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The Old Johannesburg Stock Exchange and surroundings

What an awe-inspiring building this is, enriching the Johannesburg skyline... Alas, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange that use to operate from this location in 17 Diagonal Street, Newtown moved to Gwen ln, Sandton. The Newtown area in and around where the old JSE use to be has been earmarked for further development. One of the the developments that has been completed is the Nelson Mandela bridge. The rest of the developments seems to be on ice. But will it become a reality or remain drawings? Im not sure at this point. The Nelson Mandela bridge connects downtown Johannesburg with Braamfontein where another landmark is situated, the University of the Witwatersrand. This bridge eases congestion between the Johannesburg CBD and the suburbs to its north that get connected via Braamfontein. However, its the symbolism of naming the bridge after the country's most iconic bridge builder, Nelson Mandela, that captures one's imagination. The old Tramshed building borders the Ne...
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Journey into the "other" South Africa

The setting is a large rural settlement in South Africa's Mpumalanga Province. The background to this region's development is of course intricately linked to its past: a homeland outside Pretoria created by the Apartheid Government in the name of 'separate development'. The environment is rural: cattle, goats, donkeys and chickens roam freely, while members of this community carry on with their daily lives, far removed from the hustle and bustle of the "other South Africa" - the one characterised by Western civilisation's pillars: individualism, private property & title deeds, credit and mortgages, money, commercialisation, consumerism and personal wealth accumulation. They are all at odds with an idealised Africa. Here in Siyabuswa, the R578 carries traffic, goods, and passengers past rural dwellers for whom time has a different meaning. It is safe to assume that the principles outlined in "The Fifth Discipline" are unknown to the locals, a...
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