May 10, 2004
By Ndaba Dlamini
TWO of the most famous landmarks associated with Johannesburg, Hillbrow Tower and the Ponte City building, have become infamous symbols of the flatland of Hillbrow and Berea.
Against a backdrop of mine dumps and a maze of freeways, the two structures stare down imposingly on a metropolitan tangle of tall residential and hotel buildings accommodating a population whose origins are as diverse as the languages spoken on Hillbrow's crowded Pretoria Street pavements.
The 270m-high Hillbrow Tower, on the corner of Goldreich and Banket streets, was built in 1971 and is one of the tallest structures in South Africa. Originally named after a former South African prime minister, JG Strijdom, it used to have a revolving restaurant and an observation deck, and was a popular spot for people who wanted a bird's eye view of the inner city and surrounds. Both were closed during the 1980s for "security reasons".
A symbol of the economic and technological advancement of Joburg, the contrast to the suburb below is bleak. A teeming mass of activity, Hillbrow is seen by many as a place where the entirety of South Africa's evils can be found, an epitome of drug dealings, prostitution, gangsterism, illegal immigrants, squalor and crime.
In the 1980s Hillbrow was the first "grey area" or desegregated suburb under the apartheid regime and is today one of the most densely populated areas in South Africa, mainly occupied by black immigrants and residents who moved from the townships in search of relatively quality accommodation.
Before the 1980s, flatland was wholly white occupied, but by 1993, only 17 percent of Hillbrow residents were white, according to Alan Morris in his book "The Heartbeat of Hillbrow".
Most immigrants, easily discernible by their West African attire and accents, are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, but a plethora of races and African nationalities from Zimbabwe to Tunisia and from Pakistan to China also reside within the confines of one of the most cosmopolitan suburbs in the world.
Predictably, the area also has a fair share of illegal immigrants and it is commonplace to find policemen grabbing people from the crowds and bundling them into police trucks known as "igumbagumba".
To those who live there, however, Hillbrow symbolises "freedom, opportunity, homes, schools, jobs, a safe haven for those who have fled from places far worse", according to an architecture lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand, Melinda Silverman. A place which provides a foretaste of what other South African urban areas will become: "a crowded but cosmopolitan home to a largely black population of émigrés, many of them illegal immigrants from other countries".
Like most third world cities, Johannesburg has a large population of street children, some as young as six years old, forced by poverty, alcoholism, broken homes and violence to eke out a living on the Hillbrow streets. Their homes are street corners where they can be seen sniffing glue, huddled together in greasy blankets to shut out the cold.
With danger at every turn, Hillbrow is a hot spot for entertainment junkies who like to live on the edge, the most dangerous time being New Year's Eve when the streets rain with disused fridges, microwave ovens, beds, rubbish bins and electric stoves - the traditional way of ushering in the new year for flatland dwellers.
Entertainment spots are numerous and prostitution is rife. Some nightclubs and hotels, which, on the surface operate within the confines of the law, offer a variety of clandestine services for male clients, from strip shows to sexual packages. The Dorchester Hotel and Europa Hotel and Razzmatazz Nightclub were closed down by the authorities because of serious violations of council by-laws, but the Moulin Rouge, Little Rose, The Summit Club and The Ambassador Hotel still bear dubious reputations.
Located on the edge of Berea, Ponte City is a fitting landmark for flatland with its flashing Vodacom advertisement that can be seen kilometres away. Located at 1 Lily Avenue, the 1975-built Ponte City is 173m tall and consists of 54 floors of apartments, making it the tallest residential building in Africa. Originally, the apartment building was planned to be 64 storeys, but was scaled back after fire-fighting concerns were raised. A shopping arcade is located on the eighth floor.
Ponte City today is a far cry from the grand apartment building of the 1980s and overcrowding has led to a drop in standards: many apartments are occupied by six or more people, with bedrooms and lounges partitioned by curtains to create multiple rooms.
A proposal to reconfigure the building into a high-rise prison surfaced in the 1990s but the proposal was shelved indefinitely by the city council.
Despite the degeneration of flatland, the area has not lost its vibe and township revellers and residents rate it amongst the most exciting entertainment spots in Johannesburg.
Alex Phiri from Dube in Soweto frequents one of the nightclubs in Hillbrow whenever he has money to blow. "Hillbrow kicks. I can dance the night away and not worry about transport back home. There are plenty of cheap places around where I can find accommodation going for R100 a night."
In an effort to regenerate the inner city and crack down on unsavoury elements, the City of Johannesburg has initiated programmes like the Hillbrow/Berea Regeneration Initiative, which was launched in 2001, and is aimed at developing a sense of community with a vision and action plan to vanquish the squalor.
The Inner City Task Force, a strike team of agents, council employees and law enforcement officers headed by the Inner City Renewal Programme manager, Martin New, has embarked on a mission to tackle a wide range of inner city ills, among them regeneration of old, decaying buildings.
An 11-storey residential building on Paul Nel Street in Hillbrow, Norvena Court, was on Friday 7 May, evacuated of all residents and the building closed down after an urgent application to the High Court, according to Roopa Singh, inner city communications officer.
"The building had no fire hydrants, sewer pipes were broken and the basement was flooded by 1,4m of raw sewerage. The building contravened many City by-laws and we evacuated the people because the building was dangerous," she said.
Other buildings in similar states will be closed down as part of the task force's efforts to regenerate the inner city and create a world-class city.
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