In the press
The Business Express Train
The Business Express is the service that runs between Pretoria and Johannesburg and is the ultimate in luxury commuter travel. With an airline style individualized seating arrangement and a host of on board facilities, the Business Express train provides an excellent, affordable and stress free commuter travel option between Pretoria and Johannesburg.
Professor Phillip Tobias exhibition
An exhibition on the life and work of Phillip Valentine Tobias, Wits Professor Emeritus, Anatomy and Human Biology, is currently showing at the Adler Museum of Medicine until 13 June.
Carlo Mombelli & The Prisoners of Strange
The Wits Downstairs Theatre presents South Africa's national bass treasure, Carlo Mombelli on Saturday 24 May.
Solar rebate programme
Eskom is introducing a solar rebate programme for homeowners who install SABS approved solar water heating systems.
Up to twenty percent of the cost of the water heating system will be given back to homeowners. And the monthly cost of water heating will be reduced by 70 percent.
For all the detail visit the Eskom website or call (011) 800-4744
220 Nabbed in Joburg
A total of 220 people were arrested in Johannesburg over the weekend in a crime-combat operation, police said yesterday. "This was part of an operation to support other institutions involved in the environmental upgradingin Hillbrow, Braamfontein, Berea and Joubert Park," said a police spokesman.-Sapa
SABC in for the 'long haul'
At last night’s opening event for the Bafundi Film and TV Festival, Sabelo Silinga: Executive Manager of SABC Content Enterprises announced that the SABC is committed to the Bafundi Film and TV Festival for the long haul.The Bafundi Film and TV Festival 2008 – the first national student film and TV festival sees 71 delegates from 15 film training institutions countrywide gathering in the Wits Downstairs Theatre for the next two days to view each other’s work and take advantage of the professional networking opportunities offered by the Festival.
Festival organizer Melanie Keartland from Wits Theatres she is delighted that the SABC has seen fit to make a long term commitment to the festival. She says that the festival represents an important and much needed platform for student work, which will hopefully cater for the entire SADC region in the not too distant future.For details go to www.wits.ac.za/witstheatre
The Boys in the Photograph
Ticket sales are already open for The Boys in the photograph, the Andrew Lloyd Webber/ Ben Elton production especially for the Fifa 2010 World Cup.
Nightshift, an exhibition by Hermann Niebuhr
The Canopy at 81 De Korte street is a new gallery and the location of an absorbing exhibition by Hermann Niebuhr. The new complex is also home to the exotic Narina Trogon restaurant.
New CID manager for BMD and NMD
The Braamfontein Improvement District would like to welcome the newest member of the team, Lebogang Molapo, who is taking on the role of CID manager for the Braamfontein Improvement District and the Newtown Management District.
Wits garden project growing opportunities for the community
Teaching the skills to grow their own produce empowers a community to become self sufficient. This is exactly what the Siyakhana food garden project set out to do, and the results are growing nicely.
South African Ballet Theatre 2008
The South African Ballet Theatre, the country’s foremost professional ballet company, is pleased to announce its seasons for the year.
Guided tours at Constitution Hill offered from R20 per person
Visit Constitution Hill a National Heritage Site and Museum and the home of the Constitutional Court from as little as R20 a day. Tours are guided from 09h00 to 17h00 during the week and Saturdays from 10h00 to 15h00.
Experience a variety of permanent exhibitions featuring:
- Constitution Square
- We, The People Wall
- Awaiting Trial Block
- The Old Fort
- Nelson Mandela exhibition
- Women’s Jail
- Number Four
- Mahatma Gandhi
Also visit the Constitutional Court built around the remaining stairwells of the old Awaiting Trial Block with glass towers on top of the old stairwells, signifying how the possibilities of the future rise out of the difficulties of the past.
Telephone 011 381 3100 for more information.
Inner city rejuvenation makes progress
Cape Town and Durban have turned the corner, but Johannesburg lags, say Trafalgar report.
Doornfontein revival starts
AMDEC Property Development and its partners are redeveloping the 47000m² old Nedbank office block in Doornfontein, creating 924 affordable apartments and a 6000m² shopping centre .
Toilets play a very important role
Public toilets in Johannesburg have always been a stinky subject and the butt of many jokes.
But, all 33 inner-city toilets have been revamped and now resemble something out of an interior design magazine, fully tiled with drop lights over bordered mirrors, with soap dispensers and hand dryers, The Star reported on Thursday.
Bright Lights, Big City by Joseph Talotta
Sunday Times Lifestyle Published 15 July 2007
As the Alexander Theatre reopens its doors this week, Josef Talotta talks to Adam Levy, the man behind Braamfontein’s facelift.
