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What to See


[ Key Attractions ] [ Further Distractions ]

Key Attractions


Apartheid Museum
Johannesburg’s critically acclaimed Apartheid Museum opened in 2001 and was naturally officially opened by Nelson Mandela himself. In a short time this extraordinarily powerful museum has become an obligatory stop for both locals and visitors to South Africa. It’s housed in a stark, thoughtfully designed building with lots of metal, concrete and brick, and the 22 exhibition spaces cover 6,000 sq m (65,000 sq ft). The story begins with the implementation of apartheid (‘being apart’ in Afrikaans) by the National Party from 1948 and moves through the introduction of pass laws and forced removals when blacks were physically removed from their homes and made to live in townships. Every part of life became segregated and schools, hospitals, public transport, graveyards, shops, even public benches and beaches were allocated to either blacks or whites.

The museum covers the rise of the African National Congress (ANC) and the foundation of the struggle against apartheid, the creation of black homelands in the 1970s, and violently suppressed protests and uprisings. Finally it covers reform including the breakdown of apartheid by President FW De Klerk, the release of Nelson Mandela and other activists from prison, the 1994 election and the birth of a new democracy.

Some of the highlights are a room where 121 nooses hanging from the ceiling represent the 121 political prisoners that were executed during apartheid, footage of a remarkable 1961 interview with Nelson Mandela when he was hiding from authorities, and a room dedicated to the 1976 Soweto Student Uprising when police opened fire on defenceless school children. Here, a bank of TV monitors shows the horrific images of that fateful day from around the world. Indeed, all over the museum are TVs showing footage of events from the era, which reminds the visitor just how recent this slice of history is for South Africa. There are also some reflective aspects, and there are opportunities for South African visitors to leave their old pass books at the museum or place a pebble on a pile which represents solidarity with the victims of apartheid.

The intensely moving museum shows how immoral and evil apartheid was, and how racial prejudice caused immense suffering, turned over 20 million people into second-class citizens with no human rights, and nearly destroyed the country. It successfully tells the story of triumph of human spirit over adversity.

Corner of Northern Parkway and Gold Reef Road, Ormonde
Tel: 011 309 4700.
Website: www.apartheidmuseum.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1700.
Admission charge.

Constitution Hill Museum
Johannesburg’s newest attraction that opened in 2004 is on the site of a notorious old prison complex commonly referred to as Number Four. The prison was only closed in 1983 and during the height of apartheid some 2,000-3,000 black prisoners a day passed through the complex. Most were arrested for not carrying their pass books and they were kept in appalling conditions. Famous inmates include Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Ghandi. Today the prison is another excellent interactive museum and parts of the buildings have been pulled down to make way for South Africa’s new Constitutional Court, which is also at the site. Bricks from the old prison were used in the new court to demonstrate the injustice of the past being used towards justice in the future.

Little has been altered at the prison itself; original graffiti is still etched on the back of cell doors, giant pots from which the prisoners were made to feed like dogs are still encrusted with porridge, and visitors can see the dark pits used for solitary confinement where prisoners would spend up to a year living off nothing but rice water. Facilities at the adjoining women’s prison were reputedly a little better, but scores of black women were still crowded into a single cell while white women prisoners (mostly activists) had their own comfortable cells.

Like the Apartheid Museum, there are hundreds of TV monitors throughout the complex displaying footage and interviews with former prisoners - many of whom have made an emotional return to Number Four now that it’s been remodelled into a museum. Visitors can also go into the modern foyer of the Constitutional Court, where the design has been modelled on the trees of an African village, which traditionally elders and decision makers sit beneath for important discussions.

Corner of Kotze and Hospital Streets, Braamfontein
Tel: 011 381 3100.
Website: www.constitutionhill.org.za
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1700 (last tour at 1600), Sat-Sun 0900-1500 (last tour at 1400).
Admission charge; free admission on Tuesdays.

Lesedi Cultural Village
Lesedi is a Sotho word that means ‘light’ - the nickname for the founder of the Basotho nation (Lesotho), King Moshoeshoe. The two-and-a-half-hour experience includes displays of authentic indigenous dancing, recreated Zulu, Ndebele, Sotho, Xhosa and Pedi villages where guides take visitors through the various traditional lifestyles, and a meal of local cuisine at the Nyama Choma restaurant. Additionally there is a fully equipped conference centre and en-suite guest cottages.

