How do you spot a Capetonian in Joburg? They’ll tell you they’re from Cape Town! The truth is, many of us don’t visit because we’ve bought into an outdated reputation of Johannesburg. And we’re missing out big time, writes Gasant Abarder in a new #SliceofGasant.
Abarder, who recently launched his book, Hack with a Grenade, is among the country’s most influential media voices. Catch his weekly column here, exclusive to Cape {town} Etc.
If you’re looking for a vibrant, pulsating and truly African city, then I’m afraid you will have to venture far north of Cape Town. What you’re looking for is iJozi. City of gold and a place I find any excuse to visit as often as I can.
The moment we started our family road trip to Johannesburg – two weekends that bookended a week in Sun City last week – I was warned we would be robbed. By both Capetonians and Joburgers!
Those things happen back home too. Perhaps my biased ears do not want to hear the stereotype. My love affair with Joburg started in 1997 when I was a 19-year-old intern journalist at The Star. It was then the city’s biggest daily newspaper and I got to know the city well.
It was my first visit, my first time on a plane, first time outside of Cape Town and I was properly wet behind the ears. I was mugged twice during a year-long internship – once walking through Hillbrow and a second time in the Joburg CBD while walking back to the flat I shared with intern housemates in Yeoville in an effort to save on bus fare.
I was further smitten with Joburg in 2020 when I launched my book ‘Hack with a Grenade’ at the Wanderers Cricket Ground. Those who came out, including the legendary Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse, who lives in Vilakazi Street, Soweto, showed me so much love and bought so many copies.
Also read: Bra Sipho Hotstix’s 70 birthday candles will never Burnout in our hearts
Each time we arrived in Joburg for our two weekends, I felt that love deep in my chest. Whoever says the only thing to do in Joburg is visit malls doesn’t visit often. There is so much to see and do. And besides, the malls in Cape Town close much later.
There was the inevitable needle from the replies to a social media post when I visited the famous Akhalwaya’s eatery. They make the most delicious viennas and chips parcels, a version of a gatsby they call an AK-47 and the best toasted steak sandwich you’ll find in South Africa.
Also read: WATCH: 5 of the greatest gatsbys in the Mother City
Legendary journo and editor Ferial Haffajee went there. She tweeted in reply to my Akhalwaya’s post: “May I say? Much, much better than Wembley, right?” Ferial was being mischievous and I took the bait, agreeing with her reference in comparison to Cape Town’s famous roadhouse in Belgravia Road, Athlone. The two can co-exist, surely? They are 1 400 km apart and I love myself some Wembley roadhouse fare. The debate went wild!
But in this food metaphor lies the rub. I feel Capetonians have looked down on our Joburg cousins for too long because we have the beaches and the mountains. We moan when they flock down here with their GP plates in Dezemba, despite giving us a much-needed boost to our economy – especially during COVID.
Sure, Joburg has its fair share of problems. Which city in South Africa doesn’t? There is always the chance of getting mugged. And well-known Joburgers like Ferial often complain (like I do in Cape Town) about the poor or non-service by municipalities where they live.
Dlala Nje (www.dlalanje.org) is an organisation turning the fear and perceptions folks have about inner city Joburg on its head by arranging walking tours. It is something on my bucket list when I visit again.
But my love for Joburg is not just about the big-city buzz it gives you. Or the amazing outlet stores where you can get 60% off the latest Orlando Pirates jacket. It isn’t just the frightening work ethic of folks I admire or the hustle of the highways.
It’s the people. They’re great, they’re friendly and they put their best foot forward. But more than this, it gives me goosebumps to see black African people command their space. This is their city and they go about their business with a confidence I rarely see in black African people in Cape Town.
I rarely hear people complain the way we do in Cape Town when we have to stand in a longer-than-usual queue. I rarely see angry motorists on the several highways in Joburg the way I do in Cape Town. I rarely receive bad service in a restaurant, a petrol station or a shop where in Cape Town we’re earning a bad reputation for service.
What I do experience is perhaps the most integrated city in our country where people from all walks of life make a bigger effort to get along and work together. There is respect and as a Capetonian, dare I say, I feel more at home here as an African than I do when I’m at home.
Joburg, I love you – warts and all. It’s time your people reclaim your streets as the beating heart of Mzansi. It’s time Capetonians put some respect on your name.
Check out some more Joburg News.
Also read:
Sho’t left: Road trips across Mzansi are all that and then some!
Picture: Unsplash