Johnannesburg- City of Gold

---

Hi Everybody!
Walt and I started our adventure in South Africa in Johannesburg, the largest African city south of the Sahara. It was built on top of the gold mines that gave S. Africa its wealth. These mines have produced 40% of the world's gold. The last of Jo'burg's mines ran out in 1970. The mines left behind huge yellow mine dumps. The dumps resemble mesas with their flat tops. Cyanide which is used in the gold mining process is found in some of the dump's dirt. The city is flattening the dumps and trying to reclaim the land. Some vegetation grows on the dumps but I think the cyanide acts as a poison to other plants. While we were in the city, we visited one of the homes of Nelson Mandela, saw his current multi million dollar home, saw thousands of shacks, museums, memorials, etc.
From the moment we arrived, we felt the excitement of the city for the World Cup that they will be hosting in June. Soccer balls are everywhere--in the sky with hot air balloon designs, on billboards, street signs, ferris wheels, etc. People are sporting yellow and green soccer shirts. The main stadium for the World Cup looks like a clay pot with terra cotta and khaki colors. At the airport, a huge soccer ball was suspended from the ceiling. When we were gathering our luggage, we heard beautiful singing. We turned and saw a large group of teenagers in the yellow and green jerseys. I thought it was a soccer team but it was a mixture of girls and boys. I found out that it was the youth choir of South Africa. They were returning from an internation competition in France where they had won first place. South Africans love to sing. You hear people in their shops and stalls singing for the joy of singing. The people here are very friendly and want to please you. They are very industrious and creative. It is amazing what they can do with a coil of wire and a few beads or a piece of wood. Everywhere that I look, I see something that I want to buy.
Johannesburg has a huge problem---CRIME! It is not a safe city. One reason for this is that out of the 9 million residents, several million are illegal immigrants. Many support themselves through crime. The ones who work are willing to work for any wage. They take jobs from South Africans. We stayed at the Wanders Protea Hotel in a suburb. A swanky athletic club for tennis, squash, lawn bowlilng,etc. was next door. We were told to not go outside the hotel at night . In the daytime, we were encouraged to stay on the hotel property or the Club's property.
I was prepared for what I saw in Johannesburg. On the flight over, I had a wonderful seatmate that was a native South African. She now has dual citizenship with the U.S. Her family has owned a large farm in SA for 160 years. Since the death of her father and brother, she has been responsible for this farm. She has a tribal chief whose family has lived on the property and worked for her family for most of those 160 years. The chief does all the hiring and firing of workers. She in turn is responsible for the needs of the chief's family (his 11 wives and 23 children.) She makes 4-6 trips to SA every year. About 12 years ago, she was awakened late one night by 5 black men (illegal immigrants) asking for water. She pointed to her wells and let them take water. The chief realized that these men were going to be trouble and that they were from N. Africa. Those 5 men turned into 20, those into 100, then 1000, and now 250,000 squatters. She cannot get the gov't to help her get rid of these squatters. Their shacks stretch for 11 km. They stole her peach crop and then cut down all of the trees for firewood. They stole water, then the pumps, and last the copper pipes. Next, they started slaughtering dairy cows. She gave up and sold the rest of the herd. They took down all of the wooden fencing to use for building. They have not taken down the 18 ft. electric fence that surrounds her home or the burglar bars which protect all doors and windows. My friend cannot grow any crops with these squatters there. Her farm is making no money. On top of this, she has a great fear that the government is going to nationalize farms. This is what Mugabe did in Zimbabwe. He sent his men/army out to the farms at night. They took the homes, land, equipment, and all belongings except clothing. Walt and I have talked to a number of South Africans that fear for their farms' future.
The majority of South Africans are black. The minority are whites, coloureds (mixed), and yellows (Asians.) The ruling party is the African National Congress (ANC) and is controlled by the Xhosa tribe. Natives vote tribal. The government appears to be corrupted. 70% of the whites voted to do away with apartheid. Today, many of these people are afraid for their future. I think everyone agrees that apartheid was wrong. I am not sure that they have found the solution to fix the problem. I will say that we are glad that we came to South Africa but probably would not be willing to come back in 10 years.
On a diferent light, the weather is wonderful! We have had sunshiny clear skies with temperatures in the 70-80's. The only rain has been in the middle of the night. The land is lush and green. Much of it is planted with crops, orchards, pine trees for paper plants, and lots of eucalyptus trees. Tropical flowers and fruits are still in season. Winter doesn't really get here until May.
Next: Kreuger National Park
Take care,
Everette

---

Photos

Cooling Towers
These towers are no longer being used for a steam plant.

Bourke's Lucky Potholes
T

Succulents
There are over 200 varities of aloe plants in S. Africa.

Protected homes
I think this was one of Nelson Mandela's homes. Most middle class or upper class families have walls with electric wire protecting their houses. Nice homes have a guard at the gate.

Bats
Hundreds of bats were roosting in the roof of this cabana. Picnic tables were under it. I just happened to look up.

Unusual Woman
This woman had on a huge shower cap full of something????

Comments

[anonymous]

Wow, how exotic and interesting!! Be careful! Gloria