We went to breakfast at the hotel after our morning wake up. Again, a lovely breakfast. South Africa has a tremendous British influence, but tea is really inconsistent around here. Cape Town tea and our Johannesburg tea were bleh. Tomorrow we'll get coffee.
We did hear that Mugabe was forced to stay in his rooms and his wife Grace had left the country. He is 94 years old and she was moving in to take over when he died. Grace overplayed her hand, and the army moved in. We also heard this morning that the US had told all US citizens in Zimbabwe to hunker in place. Whew! We got out in a nick of time.
At 8:45 AM we got a phone call in the room, our driver was ready to go. We went and met Sam. He was an interesting character and the day was fascinating.
Our first stop was the home of Nelson Mandela. The president's home had been in Pretoria, but the government offices were also in Johannesburg. Mandela didn't want to move back and forth. The home is now the property of Mandela's grandson
We then went to the Johannesburg prison site where Nelson Mandela was held. He had it torn down, leaving a few reminders of what had been there. From the rubble, a court house was built. Apparently, more government buildings and offices will be erected where the prison used to be.
The photos below are shots of downtown Johannesburg taken while we were driving.
We went to the 50th floor of a building in downtown. It's apparently the tallest cement structure in Africa, if not the world. Unfortunately, the morning was drizzly so some of my photos have suffered a bit (a lot)
The next stop on our tour was the township of Soweto (Southwest Township). Townships are to Johannesburg what Districts are to Cape Town. The Blacks were moved from their original homes. Their homes were torn down. New homes were built to accommodate Whites, and the Blacks were sent out to various Townships, Districts. Sam told us he didn't have electricity to his home until 1994. Things were definitely not equal.
A big surprise to me were the number of lovely homes in a corner of Soweto. Professionals built these places in lieu of the "matchbox homes" that were built to replace the shanties. I have a photo of a few of the nice places.
The homes below were built for immigrants who were homeless in Johannesburg. Places for men not families
The Whites built a two power stations and situated the cooling towers so the pollution would dump on Soweto. With the improvement in the lives of Blacks, the power stations were torn down, the towers decorated, and bars and a bungie jump site opened up instead.
The poorest parts of Soweto are the shanties. We had brought some candy. A local parent had the kids queue up for treats rather than just mass together. I'm handing out candies and things were very orderly.
In 1976, the Apartheid government decided that they'd up the ante. They decided all school textbooks should be written in Afrikaans. For non-Afrikaans speaking Blacks, and with teachers who didn't know the language too well either, school scores dropped dramatically. This event really started a lot of the opposition to the Apartheid regime. A huge group of students in Soweto began to demonstrate against the textbooks. The police came and shot into the crowd. Eleven children were killed and many more were injured. The first to die was a boy named Hector Pieterson. A man came up behind him, and picked him up and brought him to a clinic. Unfortunately, Hector died. The man, Mbuysa Makhusu, fearing he'd be shot for trying to help the boy, left town. He was known to have gone to Botswana, and to have gone to several other African countries. He then disappeared. His whereabouts were unknown until moderately recently. He apparently was in a Canadian jail. He'd been trying to get into Canada illegally. Canada sent him back and the story had a happy ending.
We had lunch at a place that served African food. My new favorites are Chikalaka (a spicy onion, tomato, bean, combo), and samp (dried corn that has been crushed - stamped with beans.)
After lunch we went to the Apartheid museum. The place covered the history of apartheid and the attempts to stop it. It went on from 1948 until 1994. The most disturbing history we read was the election that occurred in 1948. A strike had occurred and Jan Smuts was the head of the Nationalists party. He did not receive a plurality of votes and the city people didn't like his group much. Rural voters did, however, and he was elected. Sounds kind of Trumpian, in more ways than one.
We did hear that Mugabe was forced to stay in his rooms and his wife Grace had left the country. He is 94 years old and she was moving in to take over when he died. Grace overplayed her hand, and the army moved in. We also heard this morning that the US had told all US citizens in Zimbabwe to hunker in place. Whew! We got out in a nick of time.
At 8:45 AM we got a phone call in the room, our driver was ready to go. We went and met Sam. He was an interesting character and the day was fascinating.
