My best friend works for City of Joburg Municipality and is sometimes PA to the city manager. After seeingn sone of the run-down buildings in some parts of the city I asked her what the city council was doing abput the filth of those parts of the city. She told me; "We've tried everything". I asked what, and she told me that the council wanted to get all informal traders out of the city walkways and pavement because they were the cause of most of the pollution. The council won the case and all informal traders were out of the city, and surprisingly, the streets were clean, even in the most crowded parts of the city. Twp weeks later the matter was brought back to the and the judge ruled against the council. Everyone is back and the city is back to what it was.

Here are some pictures I took of one part of the city I usually just drive through.

This open area was empty, with driving school trucks dring around the entire field. This was my first time setting foot here so I kind of wondered what happens in this part of town. I got my answer the next when I was on my way to walk and I drove passed dozens of taxis. 

The sign on this thing says "Danger! Mining Area". Maybe thete is an abandoned mine below, who knows?

Looking towards the M1 and some abandoned buildings.

Have you ever read the article titled "Death of Johannesburg" or the least read the title from a Google search about the city? I know I have, and this left me to wonder how "dead" this once great city is.

Fresh out of university, the 2nd of January 2014 marked the first day of working life, the rest of my life. One thing I was certain about since the start of university was that I was gonna work for one of South Africa's big banks located at the heart of Johannesburg. I was excited about this because I believed Joburg had the coolest people on the country. And this I was right about!

I like to think of myself as a person that likes exploring. Being born and raised in a twonship and put to study at schools in the surburbs, I think I have a good idea of how it is to be poor, and how it must feel to be rich. I have been to places which are "unsafe" for little girls like me but I think what the media portrays a "Death Zone" isn't as bad as it makes it out to be. I wanna see things to believe them. This is my motivation for creating this blog. I wanna explore the Goods and Bads of this city.

Joburg: People, Places, Food, Arts & Culture.

Hi

My name is Palesa and I created this blog to capture my adventures of exploring the once renowned city of Johannesburg. In  my journey, I hope to explore its history, how this great city has risen and fallen over the past 2 decades and how it gets back on its feet again.

I intend to explore Joburg's new and old hotspots, hang around with strangers and get their view of the city, maybe get a story on how they find the city and if they intend to stay in the city in the long run.