Broederstroom, on the R512 towards Hartbeespoort Dam
Tel: 012 205 1394 or 0800 119 000.
Website: www.lesedi.com
Opening hours: Daily (1130) and evening (1630) shows, or by arrangement.
Admission charge.

Soweto
For decades, in the forefront of a struggle against the tyrannical regime that sanctioned white supremacy, Soweto’s residents made their home famous as a living symbol of victory over oppression. Nelson Mandela, one of the icons of the late 20th century, lived in Soweto (an acronym for South Western Townships) before he was sentenced to life imprisonment (he served 27 years) for treason, by the former apartheid government. Just to get a feel for the environment that created this great man is reason enough to visit Soweto (website: www.soweto.co.za).

Officially within the municipal boundaries of ‘greater’ Johannesburg, an extensive mine-waste dumping area and a busy concrete highway separate Soweto from the city limits. An intimidating sprawl of thousands of rows of tiny two-roomed council houses, grim-looking dormitory-style mine-worker hostels and ostentatious mansions, this township was originally only intended to provide temporary shelter for contract mine-workers toiling underground in the once fabulously rich Witwatersrand gold fields, but it’s now home to around 1 million people.

Visitors wishing to see where South Africa’s peaceful revolution was conceived, born and nurtured will be struck both by the lack of formal tourist facilities and the fact that the strikingly barren surroundings are juxtaposed against such lively, friendly and characterful people.

Due to the absence of street signs and dangerous public transport options, Soweto’s labyrinth is best discovered in the company of one of the many good tour operators that offer fascinating half-day historical tours or evening trips to visit the shebeens (informal pubs).

The historical tours include visits to the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum, former residences of Nobel Peace Prize-winners Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu, Regina Mundi Church, Walter Sisulu Square of Independence, Avalon Cemetery, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s house and Morris Isaacson School (where the 1976 student uprising started). The 13-year-old boy, Hector Pieterson, was one of the first of hundreds of students shot by police during the dramatic 16 June 1976 uprising. His memorial includes a poignant and powerful photograph taken by veteran journalist Sam Nzima of Hector’s body being carried through Soweto’s chaotic streets with his wailing 17-year-old sister running alongside.

Next to the memorial is the newly opened Hector Pieterson Museum that creatively tells the full story of what happened on that fateful day through some evocative photographs and film clips. The Regina Mundi Catholic Church, a venue for hundreds of protest meetings during the struggle against apartheid, still has the bullet holes left by police who fired on students who had taken refuge in the church.

Located in Kliptown and the oldest part of Soweto, the Walter Sisulu Square of Independence is at the site where the Freedom Charter was presented by the ANC to a mass gathering of people in 1955. Formerly the Freedom Square, the Freedom Charter called for equality for all, and one of the delegates was Walter Sisulu, after whom the square was renamed in honour of his death in 2003. Back in 1955 it was just a dusty patch of land, but since 2003 it has been redeveloped as a tourist attraction and is now an attractive paved square housing a number of monuments and a tourist information office.

South African Communist Party leader, Joe Slovo, who died of cancer in 1995, became the first white person to be buried in the Avalon Cemetery. At the time of his assassination in 1993, anti-apartheid activist Chris Hani’s stature was second only to Mandela’s, so it is fitting that Baragwanath, the world’s largest hospital,has been renamed after him. Built by Nelson Mandela for his estranged wife soon after his release from prison in 1990, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s mansion is still occupied by the former president’s ex wife, who continues to enjoy high stature in Soweto.

An evening shebeen tour is geared more toward the entertainment aspect of the township. Irish miners may have introduced the word to South Africa but shebeens (also called taverns and formerly outlawed by the apartheid regime) have become synonymous with the rich and often raucous social life of Sowetans. They range from a few stools in front of a simple shack to stylish, flashy and fully-fledged nightclubs.

