Johannesburg, Gauteng
Brief introduction.
ohannesburg is situated on a ridge created by fold mountains also known as the Witwatersrand ('white waters ridge") an lies between 1500 and 1700 metres above sea level. The Witwatersrand ridge stretches for about 80 kilometres from east to west with interlinking satellite cities forming a vast megalopolis.
The Johannesburg City Council has been transformed to incorporate into the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council. The new body incorporates former black townships such as Soweto and Alexandra thereby spreading resources more equally than before. Johannesburg is also known as "Joburg", "Igoli" or "Egoli" ("place of gold"), "town" and "the golden city".
Brief history.
old was not discovered in 1886 for the first time and recent archaeological findings suggest that people have been living in the area since at least 1100 AD. Rumors of rich gold deposits on the plateau have been around for centuries. Iron age societies living in the Magaliesberg area and further north to Pietersburg, were mining and using gold as far back as the 12th century and even before.
In 1886 a young surveyor, George Harrison, stumbled over a rocky outcrop that turned out to be the the richest gold-baring reef the world has ever known. The Boer Republic ordered a survey of Randjieslaagte and the same year commissioners Johann Rissik named the settlement, what was then still a loose collection of tents and corrogated iron shanties, "Johannesburg". Farms in the area are officially proclaimed sparking the biggest gold rush the world had ever seen.
The population grew from 3000 in 1887 to over 7 million today and the city is the undisputed cultural, industrial and economic heartland of the country where some 2% of the land area produce over 40% of the county's wealth.
Johannesburg is centrally located and is the true gateway to the rest of the country as well as other southern African countries. All international flights pass Johannesburg International Airport and the city is the largest port on dry land in the world.
The inner city has lost many of its corporate and other residents, including the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, to the more affluent northern suburb of Sandton. A taste of the former city centre cultural life can however still be experienced at places like the Newtown Cultural Precinct where Museum Africa, the Market Theatre (where many of Athol Fugard's plays premiered), Kippie's jazz club, the Castle Beer museum and the Workers Museum are located.
The Market Theatre complex for many years has been the showcase of the newest South African acting talent and is housed in the former fruit and vegetable market. It was here, during the apartheid times, where John Kani (now the theatre director) and Winston Shona were first seen in Athol Fugard's Master Harold and the Boys. It is also here where political satarist Pieter-Dirk Uys, in the persona of his drag alter ego Evita Bezuidenhout, first perfomed anti-apartheid one-man shows to packed houses. A cast of his typical South African characters regularly included a homosexual one.
Museum Africa has some excellent exhibits on the history of the area, notable a reconstruction of Sophiatown, the Harlem of Johannesburg, where many artists like Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masakela first performed in the 1950s before going into exile. 
There is also an exhibit on the history of gold going back a thousand years as well as some pre-historic exhibits. There is also a great reconstruction (with original fittings) of a typical Johannesburg gold rush bar from the 1880s.
If you want a real taste of Johannesburg's past you should visit Gold Reef City where the original Johannesburg has been reconstructed around one of the city's first mine shafts and you can witness the pouring of gold bars.
And if you want to experience real township life you should join a tour to Soweto where you would be able to see Mandela's house before his improsonment as well as that of Archbishop Tutu. The mandela home is filled with artifacts and memorabilia of the Mandela family. You can also make a day out of it and drink beer in a real shebeen and taste some township South African cuisine.
A brief queer history of the city.
The earliest reference to gays or same-gender relationships is found in and around mining and the all-male residences. The Gay and Lesbian Archives (Gala) (Witwatersrand University) has collections of letters, photographs and records dating back several decades. Many of these contain references to same-gender relationships in the form of private letters and photographs as far back as the gold rush of the 1880s that brought with it all-male societies and very few women.
For a long time Hillbrow, Johannesburg, was the country's undisputed gay capital. The country's first gay and lesbian publication dates back to the late 1970s in the form of a newsletter called Link/Skakel that later became Exit. Both these publications were founded at the height of the apartheid period and contain no references to black gays and lesbians. It was only in the early 1990s that Exit started reporting on black gays and lesbians, but it took the forming of the Gay and Lesbian Organisation (Glow) under the leadership of Simon Nkoli to bring black gays and lesbians out of the closet.
Hillbrow still is home to Johannesburg's oldest gay bar, formerly The Butterfly Bar, now The Skyline, which opened its doors in 1969. Today it is only visited by black gays and lesbians reflecting the changed demographics of Hillbrow.
Johannesburg's first Gay Pride Parade took place in October 1990 and consisted of some 300 marchers, some with brown paper bags over their heads, but 10 years later the event drew an estimated crowd of some 20 000 participants. In 1999 the gay pride parade committee made concerted efforts to be more inclusive and started on a five year plan of racial integration. 1999 also saw an official song and a web site.
Racism in the gay community is not a new problem and in the mid 1980s South Africa was kicked out of the International Gay and Lesbian Organisation (Ilga) for that reason. Simon Nkoli stepped forward as the mediator and South Africa was allowed back into the global organisation in the early 1990s.
Nkoli was previously part of the "Delmas 13" who stood accused of treason during the apartheid period and the group spent time on death row. After a world outcry they were freed, but Nkoli spent his time in prison convincing other trialists that gay rights had to be included in the future South African constitution. It was largely due to his efforts that "sexual orientation" was taken up under article 9 (iii) in the Bill of Rights, the most progressive in the world.
In 1999 the Johannesburg city council officially recognised the importance of its gay citizens by naming the corner of Pretoria and Twist Streets in Hillbrow Simon Nikoli Corner. Nkoli died in 1998 of Aids.
It was however not until the forming of the National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality (NCGLE) in the early 1990s, however, that a truly non-racial, non-sexist queer organisation was born. The NCGLE still largely relies on foreign donors to survive and has found very little support among the economically powerful white gay community. The local white community remains deeply racist.
In 1999 Ilga held their world conference in Johannesburg to coincide with the 30th celebration of the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Johannesburg was named as host city to Oakland, California to host the world event that coincided with the 10th Annual Johannesburg Gay Pride Parade during the "Pink September" celebrations.
