Malls and sprawls? Business visitors’ first impressions of Africa’s economic powerhouse often aren’t positive. It’s no secret Johannesburg lacks Cape Town’s natural beauty or Durban’s Zulu-heartland allure.
But don’t dismiss Johannesburg – where residents prefer nicknames Jo’burg, Jozi and eGoli (“place of gold”) - Nic Dawes urges. Travellers delving deeper will find an “utterly fascinating” city, Dawes, editor-in-chief of the Mail & Guardian, a leading South African newspaper, tells me.
Renowned South African author Riaan Malan defends Johannesburg by contrasting it with visitors’ homelands: “You’ll probably live longer than us and acquire more possessions - but there’s no ferment in your societies, no excitement, no edge.”
Johannesburg has buzz by the bucketful. A city launched on the back of a rambunctious gold rush, it’s still a major mineral producer and dotted with artificial hills called mine dumps (one with a drive-in cinema on top). Nowadays, Johannesburg serves the entire business spectrum. Allan Duke, marketing services director at Protea Hotels, Africa’s largest lodging chain, reminds me: “Johannesburg is where the action is, where decisions are taken – a supremely important business city.”
Home to nine million of 50 million South Africans (when urban sprawl’s fringes are counted), Johannesburg throbs. The governing African National Congress is stridently pro-business. President Jacob Zuma is a populist demanding bureaucrats should work “harder, faster, smarter” – but accepting service-delivery’s shortcomings spark grumbling. His aim: post-financial crisis growth “giving rise to more jobs.”
Zuma’s style is in marked contrast to that of his intellectual predecessor Thabo Mbeki. He often breaks into song and dance, including his much-in-demand rendition of Awuleth’ Umshini Wami (Bring Me My Machine Gun), a Zulu song popular with African National Congress fighters during their anti-apartheid struggle. He is democratic South Africa’s first Zulu leader. The previous two presidents, Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, were from the Xhosa tribe.
South Africa is in celebratory mode. February festivities highlighted the 20th anniversary of the release from prison, after 28 years, of Nelson Mandela. Apartheid quickly collapsed, making now-frail Mandela South Africa’s first “rainbow nation” president – as well as the planet’s most famous South African.
Then there’s soccer’s World Cup. Foreign teams play at 10 venues in nine cities - including Johannesburg - for a month from June 11. Prices are expected to rise before, during and after the World Cup – but analysts envisage this will be a brief phenomenon. Resembling a giant African cooking pot, Johannesburg’s football stadium will cram in local fans and die-hard followers from multitudinous nations. Basking in football’s glow will be events pinned to music, drama, dance and cuisine.
Pariah South Africa has been attractively transformed into Africa’s most important nation - so much so that people commonly forget it is only one of 53 African countries.
But it’s the most developed. First World infrastructure makes Johannesburg base-of-choice for business elsewhere in Africa. Cairo, Lagos and Nairobi are commercially critical but Johannesburg is streets ahead for comfort and convenience. What’s more, it’s a mere 40-minute drive to Pretoria, South Africa’s capital, where bureaucrats are headquartered.
As the Mail & Guardian’s Dawes sums up, Johannesburg possesses an enviable climate (warm summers, crisp winters), a vastly improved airport (30 minutes’ drive from Sandton, the business hub) and good hotels suiting most budgets.Further, it boasts an unbeatable combination of proximity to the fast-growing economies of the southern African sub-region with a banking and communications infrastructure they lack. For instance, doing business in oil-rich Angola and tourist-friendly Mozambique can be exceptionally expensive and very slow.
However, in Johannesburg you can drink the water, dine out on anything from sushi to grass-fed beef, register a company in just a few days, and transfer large sums of capital quickly while sitting in a coffee shop or hotel lounge. There are good lawyers and specialist financiers on tap and a reasonably sound regulatory system, albeit with some problems, so that it can’t entirely quell the buccaneering spirit of this old mining town. Dawes says: “Despite disturbing crime levels, expatriates lead less cloistered lives than compound-bound colleagues in other African capitals, with easy access to a huge array of leisure activities during their downtime.” I have to agree: theatres (Johannesburg’s creative backdrop is memorable), cinemas and restaurants attract an easygoing multicultural mix. And prices are exceptionally modest.
Asian investment is increasing. China, India, Malaysia and Thailand have discovered Africa. (Trade in Madagascar’s semi-precious stones is critical to a Bangkok-Antananarivo air link.) Asian airlines flying to Johannesburg include Cathay Pacific Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines and THAI Airways International. South African Airways, also flying to Asia, has extensive African and domestic networks. Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport is Africa’s busiest.
Johannesburg, like Rio de Janeiro, battles rampant crime. Residents tell me this has long been a fact of life.
It’s possible to limit exposure to crime. Business travellers safely wander malls and office buildings. Streetwise visitors commonly walk during daylight (admittedly shunning nocturnal ambles or downtown Johannesburg where there’d be few business meetings, anyway). Leisure side-trips beyond the city are unthreatening.
Ten years ago downtown was a no-go area. But a walk along Commissioner Street and nearby supports official statements that revival is a successful work-in-progress. Some businesses that fled are back. Squatters have been ousted from some buildings. Admittedly, vendors hawk sundry wares along pavements and opportunistic pickpockets keep busy. So, downtown strolling is still for only the confidently streetwise.