While some of the Soweto shebeens may have adjusted their menus and prices in response to an influx of tourists, the same cannot be said of Wandi’s Place (Dube). It serves traditional dishes, such as umngqusho (stamped corn and bean stew), morogo (wild spinach) and that evergreen Soweto favourite, chakalaka (chilli and bean salad). There’s a wall of thousands of business cards that visitors have pinned up.

B’s Place (Orlando East) is in an extension of the family’s 1930s home and is decorated with newspaper clippings documenting events in Soweto during apartheid. Sorghum beer is accompanied by traditional township specialties such as mogodu (tripe) and pap (maize porridge).

Tebogo calls his trendy tavern, The Rock, ‘New York in Soweto’ and this is where the upwardly mobile young black professionals ‘hang’ - food is traditional and contemporary African and images of Johannesburg are projected on the walls. Early shebeens were all in one of the typical two-room Soweto homes and at Pinky’s Place drinks are still served in the lounge and dining room and there’s an attached dance floor built under thatch.

Tours of Soweto can be arranged through Jimmy’s Face-to-Face Tours (tel: 011 331 6109; website: www.face2face.co.za) or JMT Tours (tel: 011 980 6038; website: www.jmttours.co.za). Tour guides are Soweto residents and really capture the history and character of the township.

Soweto, 15 minutes west of central Johannesburg
Website: www.soweto.co.za

Gold Reef City Theme Park and Casino
Originally conceived as a likeness of downtown Johannesburg circa 1890, during the gold rush, Gold Reef City’s museums and curiosity shops (housed in replicas of the original Victorian and Edwardian buildings) have now been eclipsed by the ‘largest rollercoaster in the Southern Hemisphere’ and a 60-table casino. This does not, however, detract from the fact that, for a fairly authentic glimpse into Johannesburg’s fascinating gold mining past, Gold Reef City is still the best place to go.

Gold-Reef City’s real charm is that (literally) underneath all the theme-park veneer, there lies a labyrinth of tunnels, built around Number 14 Shaft of the original gold mine that operated from 1887 to 1971. Depending on bookings, there are usually several tours down a 200m (656ft) mine shaft where workers from all over southern Africa sweated, toiled and died. Add to this 14 museums, many craft and curio shops, daily displays of traditional gum-boot and can-can dancing and the casino, which includes the 300-seat Globe Theatre. It has recently added the new 1,100-seat Lyric Theatre. The result is an extraordinary mix that simultaneously provides entertainment and insight. The minutely detailed and fascinating model of the surface and subterranean installations of a gold mine, which follows the process from shaft-sinking to gold-bar production, is one of the highlights. As is the daily pouring of a gold bar - popular legend has it that anyone who can pick it up with one hand can take it home with them.

Gold Reef City, Ormonde, 8km (5 miles) from city centre
Tel: 011 248 6800.
Website: www.goldreefcity.co.za
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 0930-1700.
Admission charge.

Newtown
A few years ago, this downtown area was degenerating into a derelict slum land dominated by the brooding, crumbling cooling towers and the cavernous and abandoned turbine hall of Johannesburg’s first coal-fired power station. The general air of decay and neglect was seen across many parts of the city’s Central Business District. Then in 1998, the Central Johannesburg Partnership (CJP) was created as a private non-profit organisation to focus on the revitalisation of the city. Newtown has since undergone quite radical alterations, which include knocking down the old cooling towers, paving Mary Fitzgerald Square, constructing the new Nelson Mandela Bridge which spans over 40 railway lines and links Newtown with Braamfontein, and building the Metro Mall as a new terminus for minibus taxis. There have also been improvements to long-standing attractions such as the Market Theatre, MuseumAfrica and the Oriental Plaza as well as newer additional attractions like the Horror Cafe (cafe-theatre opposite the Electric Workshop), Bassline (jazz club) and the South African Breweries World of Beer.

The famous MuseumAfrica and Market Theatre are housed in a magnificent Victorian building that was once the city’s major fresh-produce market, before the stall holders, who were mainly of Indian origin, were moved to the nearby Oriental Plaza. The Plaza is an excellent place to savour Indian food or buy clothing and fabric at discount prices, all to the tunes of Bollywood pop music. MuseumAfrica, which incorporates the Bensusan Museum and Library of Photography, the Museum of South Africa Rock Art and the Bernberg Museum of Fashion, was conceived as South Africa’s first post-apartheid museum. It offers exhibits covering an eclectic range of themes, ranging from early man to the struggle against apartheid.

