Fordsburg and other pockets of excellence in Joburg

Johannesburg was once determined to become Africa’s world-class city. It’s a slogan – if you’re a fan of the cesspools of spite on social media – that hasn’t aged well.

It’s bit like British Airways which went from “the world’s favourite airline” in the 1990s to ABBA, “anyone but BA” today.

But you shouldn’t believe everything on social media.

It also pays to avoid getting sucked into the vortex of suburban WhatsApp groups with their dirge of broken water pipes, power cuts and potholes.

There are areas of excellence that remain.

ALSO READ: Time to sever the ties with our smartphones

There are green shoots, too.

Fordsburg is a good example. Nestled in the lee of the M1 double-decker bridge with the unforgettable CBD skyline beyond, Fordsburg has been a pivotal part of the Joburg story.

Mary Fitzgerald Square is next door in Newtown, where the eponymous town councillor handed out pick handles for the miners to defend themselves during the 1913 strike.

Fast forward to 1922 and Pick Axe Mary – a different one – was swinging a pickaxe herself on the Fordsburg barricades of the Rand Revolt.

In the dark days of apartheid, it was heavily affected by Group Areas Act, but the traders refused to move and it eventually became a shopping mecca.

ALSO READ: Joburg traffic reaches new low in chaos

Through it all, Fordsburg has been a melting pot of cultures, a little bit of Joburg where you can time travel to places you might only dream of.

The fare at the Turkish Grill is as good as anything you might hope to eat in an Istanbul cafe while the chicken at Amman Restaurant could well hold the title for the best in Joburg, if not the entire country.

Fordsburg was safe and clean last week, but then again so was the ride under the M1 bridge past the infamous John Vorster Square and then out on Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Street, past the ANC headquarters, beyond the choke points of the taxi ranks and onto the Queen Elizabeth bridge and into Braamfontein.

A couple of months ago, the rubbish and ruin made that same route feel like the set of a dystopian horror movie.

Johannesburg’s not out of the woods yet, but reports of its demise, to quote Mark Twain, are greatly exaggerated and – to mangle Samuel Johnson – when you are tired of Joburg, you’re tired of life.

ALSO READ: Why we all pay the price for today’s racket culture

It’s a great city, despite the efforts of so many of us to trash it.