#MyCorner: Yeoville, an all-you-can-choose landscape
The suburb is not only known as a metropolis for people from across the African diaspora, but also for having a colourful night-time scene that is rooted along Raleigh and Rockey streets – the main thoroughfares for social and business activity in the area since the late 1970s.
While Joburg has built a reputation of being a world-class African city, with a number of vibrant settings, albeit chaotic, the famously loved suburbia of Yeoville requires a new lease of life.
The suburb of Yeoville, a small pan-African suburb located on the outskirts of the inner-city, is an eyesore, yet beautiful with a memorable history.
It is an all-you-can-choose landscape which features everything from nightclubs, restaurants, shops, pubs and a very distinct flea market.
The suburb is not only known as a metropolis for people from across the African diaspora, but also for having a colourful night-time scene that is rooted along Raleigh and Rockey streets – the main thoroughfares for social and business activity in the area since the late 1970s.
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The Patric van Blerk-imagined Time Square, which is one of Yeoville’s more popular party-time venues, has since being built around the same time, held its own as a landmark establishment in the suburb.
In times gone by, Time Square’s magnetic atmosphere attracted big-time musicians and performers such as Vusi Thanda, Ntsiki Mazwai, Bongo Maffin, Lucky Dube and Brenda Fassie.
Adding to the hugely vibrant feel that somewhat still persists in the suburb, is The House of Tandoor restaurant in Rockey Street. According to a research paper published by Wits University titled Walking Tour Front, which looks into the cultural history of the suburb, the restaurant is one of the places that still bears its original name.
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The research states the restaurant was started in the 1980s and served authentic Tandoori cuisine cooked in a traditional wood-fired oven which is still visible to this day. Today, it is still a popular bar even after being taken over by new management, bringing the establishment to life with different-themed gigs on each night of the week. One can perch on the roof of the establishment and look over Rockey Street – with which it has had a long relationship – from an elevated position.
Another particular attraction in the bustling suburb is Rasta House, or The Green Gate, founded in 1998, and located at the intersection of Hunter and Bezuidenhout streets. Walking Tour Front describes the establishment as a non-alcoholic bar which exhibits art and holds live performances for music and poetry.
The Rasta House is based on Rastafarian ideals and provides free work and performance space for practising artists.
Also, the suburb has some rich political memories attached to it, too. Nelson Mandela was rumoured to have sought refuge in a flat located on Webb Street while avoiding arrest by the police during the Struggle years.
More recently, however, convicted murderer and former ANC Youth League regional leader, Patrick Wisani, is known to have killed his girlfriend at their home in the suburb, in 2015. Today, the suburb has been reduced to an almost derelict and abandoned state, which in turn has spurred conversations for social change by some individuals within the community, who for many decades have called Yeoville home.
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The efforts of these individuals are underpinned by the love they have for the area, and the hope that it will one day rise from its own dereliction ashes.
Katherine Bompas has lived here for over 60 years, and for most of that time, she has set her sights on living up to her social responsibility by making a small contribution where possible. She acknowledged that the suburb is faced with a number of crippling issues, ranging from economic to political. She said the area is typically very busy due to how populous it is.
But it is within all the innumerable challenges faced by the community, that the 64-year-old began handing out food parcels to the poorest in the community several years ago, along with her husband, Frank. They personally financed the parcels, consisting of maize, fruit and bath soap.
“I’ve been involved with the soup kitchen that operates on the weekend, from a local church for a number of years. And at one stage, I was handing out weekly food parcels,” said Bompas, who, in 2017, had to halt the initiative owing to financial difficulties.
“Unfortunately, circumstances are such that I can’t carry on with that anymore. But there are people that do try and handle the food side of things in a similar way. And others who try and foster a certain amount of community involvement for positive social change, even though it has been in the doldrums for a while.”
Bompas’s journey through the suburb as a whole has added an equally fascinating chapter to her life. “I’m afraid, I’m one of those stick-in-the-mud people. I’ve always lived here. My parents were Italian migrants who came to the city when I was about three years,” she said.
“In all that time, I have seen some very good changes in Yeoville. There are places that require paving and have to be redone. There are a number of communities that call this place home, and if we can get some basic systems in place, this could be an interesting and very good place to live.”