The Market Theatre Complex houses three theatres - Main Theatre, Laager Theatre and Barney Simon Theatre. The Market hosted much protest theatre during the struggle years and was the birthplace for such seminal works as Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Banzi is Dead (1973) and Mbongeni Ngema’s Sarafina (1988). It was also here that political satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys (in the persona of his drag alter ego, Evita Bezuidenhout) first performed anti-apartheid one-man shows to packed houses.Long reputed to be Johannesburg’s best jazz venue, Kippies (a converted Victorian toilet) still belts it out every weekend, just a few steps away from the entrance to the theatre, and opposite the museum and across Mary Fitgerald Square in Newtown Park is the new home of Bassline (previously in Melville), another of the city’s top venues for jazz. The South African Breweries (SAB) World of Beer offers tours and exhibits dedicated to the brewing process of the golden nectar and beer tastings in the pub at the end. There are also mock-ups of a shebeen and a honky-tonk pub from the early mining days.

Newtown is accessed off the M1 or over the Nelson Mandela Bridge from Bertha Street in Braamfontein to Ntemi Piliso Street in Newtown.
 
MuseumAfrica
121 Bree Street
Tel: 011 833 5624.
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 0900-1700.
Admission charge.

Market Theatre
121 Bree Street
Tel: 011 832 1641.
Website: www.markettheatre.co.za
Opening hours: Varies, depending on production.
Admission charge.

SAB World of Beer
15 President Street
Tel: 011 836 4900.
Website: www.worldofbeer.co.za
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1000-1800.
Admission charge.

Horror Cafe
15 Miriam Makeba Street
Tel: 011 838 6735.
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1000-late; open one Sunday a month (varies) 1200-2400.
Admission charge.

Oriental Plaza
Sixth Avenue, Fordsburg
Tel: 011 838 6572.
Website: www.orientalplaza-fordsburg.co.za
Opening hours: Mon-Thurs 0830-1700, Fri 0830-1200, Sat 0830-1430.
Free admission.

Johannesburg Zoo
Apart from providing a pleasant and peaceful stroll through some lovely gardens, the zoo provides a great opportunity for visitors to make sure they know the difference between leopards and cheetahs before going on safari - or just to ensure they do see the ‘big five’. The facilities are highly rated internationally and there are over 2,000 animals at the zoo living in spacious vegetated plots. Guided day, night and ‘behind the scenes’ tours can be arranged, the Zoo Ferry (pulled by a tractor) does regular rounds for a quick reconnoitre before exploring on foot, and children and the disabled are particularly well catered for. The animals are arranged in zones: the Spice Route (animals found in Asia), Heart of Africa (gorillas, chimpanzees and other central African species), Southern Safari (local animals), Extreme Environments (camels, polar bears and penguins) and Amazonia (animals of South America).

Corner of Jan Smuts Avenue and Upper Park Drive, Parkview
Tel: 011 646 2000.
Website: www.jhbzoo.org.za 
Opening hours: Daily 0830-1730; last entry 1600.
Admission charge.

South African Museum of Military History
Located on the same block as the zoo, this small but comprehensive museum covers most periods and armaments of South Africa’s military history. Displays include uniforms, tanks, artillery pieces (including the South-African-built G-6), small arms, 12 aircraft and a military submarine. However, there are disappointingly small sections on the anti-draft (End Conscription Campaign) movements and the participation of black people in the Anglo-Boer War, although CASSPIRS, the armoured personnel carriers used by security forces in the townships during black uprisings against apartheid, are on display, and an exhibit of the military wing of the ANC during apartheid is being developed.

22 Erlswold Way, Saxonwold
Tel: 011 646 5513.
Website: www.militarymuseum.co.za
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1630.
Admission charge.

