October 4, 2005
By Ndaba Dlamini
BRING out the cake, light the candles, and break out in song. Now, Joburg, blow out the candles and make a wish, for today you turn 119.
Born on 4 October 1886 out of an undulating savannah when the first gold diggers staked their claims and heaved their picks into the stony ground, Johannesburg has grown from a mining camp into a city of international stature.
Stories abound about the first people to strike gold. However, some believe that title belongs to the Struben brothers who found what looked to be the first "payable" seam, in 1874. They called their mine Confidence Reef.
Their reef, however, lasted no more than a year and the two brothers joined the rush to Kimberley when diamonds were discovered there in 1871.
Apparently, three of the Struben brothers' workers were among those who struck gold in the main reef. Who made the discovery, though, remains mired in controversy.
The naming of this young settlement is also dogged by controversy, with plenty of theories on the origin of the name.
What is known, however, is that the settlement was named after Johann, a common Dutch name. Apparently, any Johann could have claimed credit, but it is believed that the credit belongs to two men involved in land surveying and mapping - Johannes Meyer and Johannes Rissik from the then government - who decided to name the settlement Johannesburg in honour of themselves.
Captain Carl von Brandis read out a proclamation of the Witwatersrand goldfields on 20 September 1886, and residential development is believed to have started later than 4 October.
Johannesburg, the city built on gold. Photograph by Walter Knirr, City of Johannesburg
In his book, Early Johannesburg: Its Buildings and its People, Hannes Meiring says that when it was decided to establish a mining village where miners could stay, Randjeslaagte was chosen. Tucked between the three farms of Braamfontein, Doornfontein and Turffontein, "someone forgot to deproclaim the diggings" already taking place there.
The government, having little faith in the future of the new mining town, decided to "cram as many stands as possible" into this area "with as many streets as possible". Meiring says this later lead to the high rise development of Johannesburg today.
The auction of residential stands began on Wednesday, 8 December 1886.
Youngster
Although more than a century old, Johannesburg - affectionately known as Joburg, Jozi, Egoli or City of Gold - is one of the world's younger cities. In comparison, Damascus is believed to date back to the third millennium before Christ; New York was established in the early 17th century.
Over the years the city has grown from a tented camp into a haphazardly laid out settlement of tin shanties, into a town of four-storey Edwardian brick buildings, and into a mix of modern skyscrapers and complicated freeways that spiral around it.
Declared a city in 1928, this relatively young place kept pace with some of the great cities of the world, like Paris and London. Towards the end of the 19th century it was installing all the trendy new developments, like electricity, motor cars and telephones.
Cosmopolitan vibe
But what has made Johannesburg the great city that it is today? Definitely it is the vibe, the cosmopolitan feel and the mystery behind the shadows of the tallest building in Africa, the Carlton Centre. And, of course, the eerie mine dumps that brood above the disused mine shafts that interweave beneath the city like veins.
Who can forget the legendary township of Sophiatown, the cultural heart of black Johannesburg from which sprouted the vibe of today? Or Meadowlands and other Soweto townships that grew out of Sophiatown's ashes to give birth to some of South Africa's great people, like Albertina Sisulu, Abigail Kubeka and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela?
Africa's mecca
Decades after the gold rush of the late 19th century, people of all races, creeds and backgrounds are still lured to what some have come to refer to as Africa's mecca.
Drawn by the commercial supremacy of a city whose residents earn - between them - a total income of R28-billion a year, Johannesburg's population has grown by leaps and bounds. This has resulted in informal settlements springing up on almost every available piece of ground.
But through its Housing Master Plan, Joburg aims to pull down informal settlements and give adequate housing to all its residents by 2009.
Like most South African cities, Johannesburg is largely divided by class. In the north live the affluent, while the south is mostly inhabited by the city's poor. In 1995, an attempt was made to address these economic disparities by uniting the independent satellite towns, like affluent Sandton, Soweto, Alexandra, Randburg, Roodepoort, Kyalami, Midrand and Ivory Park, in one unicity.
Igoli 2002
Attempts have also been made to create an environment that benefits all residents. In 1999, a blueprint called Igoli 2002, a three-year plan that called for the selling of non-core assets, the restructuring of certain utilities, and the requirement that others become self-sufficient, was drawn up to boost the city's finances.
In the early 1990s Johannesburg's inner city took a turn for the worst when business began a steady relocation to new areas like Sandton. Decay set in and most buildings, such as the famous Carlton Hotel, closed down.
Regeneration programmes and efforts to turn the inner city's fortunes around are, however, under way.
Hillbrow
Two of Johannesburg's more famous landmarks, the Telkom Joburg Tower and Ponte City, are in one of Johannesburg's most well-known (and most infamous) suburbs, Hillbrow.
Hillbrow, Johannesburg's cosmopolitan centre. Photograph by Walter Knirr, City of Johannesburg
Home to thousands of immigrants from across the continent, Hillbrow has come to represent a new sub-culture that has enhanced Johannesburg's reputation as a cultural melting pot.
And, a new Sophiatown has risen on the western edge of the city. Newtown is Johannesburg's vibrant cultural hub, where some of the city's finest entertainment hotspots are found.
Here, at the foot of the famous Mandela Bridge, the Johannesburg of the 1950s and 1960s is being resurrected.
After 119 years, the ringing notes of the mining picks striking on hard ground and the screech of mine rigs have gone quiet; the noise of traffic and the incessant shouts of stockbrokers have taken their place.
The mine dumps, a dull yellow in the sun, however, still bear testimony to the birth pangs of this great city.
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