bad, in fact, a number of major businesses packed up and left the downtown business district – we saw a number of office buildings desperately trying to rent out space, and two major hotels that sit abandoned – Duncan told us that both these hotels were forced to shut down because of the high crime rates and lack of tourists. But signs of change are everywhere on Jozi residents seem to be unfailingly positive about how things are getting better – I think especially since the 2010 World Cup is coming here, so they have high hopes for a return to better days for the city. There are renovation and building projects going on in a number of areas – one major one is an area called New Town, which has the new Museum of Africa and a music district, bars etc. The issue of crime is high on everyone’s list of issues here, regardless of colour. We personally had no issues, and the guides said that of course we were avoiding areas that are particularly bad. Driving through the predominantly white suburbs is a study in security…high fences, electrical fences, armed monitored alarm, security guards (our lovely little hotel had all of these, although done in a very non-overt way if that’s possible). They are certainly quite frightened, that much is clear. But then again, the stories keep coming – the woman from the tour company who picked us up at airport (who is white) said that she has been mugged, as have all of her female friends and relatives. And rape is a constant concern as well, as its quite common. And black-on-black violence is even worse. But all residents here seem to love their city, and have no intention of leaving. And by everyone’s assessment, things are much better and are improving all the time.
We also visited the Mai Mai Market, a traditional African healers market in a section of downtown – it’s a very odd place, and not a place where tourists go, only a place for locals. There are a variety of store fronts where the Sangoma ply their trade (traditional healers, or they also call them witch doctors here) – Africans prefer to visit the Sangoma before the “western” style doctors and hospitals we were told. It is largely traditional/herbal treatment, but they also utilize various animal parts (lots of animal skins, bones and other parts). It was a really interesting window of African culture – but also clear they don’t get many tourists there from the odd looks we were getting throughout the place. I was glad we were able to go there with the guide. We didn’t want to take too many photos there, it seemed intrusive in a way – but Steve took a few quietly with his point-and-shoot digital camera which is much less obvious than our SLR. I bought a lovely necklace and bracelet from a nice woman there (your birthday present Carol!); later we went to the African Craft Market and found your Zulu mask, Leslie, for your birthday as well. I wanted to buy a cow hide rug (they have some really cool ones here and cheap), but Steve wasn’t a fan of the idea…have to work on him so I can buy it on my next visit!
We finished our evening back at the Peech Hotel, which has turned out to be just a really lovely boutique hotel, very comfortable, only 8 rooms, so it feels very intimate and cozy. Had two excellent dinners there, mostly because we were too lazy to call a cab and go elsewhere. That’s the one thing about JoBurg I could never get used to – not being able to stroll around in the evening and enjoy the city. You kind of feel like a prisoner in your hotel – a very comfortable prisoner, but nevertheless…
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