Our first stop was the home of Nelson Mandela. The president's home had been in Pretoria, but the government offices were also in Johannesburg. Mandela didn't want to move back and forth. The home is now the property of Mandela's grandson
We then went to the Johannesburg prison site where Nelson Mandela was held. He had it torn down, leaving a few reminders of what had been there. From the rubble, a court house was built. Apparently, more government buildings and offices will be erected where the prison used to be.
The building in the photo above was the holding building where people were held while waiting for their trial. Several of these were in a row.
The interior of the courthouse. The trials are by a panel of judges.
The photos below are shots of downtown Johannesburg taken while we were driving.
A block of stores were Indian owned, and clearly looked just like the shops in India.
The building above is the Johannesburg (Joberg ) police station
We went to the 50th floor of a building in downtown. It's apparently the tallest cement structure in Africa, if not the world. Unfortunately, the morning was drizzly so some of my photos have suffered a bit (a lot)
The bridge is the Nelson Mandela bridge over the train tracks.
The radio tower.
Just a view of the main streets
One of several stadiums in town.
The region of town to the south had been a heavily industrialized area. When fighting broke out during the worst of the apartheid conflicts, a number of businesses moved out of town thinking that civil war was about to break out. It never happened, but the businesses never really came back. With an unemployment rate of about 26% the South Africans could use their help.
The next stop on our tour was the township of Soweto (Southwest Township). Townships are to Johannesburg what Districts are to Cape Town. The Blacks were moved from their original homes. Their homes were torn down. New homes were built to accommodate Whites, and the Blacks were sent out to various Townships, Districts. Sam told us he didn't have electricity to his home until 1994. Things were definitely not equal.
A big surprise to me were the number of lovely homes in a corner of Soweto. Professionals built these places in lieu of the "matchbox homes" that were built to replace the shanties. I have a photo of a few of the nice places.
The home above was built by an electrician - it's in the shape of a transformer.
The homes below were built for immigrants who were homeless in Johannesburg. Places for men not families
Apartments are coming in to replace the dormitory like structures above. This way families can live together.
The Whites built a two power stations and situated the cooling towers so the pollution would dump on Soweto. With the improvement in the lives of Blacks, the power stations were torn down, the towers decorated, and bars and a bungie jump site opened up instead.
The poorest parts of Soweto are the shanties. We had brought some candy. A local parent had the kids queue up for treats rather than just mass together. I'm handing out candies and things were very orderly.
Across the street from the shanties was a dump site. There really aren't any facilities for that around, much to the delight of various pigs, goats, sheep, and dogs.
Another view of the shanties
These are the matchbox houses
One of the matchbox house benefits was running water and indoor and outdoor toilets.
Winnie Mandela's house. She lived here after she divorced Nelson Mandela
Another view of the towers
Some local school kids. This is the exam time of year, and the kids had just finished their morning exams.
Nelson Mandela's childhood home. He lived on the same street as Desmond Tutu. Two Nobel Peace Prize winners make it quite an interesting street.
In 1976, the Apartheid government decided that they'd up the ante. They decided all school textbooks should be written in Afrikaans. For non-Afrikaans speaking Blacks, and with teachers who didn't know the language too well either, school scores dropped dramatically. This event really started a lot of the opposition to the Apartheid regime. A huge group of students in Soweto began to demonstrate against the textbooks. The police came and shot into the crowd. Eleven children were killed and many more were injured. The first to die was a boy named Hector Pieterson. A man came up behind him, and picked him up and brought him to a clinic. Unfortunately, Hector died. The man, Mbuysa Makhusu, fearing he'd be shot for trying to help the boy, left town. He was known to have gone to Botswana, and to have gone to several other African countries. He then disappeared. His whereabouts were unknown until moderately recently. He apparently was in a Canadian jail. He'd been trying to get into Canada illegally. Canada sent him back and the story had a happy ending.
We had lunch at a place that served African food. My new favorites are Chikalaka (a spicy onion, tomato, bean, combo), and samp (dried corn that has been crushed - stamped with beans.)
After lunch we went to the Apartheid museum. The place covered the history of apartheid and the attempts to stop it. It went on from 1948 until 1994. The most disturbing history we read was the election that occurred in 1948. A strike had occurred and Jan Smuts was the head of the Nationalists party. He did not receive a plurality of votes and the city people didn't like his group much. Rural voters did, however, and he was elected. Sounds kind of Trumpian, in more ways than one.
A view from the Apartheid museum. There's a fun park there and a casino across the street.
A view of town on the way back to the hotel. We'll have room service tonight.
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