Johannesburg property developer Adam Levy cuts a sartorial path through the mean streets of Braamfontein. Actually, he’d be the first to point out that they’re not that mean — and he should know, he walks them daily, having bought a substantial number of buildings in the district.
Joburg back to it's glory days
The Star
Little spot
Joburg back to it's glory days
Trevor Pengelly
Tuesday 27 February 2007
One of the first signs that an area is in decline is the condition of the food shops. As the ability to attract the smart set declines, the restaurants close, hastening the departure of economic viability.
This happened to central Joburg where only a few places like The Rand Club and Harrison Street Bar were left. Even fast food shops were like gold nuggets and the safest was probably a Russian and chips from Jose on the corner of Rissik and Marshall; but the sign of quickening pace is the return of smart food shops.
South African International Ballet Competition for Cape Town, South Africa
South African International Ballet Competition for Cape Town, South Africa-
January 14-19, 2008
The Artscape Opera House in Cape Town is to play host to a prestigious international ballet competition, to be known as the South African International Ballet Competition (SAIBC). It will take place in January 2008 and is the initiative of Dirk Badenhorst, the former CEO of the South African Ballet Theatre in Johannesburg.
Centre Court
The building and the collection of art works held by the Constitutional Court Trust have recently been captured in an interactive DVD tour that was made possible through funding by the British Council in South Africa.
Paying Rent at the Alex
Joburg hosts no less than five Broadway shows this year. Apart from Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Lion King and another hit musical to be announced tomorrow for Gold Reef City Casino's new theatre, get set for Rent and Hair, which are also travelling to Cape Town.
By Adrienne Sichel
Wits 11 make history as first ‘babies' of 4-year med degree
Some in the medical profession were sceptical but university is happy with results
Braamfontein finds it's home in residential market
Braamfontein’s residential property market is “cooking” and is one of the inner city’s success stories, say property pundits. They believe Braamfontein and nearby Newtown probably show the most promise. There is a great deal of demand for residential space in Braamfontein, which is close to tertiary institutions.
Mayoral programme provides blankets of love
The City of Johannesburg comes to the rescue of the needy as part of its programme to help those affected by HIV and Aids. Among the HIV/Aids awareness programmes run by the City of Johannesburg, a fund set up by the executive mayor offers relief for families experiencing the debilitating financial and social impact of the disease. The fund was initiated in April 2005 when executive mayor Amos Masondo committed the R632 000 raised from a charity golf day to a single project with a distinct focus. Out of this, the Mayoral Aids Fund was established to provide further assistance to elderly guardians caring for orphans, and families with no financial support like child-headed households. "The impact of HIV and Aids in Johannesburg cannot be overstated. As the powerhouse of the country, a threat to the social and economic health of Johannesburg represents a threat to the entire country," said Masondo. In his budget address in May 2006 Masondo emphasised the importance of tackling HIV and Aids, listing it as one of the mayoral priorities.
Tree sculptures to adorn Juta Street
Conceptualised by The Trinity Session as part of a visual trail in Jozi's cultural arc, nine interactive tree sculptures will be erected in Juta Street this weekend. Juta Street in Braamfontein will be turned into an artistic paradise when nine large-scale tree sculptures are installed, courtesy of a public-art partnership between the Johannesburg Development Agency and The Trinity Session. The R75 000 project is part of a broader initiative to create a visual trail in Johannesburg's cultural arc, which spans Constitution Hill, Braamfontein, and Wits University's East Campus across the Mandela Bridge through to Newtown. "The project is a culmination of a series of conceptual design workshops conducted by Claire Regnard, a part-time visual art teacher, a group of students from the Imbali Visual Literacy Project at The Bus Factory, and the Trinity Session," says Stephen Hobbs from The Trinity Session, a contemporary art production team which runs The Premises, the Johannesburg Civic Theatre's art gallery. Installation of the three-metre-high tree sculptures in designated concrete planters along the pavements of Juta Street will take place over the weekend. A walkabout of the street will be conducted next week, according to Regnard. "Students came up with the original concept and developed small-scale designs of trees using recycled material like tyres and plastics. But we needed tree sculptures that would be strong to withstand the weather, so I took some elements from these designs and created human-scale expressions of tree-like metal forms."
