Smooching Mandela’s likeness
Johannesburg’s
Orlando Towers
“One day in Johannesburg, and already the tribe
was being rebuilt, the house and soul being restored.”
—Alan Paton, author of cry, the beloved country
Founded as a gold town in the 19th
century, Johannesburg still relies on
mining, as well as financial services
and government, to support its population of nearly eight million. The
sprawling metropolis has endured significant growing pains over the past
two decades, but an urban renaissance
has reinvented the downtown core and
fostered investment in arts and culture.
The Apartheid Museum is just one
example of renewal. Upon arrival
you’re given a ticket randomly marked
44
FALL 2016
AMA InsIder
blankes (Afrikaans for whites) or
nie-blankes (non-whites) and shown to
the corresponding, separate entrance
for that group—a stark demonstration
of the system of racial segregation that
was a reality in South Africa from 1948
to 1994. Inside, interactive exhibits
broadcast the country’s colonial past,
the effects of decades of apartheid and
steps that led to its eventual demise.
Some of the simplest displays are the
most powerful: A video of a defiant
young Nelson Mandela explaining his
anti-apartheid views; a room with 131
nooses representing political prisoners
executed by the government.
Similarly harrowing is Constitution
Hill, once a prison whose inmates
included Mandela himself as well
as Mahatma Gandhi. The building
is now the country’s Constitutional
Court, remodeled in 2004 with many
windows to ensure a transparent view
of justice. Visitors can see former
prison cells and peruse exhibits
detailing the country’s legal path from
apartheid to post-apartheid.
In the time since apartheid’s end,
sports have played a significant role in
unifying South Africa’s diverse peoples.
In Johannesburg, you’ll be hardpressed to miss iconic monuments like
FNB Stadium—expanded for the 2010
World Cup, “Soccer City” is home to
Bafana Bafana, the national team—or
Ellis Park Stadium, which hosts the
Springboks, South Africa’s rugby union
squad and symbol of national pride.
It was on this hallowed ground that
South Africa hosted (and won!) its
first international sporting event
of the post-apartheid era: 1995’s Rugby
World Cup.
For a more forward-looking dose of
tower: FrederIc soLtAn/getty ImAges; mAndeLA stAtue: chrIstopher FurLong/getty ImAges; shoppIng: Joburg tourIsm
Shopping for local wares in Soweto