Johannesburg : Walk this way

Tom Otley takes a stroll around Johannesburg and finds it truly transformed in a few short years Freshly brewed coffee, a bench outside from where you can watch life pass by, boutique hotels for city breaks, art galleries, new businesses, a new generation of young urbanites reclaiming their heritage. It’s a familiar story around the world, but few would have bet that Johannesburg would be included on the list. Not many places have been through a cycle of boom and bust quite like the South African city. Founded only 130 years ago, powered by the discovery of gold in the area in 1886, within a decade it was home to 80,000 people and within 40 years, 300,000. The mining companies built palaces to their wealth, with the opulent interior of the Rand Club (randclub.co.za) a testament to their sense of entitlement to this affluence, and also their intention to celebrate their exploitation of it. But then came decline. First, the manufacturing businesses left, victims of racial laws preventing them from employing more than a handful of black workers. By the early 1990s, the centre of Johannesburg was in disrepair. When I last visited before the 2010 FIFA World Cup, there were signs of a renaissance. A short walk around part of the city centre was possible (see my 2008 Four-Hour Guide, businesstraveller.com/city-guides), but dangers remained. One lasting memory is being told how it was perfectly safe to walk down one street, but inadvisable to walk down another, clearly in sight, only 100 metres away. It was an interesting tour, and there was much to admire, but the majority of my time was spent in and around the business and residential suburbs of Sandton, Rosebank and Rivonia. Returning in 2013, the difference is palpable. A walking tour of the centre can take all day now without fear of straying into the “wrong” areas, helped by better signposting and security. Independent businesses are flourishing, the Gautrain linking the city and airport is efficient, safe and has opened up several areas in the centre, new hotels have appeared, and the streets are much safer. Much of the credit for this lies with the Joburg City Tourism Association, a gathering of more than 50 businesses in the Inner City that are promoting the area as a place to live, work and visit. It’s also down to the people of Johannesburg themselves, who realised the gem in their midst, especially after intelligent spending on infrastructure as a result of the World Cup. If you have business in the centre then chances are you’ve gradually woken up to its attractions – such as the Arts on Main area of galleries and performance spaces in a former industrial belt, now rechristened Maboneng (“Place of Light”, mabonengprecinct.com), and the magnificent City Hall. If you’ve always visited the suburbs, however, it’s probably still a terra incognita. Speak to those living and working outside the inner city and they will freely, even cheerfully, admit they haven’t been into Joburg for years – behaviour learnt when they were younger. They are missing out. Take a walk there today and the architecture of the city reflects the very different historical periods the city has been through – from youthful swagger, to confident statements of prosperity, to insular and defensive aggression. See the ugly Brutalist architecture of the 1950s-1970s, with fort-like buildings above car parks – the latter were necessary because white workers would never have used public transport to access the city and wanted protection while they were there. Today, you can find poetic and sad neglect next to enthusiastic regeneration. As a character in Booker Prize-winning Hilary Mantel’s novel A Change of Climate observes: “Beneath the pavements… were diamonds and gold.” And though the mines are today largely worked out, leaving giant mounds of spoil on the city outskirts – some nestling beside Soccer City, which was refurbished and expanded for the World Cup – others are merely overgrown scars bypassed by highways and train tracks. As well as walking, using public transport is a must. Getting into the city is easy – the Gautrain links not only Sandton and Rosebank with the airport but also the city centre. Take it to Park station and you’ll find at least eight blocks you can wander around taking in the sights. Better still, there’s a hop-on, hop-off bus (12 stops, R150/£9.80 for the day; citysightseeing.co.za) connecting with this station, which can take you right the way around the city – Gandhi Square, City Hall, Carlton Centre (Top of Africa), the James Hall Transport Museum – and out to the outstanding Apartheid Museum, 9km from the centre in Ormonde. If you don’t have long, choose a walk around the Civic Centre – see the Four-Hour Guide – but for evidence of how things have changed in the past few years, Braamfontein is the place. In architectural terms, the suburb is no great shakes – mainly former office blocks and some retail – but as a symbol of the change within Joburg, it’s a great place to start. If you stay at the boutique Bannister hotel (previously the Metro and reopened by Andrew Bannister; bannisterhotel.co.za), or the Easyhotel (easyhotel.co.za), you’re in the centre of this regeneration – the Saturday Neighbourgoods Market (neighbourgoodsmarket.co.za) is here, where you’ll find local farmers, bakers, grocers, chefs and micro-enterprises selling their goods. Developer Adam Levy has concentrated on the area (playbraamfontein.co.za), offering luxurious city living above shops, restaurants and bars – some new, some very old, such as the Milner Park hotel, which has been converted into office space while retaining Joburg’s second-oldest bar (after the Guild Hall). If that all sounds a little frantic, simply relax over a freshly brewed Malawian coffee at Doubleshot (doubleshot.co.za) and marvel at the changes taking place. Thanks to Gerald Garner, tour guide and author of ‘Joburg Places’, available in good Johannesburg bookshops; joburgplaces.com

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Many more people around the world know Nelson Mandela’s story than have ever visited the African continent, so with the release of a new film detailing his life story, South Africa will no doubt be hoping to encourage viewers to become visitors. Long Walk to Freedom, which stars Idris Elba as Mandela, was filmed on location across the country, in places including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Robben Island, Kwa Zulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The sets used in the movie, including the Courtroom of the Palace Of Justice and Mandela’s Robben Island cell, will afterwards be housed in the Nelson Mandela Museum in Qunu in the Eastern Cape “and other associated heritage facilities”. Visitors to Johannesburg will be hoping that one of those will either be the already superb Apartheid Museum (apartheidmuseum.org), or Liliesleaf (liliesleaf.co.za), where Mandela lived undercover in the years prior to his arrest. The film will be released in the UK on January 3. mandelamovie.co.za