Johannesburg
Few cities in the world have songs sung about them. Frank Sinatra sang about New York and Chicago, but Johannesburg’s muse was Eddy Grant. His ‘Gimme hope, Joanna’ became an anthem of the anti-apartheid movement.

Like the song, the city of Johannesburg is a place that conjures up contrasting emotions. The dark side of the city (its slums and the pressure of its frenetic pace) is counterbalanced by an upside consisting of vibrancy, creativity and a ‘can-do’ attitude. Sometimes the dark side and the upside are part of the same characteristic.
The fact is that Johannesburg sets the pace. It is where companies position their headquarters.

The city of Johannesburg tasted political power for the fi rst time when it became Gauteng’s provincial capital after 1994, but it has always been Southern Africa’s economic powerhouse, from the day gold was discovered there in 1886. The mineral wealth uncovered on the Witwatersrand was the basis of South Africa’s conversion to an industrialised country. Unsurprisingly, a lot of that industry grew up around Johannesburg.

Today the city does most of its business in financial services (banking, investment and insurance), commerce, trade and manufacturing. Media, advertising and IT are other strong sectors. Most major banks are headquartered in the city, as is Africa’s largest stock exchange, the JSE.

The city’s population of over three million has a wide choice of sports to play and watch at a superb collection of stadiums. Despite its built-up nature, Johannesburg boasts some splendid parks, and places like the Johannesburg Zoo and Bruma Lake are extremely popular. Frequent music concerts are held in public open areas. The city also has more than 300 heritage sites and about 30 major galleries and museums. These
include the moving Apartheid Museum at Gold Reef City and Museum Africa in Newtown.

Creative initiatives to reinvigorate the inner city of Johannesburg are paying off. City agencies such as the Johannesburg Development Agency are investing in infrastructure like pavements and public art, which has helped to persuade businesses to follow suit. The central business district is South Africa’s largest urban development zone at 18 square kilometres. Businesses investing there attract generous tax concessions. Sandton, however, has firmly established itself as a new commercial hub and is in the process of expanding its retail and office space to 205 000 square metres. The home of shopping indeed.

Pretoria
Pretoria is South Africa’s main administrative capital and seat of government. The city of two million citizens falls under the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and has a varied economy.

Because the president of South Africa and his cabinet work out of the Union Buildings, Pretoria is also home to many of the foreign embassies that have a presence in the country.

Only Washington, in the US, has more embassies. Education is also a strong focus in the city, with the University of Pretoria, the University of South Africa and the Tshwane University of Technology all located in the city. In addition, there are several well regarded research institutions such as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). It has been estimated that something like 85% of research in South Africa takes place in Pretoria.

The Innovation Hub is a 60-hectare site representing a partnership between the CSIR, the University of Pretoria and Gauteng Provincial Government. The idea is to attract high-technology businesses to the province. One of the strongest manufacturing sectors in the city is the automotive with BMW, Ford and Renault-Nissan all operating at Rosslyn. The Automotive Supplier Park and the Automotive Industry Development Centre are important supplementary factors in this industry. Other industries include food and beverages and metal products. Services (with government making up a significant part) contribute 65%
to the city’s economy, with industry (21%) and commerce (12.5%) making up the bulk of the remainder.

Soweto
Although Soweto is not officially a city – it falls under the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality – the place has earned an international reputation largely due to its prominence in the struggle against apartheid. The population of Soweto is sometimes given as one million, sometimes as two million.

The beginning of the end for the apartheid government was signalled by the rising up of Soweto school pupils in 1976. The ostensible cause was the fact that they had to study many subjects in school through the medium of the Afrikaans language, but discontent ran much deeper. From that time onwards, the minority
government was on the defensive. A memorial to the first protester to die on that day in 1976, Hector Pieterson, is one of the most visited sites in Soweto.

Other sites associated with the struggle to bring democracy to South Africa are Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown, the place where the Freedom Charter was signed, and Vilakazi Street in Orlando West, surely the only street in the world that was once home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners: Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.

Soweto is host to three of South Africa’s most famous soccer teams: Orlando Pirates, Moroka Swallows and Kaizer Chiefs. Matches between these teams stir great emotions and they have nationwide followings. Soweto has long been a leader in cultural trends, with a particular kind of jazz and swing music from the 1950s spreading across the globe. Similarly, Soweto was one of the birthplaces of the modern hip hop style of
music known as kwaito. The film Sarafina was set in Soweto.

Types of housing in Soweto vary greatly; from ‘matchbox’ houses in Diepkloof, to the rather grand dwellings to be found in Diepkloof Extension. Facilities and services have improved greatly since the advent of democratic government, but much still needs to be done. Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is the largest in Africa. In September 2009, the Bram Fischer Multipurpose Centre was opened. This R25-million project centre has a library, a crèche, a community hall, two soccer fields, basketball and netball courts.