The commercial hub has moved north to suburban Sandton where I’m quickly lost in the innards of inter-leading malls radiating from ultra-secure Nelson Mandela Square – a pedestrian-friendly precinct with fashionable eateries lining its perimeter. Looming over the square is a six-metre statue of the liberation hero. Art critics condemn it as kitsch but its popularity is undeniable. I people-watch from my alfresco table at Baglio’s coffee shop. Next door is Legkotla, styling itself as “Africa’s dining room”, with multi-tribal décor attracting business lunch crowds. South Africa’s largest city has some of the world’s biggest malls - many incorporating hotels, (see Where To Stay). Malls drip with upmarket restaurants, wine bars (South Africa’s famed wines are mostly from the far south), coffee shops, cinemas, boutiques – and every retail niche. My favourite chains include Exclusive Books, Edgars department store, upscale fashion stockist Stuttafords and discounter Mr Price.
I step onto a gritty street outside a mall where a hawker tries to sell me a toy car made from twisted wire. We haggle but I buy the car. He apologises for not selling it more cheaply. “Business is business,” he says. In Johannesburg that’s so true.
WHERE TO STAY
Most business-oriented hotels are in or close to Sandton. Rates include 14 percent value-added tax. South African rand (ZAR) are written as “R”. Some rates include breakfast, others don’t – so check when booking. All hotels listed have satellite TV. High-speed internet access is cable in some hotels with Wi-Fi limited to public areas; others promote in-room choice of wireless or cable. Most charge about R200 (US$26) for 24 hours’ internet.
Hilton Sandton
Well-located 329-roomer with a strong business following. Close to Stock Exchange and corporate headquarters. Well-regarded food-and-beverage outlets. Lobby bar screens
sports on giant screens and sometimes features top-quality African jazz.
PRICE: Rooms from R2456 (US$317).
CONTACT: 138 Rivonia Road, Sandton; tel 27 11 322 1888; www.hilton.com
Hyatt Regency
Large five-star rooms (totalling 244) and expected business amenities. Zulu-themed Phumula Spa is splendid, as is an African handicrafts market out the back. Leafy upscale Rosebank is a 10-minute cab ride from Sandton.
PRICE: Rooms from R2480 (US$320).
CONTACT: 191 Oxford Road, Rosebank; tel 27 11 280 1234; www.hyatt.com
Michelangelo Towers
Top-level hubbubs are often held at this flawless business address with internal access to Sandton’s malls. The 149 spacious suites, with abundant marble and leather, occupy a high-rise at the edge of Nelson Mandela Square.
PRICE: Suites from R3755 (US$485).
CONTACT: 8 Maude Street, Sandton; tel 27 11 806 6888; www.michelangeltowers.co.za
Protea Hotel Balalaika
Unbeatable location and rock bottom rates belying quality ensure popularity among frequent visitors. A 330-room low-rise, Crown Court wing is more spacious than Balalaika. Internal access to Village Walk mall. Bull Run, opposite the Stock Exchange, is in-vogue for business entertaining.
PRICE: Rooms from R1200 (US$155).
CONTACT: 20 Maude Street, Sandton; tel 27 11 322 5000; www.proteahotels.com
Protea Hotel Fire & Ice Melrose Arch
Johannesburg’s hippest, this 197-roomer’s cute touches include safes concealed behind artwork. Highly secure “city within a city” with cobbled square where African-themed Moyo is the best eatery. A 10-minute cab ride to Sandton meetings.
PRICE: Rooms from R3445 (US$445).
CONTACT: 1 Melrose Square, Melrose Arch; tel 27 11 214 6666; www.proteahotels.com
WHAT TO SEE
Apartheid Museum
A quick insight into anti-apartheid activism. The Apartheid Museum is weirdly located in Gold Reef City entertainment complex. Neighbours are Gold Reef Casino, a theme park, a souvenir market and trips down a disused gold mine. “You’re black today,” says a ticket-seller, assigning racial classifications randomly. Visitors use separate “black” or “white” entrances, linking up inside at exhibits showcasing apartheid’s cruelty and courageous anti-racist opposition.
CONTACT: tel 27 11 309 4700; www.apartheidmuseum.org
Soweto
I’m often told you can’t go to Johannesburg without visiting Soweto, acronym for South Western Townships and the biggest of “townships”. Half-day trips are available but many visitors buy overnight tours (Soweto has hotels, B&Bs and the inevitable mall). It’s a mainstream tourist destination with Wandies, a touristy shebeen with “township jazz” and its own deluxe hotel. (Shebeens, clandestine under apartheid,were bars where much anti-racist plotting occurred.) Tours, encompassing key sites, include the world’s only street with former homes of three Nobel laureates (Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a previous African National Congress leader named Albert Luthuli) and the consulting rooms of a sangoma (“witchdoctor” is an offensive term).
CONTACT: tel 27 11 315 1534; www.soweto.co.za
Cradle of Humankind
Sterkfontein Caves and Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site (40km from Johannesburg) is one of South Africa’s best-presented tourist attractions. The local area produced more than a third of the world’s early hominid fossils, links in evolution’s chain to contemporary humans. Well-mounted exhibits explain why humankind’s origins were most likely in Africa. Archaeological research continues here.
CONTACT: tel 27 14 577 9000; www.maropeng.co.za
Sun City
Sun City, a two and a half hour drive from Johannesburg, is Las-Vegas-meets-Africa: four hotels (including the Palace of the Lost City resembling an Indiana Jones movie set), casinos, artificial beach, golf, tennis, restaurants and nightclubs. Join a tour of adjacent Pilanesberg National Park where the Big Five (lions, elephants, rhinos, leopards and buffaloes) roam free along with cheetahs, hippos, apes and many varieties of antelope. Some day tours encompass both Sun City and Pilanesberg.
CONTACT: tel 27 14 557 1000; www.suninternational.com