R3m strategy to combat manhole cover theft
The theft of manhole and water meter covers for sale as scrap metal has resulted in Johannesburg Water adopting a preventative strategy. The ongoing battle to combat the theft of manhole covers will see Johannesburg Water spend some R3-million this year to replace over 8 000 missing covers. "Joburg Water has set aside R3-million [this year] to replace 8 551 missing manhole covers in Sandton, Alexandra, Soweto, Roodepoort and Joburg's CBD as well as Deep South," says the water utility's acting communications and marketing manager, Baldwin Matsimela. According to Joburg Water, thieves take iron manhole and water meter covers to sell as scrap metal.The utility is now replacing such covers with ones made of a polymer-concrete mix, which will not have resale or scrap value.
Modern new logo for City
The City of Johannesburg has commissioned the design of a crisper, cleaner corporate logo to avoid misuse and ensure continuity is kept across all departments.The City of Johannesburg plans to use a standardised corporate logo in an attempt to prevent misuse and create increased brand awareness. The new logo will come into effect from 1 July.
"There has been confusion about which logo is the right one to use. With the start of the new mayoral term, it was decided that now was the perfect time to put forward a uniform and simplified corporate identity," said Elsabe Booyens, the head of marketing for Johannesburg. The logo currently used by the City dates back to 2002, when it hosted the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Booyens said there were widespread errors in the application of the City of Johannesburg's corporate identity, whether by incorrect sizing, colour or placement. The standardised logo, designed by the Switch Design Company, will ensure that all departments, regions and utilities, agencies and corporatised entities (UACs) will use the same corporate identity in all official correspondence, business cards and posters.
Business barometer to monitor economic progress
An innovative mechanism to measure business activity and economic trends on a monthly basis shows that Gauteng's economic progress is holding steady. A business barometer reflecting economic progress across Gauteng - an exciting first for South Africa - has just been launched. "It represents another first for our province as the country's first provincial business barometer, which reflects a wide range of economic factors," said Premier Mbhazima Shilowa at the launch of the Gauteng Business Barometer in Johannesburg on 20 June. "It will give us an important insight into the workings of the Gauteng economy and will be of value to both the private and public sector," he added. Addressing the guests at the launch, Shilowa said that the Gauteng Business Barometer reflected one of the main strengths of the province - its ability to innovate and to apply knowledge to create new products and services. He remarked that the sustained high levels of economic growth in Gauteng were largely attributable to policies and strategies implemented by government.
CBD's show signs of life
After some years of decline, there are signs of a revitalisation in central business districts around South Africa. Neil Gopal, CEO of the South African Property Owners Association, says development and conversions are taking place in the CBDs such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Tshwane. “Irish developers such as Euro Cape Investments are very active in this market and are looking at doubling their R1-billion investment in the next 18 months. We would like to see more South African developers becoming involved in this market,” says Gopal. “A major driving force is the fact government is giving developers tax incentives to revitalize the inner cities. In addition, there is a value in the CBDs,” Gopal says. Gerald Leisner, CEO of ApexHi Properties says South Africa has been through 10 to 15 years of dramatic decentralization, with companies moving out of the traditional CBDs. This pattern had a dramatic effect on CBD properties, and rentals fell. Revitalisation programmes aimed at attracting people back to the CBDs had limited success.However, CBDs are now changing to mixed-use areas, incorporating a higher level of residential space alongside retail and office space. He says the private sector is creating momentum and that more can be done to foster further development. Due to rising CBD rentals, further inner city development is now commercially feasible. “Some office space is converted into apartments, existing apartments are being upgraded and facilities such as hotels are being upgraded into better residential accommodation.“Retail has also evolved. Traditional department stores have disappeared but stores such as supermarkets and furniture stores are doing well.”
Gautrain to get R4,6bn of transport budget - MEC
The Gautrain Rapid Rail Link project is to get the lion’s share of Gauteng’s transport budget, it was revealed in MEC Ignatius Jacobs’s budget speech yesterday.The project also contributed greatly to the surge in the budget, which increased by R4,7bn from last year’s R1,5bn. Of this R4,6bn is going to its construction. Jacobs reiterated premier Mbhazima Shilowa’s stance that the R20bn Gautrain was an essential part of a much-needed transport infrastructure system in the province, and would not be a “white elephant”. “Gautrain is more than just an economic growth initiative,” said Jacobs. About 70% of the R403m for roads would be used to maintain roads and 30% to build new ones. He said there would be focus on building roads and related transport infrastructure in disadvantaged communities and townships, including the premier’s 20-townships development initiative announced this year. In a bid to deal with congestion on the roads and its effect on road maintenance, Jacobs said the province would introduce late this month “friendly” public transport toll roads, which would see buses, taxis and high occupancy vehicles paying cheaper rates. “We do not intend this to be a punitive measure but rather an incentive to discourage people from driving alone.”