I went to Johannesburg, or Jozie for all of us here in the SADC region, and made it back safe and sound. Jo’burg, from what I saw of it, is far different than what I expected. Areas of the city that I visited were bustling, trendy, interesting and well, white. Unfortunately, there is still economic segregation, with white people taking in the good food and culture while being served by black South Africans. This reality is changing though, consensus being that the black middle and elite classes will grow significantly over the next decade.
What is true is that I did not see all of Jo’burg, just the areas commonly referred to as the safe areas. We stayed in a place just outside downtown Jozie, similar in location to Point Grey’s proximity to Downtown Vancouver. Accommodation was amazing as was the food. It is actually easy to forget that you are in Jo’burg when sitting in a bar open to the street, reading the paper in a funky café, or perusing good lit in various used book store. Reality sinks in when you realize the constant police presence, the high visibility of private security forces and notice that every house, yard and garage fenced in, electrified and reinforced by barbed wire.
While I found the energy to be similar if not better than Vancouver, it is a sense of potential danger, of limited mobility, racial tensions and tempered freedom that takes away from Jo’burgs appeal. It is this that makes me again realize how important freedom is, even if you are talking in terms of being able to walk from bar to bar at night, or driving home after dinner, without having a legitimate fear of being car-jacked or mugged.
We also took advantage of the cultural offerings in Joburg and went to see a play the Saturday night we were there. The production was entitled, Truth in Translation, and though probably a bit heavy for a Saturday night, was as powerful as it was interesting. The play told the stories of the translators who had to, verbatim, translate the questions, statements and testimonies at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. Amnesty was at stake and a lot of former combatants from both sides (this was all new for me, the armed resistance put up by the African National Congress, now the ruling part in SA, to apartheid rule) laid the facts bare, perhaps over remorse but equally likely to pass the buck. Regardless, it meant that some very heavy, detailed and grotesque events were brought up during the course of the play.
Going to the play was preceded by an afternoon spent on Constitution Hill. This is where SA’s Constitutional Court has been built, actually on the same site, and incorporating some of the buildings, of an apartheid era prison. It is juxtaposition like no other. We spent an hour walking through the old prison, learning just how cruel and f%*&#@ up apartheid rule was. From the prison yard, you can walk into the publicly accessible Constitutional Court. Inside the building, hope was re-established and solace was taken. The Court has been established to uphold South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution which unlike the Constitution of Canada or the US, upholds people’s social and economic rights as well as political and civil rights.
Driving back from Jozie I realized how very strange it is to go, in under four hours by car, from a place where 60% of the populations lives in poverty and where only 10% of the population has electricity to the biggest city in the world, not bordering a river or ocean. Having Jozie so accessible, I would say, is a perk to doing development work in Southern Africa. It is possible to go to a functioning city and do “normal things:” shop, eat, watch a movie, essentially embrace consumerism which is funny as it is a way of life that I would be critical of if living back home. It is as if myself, and others in this industry, feel like we deserve and are allowed to live frivolously because of the nature of our day-jobs. What is certain is that it is a strange life, one that over the long-term is probably not good for your health or sanity.