Johannesburg Botanic Gardens
Covering 148 hectares (365 acres) of highveld hillside rising up from the western shores of the Emmarentia Dam, this is one of the city’s most tranquil spots. The dam has a yachting and canoeing club, while the gardens include a magnificent terraced rose garden (allegedly the world’s largest) set among ponds and water features with a classical theme. Although a park ranger is on duty, it is not advisable to wander into remote areas unless with a group. Picnics and braais (barbecues) are permitted at the spots provided and the shady restaurant does excellent tea and scones as well as light meals.

Olifants Road, Emmarentia
Tel: 011 782 0517.
Website: www.jhbcityparks.com/conservation/jbg
Opening hours: Daily sunrise-sunset.
Free admission.

Melville Village
Generally, the residents of Johannesburg’s upper-income northern suburbs only walk if their car has just been stolen, but Melville is a quirky, pleasant exception. Just a short distance from the city centre, the suburb’s neighbourly atmosphere is mainly due to its chaotic mix of residential and commercial properties, which sometimes mingle to a point where one may find oneself mistakenly settling down in a private home and wondering where the waitress has got to. The main streets, especially bohemian Seventh Street, are worth wandering along, delving into the second-hand bookshops, antique dealers and body-piercing salons, or sitting in the pavement cafés to people-watch. Many of Melville’s nicest homes, some of which date back to the 19th century, have been converted into charming B&Bs and guest houses, which are increasingly popular with foreign travellers.

The Melville Koppies Nature Reserve, just north of the suburb, protects an extensive area of typical highveld vegetation and includes archaeological remains of both Stone and Iron Age settlements, including iron furnaces. It’s popular with dog walkers and birdwatchers.

Melville, accessed from Barry Hertzog Street, northern suburbs

Melville Koppies Nature Reserve
Entrance from Arundel Road at the north end of 3rd Avenue, Westdene
Tel: 011 482 4797.
Website: www.veld.org.za/melville/melville.htm
Opening hours: The west section is open daily from dawn to dusk, while the central section is only open to visitors on the first three Sundays of every month (Sep-May).
Free admission.
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Further Distractions


Art Galleries
Johannesburg has a surprising number of excellent galleries, ranging from the corporate to the private and the off-beat to the mainstream. Three are recommended for their commitment to African and South African works. The Johannesburg Art Gallery houses traditional African art, contemporary South African landscapes and the particularly interesting William Kentridge collection. The Goodman Gallery encourages contemporary South African artists, with works by William Kentridge, Penny Siopis, Willie Bester and Sue Williamson, among others. The Kim Sacks Gallery displays traditional South African artefacts and contemporary South African crafts.

A comprehensive listing of all of South Africa’s galleries (address, telephone, e-mail and websites) can be found at www.art.co.za.

Johannesburg Art Gallery
This Edward Lutyens-designed building houses impressive collections of 17th-century Dutch paintings, 18th- and 19th-century British and European art, 19th-century South African works, a large contemporary collection of 20th-century local and international art and a print cabinet containing works from the 15th century to the present.

King George Street (off Klein Street), Joubert Park
Tel: 011 725 3130.
Website: www.joburg.org.za/whatson/fineart.stm
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1000-1700.
Free admission.

Goodman Gallery
163 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood
Tel: 011 788 1113.
Website: www.goodman-gallery.com
Opening hours: Tue-Fri 0930-1730, Sat 0930-1600.
Free admission.

Everard Read Gallery
6 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank
Tel: 011 788 4805.
Website: www.everardread.co.za
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1800, Sat 0900-1300.
Free admission.

Alliance Française
The Alliance hosts contemporary South African and international art exhibitions, usually by solo artists. Exhibitions are solicited through proposals.

17 Lower Park Drive, Parkview
Tel: 011 646 1169.
Website: www.alliance.org.za  
Free admission (some exhibitions charge).

The Premises
Civic Theatre, Loveday Street, Braamfontein
Tel: 011 877 6800.
Website: http://onair.co.za/thepremises
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1200-2000 or by appointment.
Free admission.

Standard Bank Gallery
Corner of Simmons and Frederick Streets, city centre
Tel: 011 631 1889.
Website: www.standardbankgallery.co.za
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1630, Sat 0900-1300.

Kim Sacks Gallery
153 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood
Tel: 011 447 5804.
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1700, Sat 1000-1500.
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