Talk: Johannesburg

From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.

was Alexandra a "satellite town," or was it previously part of the Johannesburg municipality?

Alexandra was in fact a satellite town, with its own municipal boundaries, on the old border between Johannesburg and Sandton. In the previous government's Apartheid sysrtem, black townships were given some form of self-autonomy, with their own municipal governing bodies and buildings. It was a contrived, artificial way of enforcing the Group Areas Act, which kept racial groups apart in separate suburbs.

Alex, for short, is as much a part of Johannesburg as Soweto. The stark contrast between the area and the nearby upmarket area of Sandton, however, is absolutely marked, and is typical of South African cities: the best of the First World mixed with the worst of the Third World.

New York Reference

In response to the reference made to crime in New York, I find the two cities incompatable for comparison. Johannesburg has a crime problem because many poor people moved into areas that they were not allowed to live in before, where as in New York the crime problem of the 1980's mostly sprung up because the city government was completely bankrupt and unable to to provide any services or adequate police protection. I am deleting the reference. PZFUN 08:08, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The reference to crime in New York would not have been made if the reference to crime in Johannesburg had not been made. Crime is a problem in most major cities, and is not endemic to Johannesburg. All cities of the world have crime. A sweeping statement like "Johannesburg is notorious for its crime" is totally POV - especially when it comes from someone who does not live in the city. Rob Thomas 12:12, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I believe that it is only the people who do not live in a city that can really know what it is notorious for. New York is not notorious for its crime now. It is the safest large city in the United States. Johannesburg does have a crime epidemic. There are few cities in the world where one out of four people are involved in a crime every year, and where carjacking is such a problem. If crime were not such a problem, why would so many people be moving out of the city into gated compounds? PZFUN 13:21, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

You're right. New York is not known for its crime. It's known for the tragedy of planes being flown into buildings and those buildings falling down and 3,000 people being killed in 2 hours. I'd say that's a lot more dangerous than Jo'burg. I did not say Johannesburg doesn't have a crime problem. Of course it does. But then so does every major city in the world - including New York (bury your head in the sand as much as you like, dear). "I believe that it is only the people who do not live in a city that can really know what it is notorious for. New York is not notorious for its crime now." Um, since you live in New York, aren't you contradicting yourself just a tad?

Khoi

"until the Khoikhoi and other Bantu-speaking people migrated into the area"? Someone please correct this! Khoikhoi are not Bantu-speaking, nor did they arrive in the country at the same time.

Fixed, removed the Khoikhoi section as they were a breakaway section of the San who moved south, into the Cape. However, I'm still not 100% sure of the dates placed there. I replaced the Bantu arrival date with one I found on the official Johannesburg site, but I am unsure of the "100 000BC" quoted for the San. Impi 21:43, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)