The Ponte Tower is the tallest residential building in South Africa, and at one point became a hub of criminal activity. The view is spectacular from the top, one of the most famous buildings in the city of Johannesburg. It was built in 1975, standing almost 200m tall, it’s a long-established feature of the city skyline, once the tallest residential building in Africa.
But like the city, it’s had its ups and downs. In the 1980s it was taken over by criminal gangs, and its hollow core filled with rubbish up to 50m deep. The building got hijacked, there were no utilities, so most of the people were actually throwing their trash right inside the building, until it reached the 14th floor. There were some dead bodies here, illegal firearms, drugs. The smell, I’m sure it was just horrible, just really like, hell on earth.
Crippling power cuts that plagued the city for years, known as load-shedding, came to an end almost a year ago, but now a water crisis is looming, leaving many without. A building fire in the Central Business District (CBD) killed almost 80 people in the winter of 2023, and exposed the issue of hijacked buildings, disused housing and apartments blocks that have been taken over by criminal gangs who charge people to live there.
A few days later, on a tour of one of Ithemba’s flagship residential developments called Jewel City, senior manager Alan Tait explains the turnaround. The demand is just phenomenal, and that demand is specifically to live in the CBD. The company currently leases 7,200 properties and is expected to double that over the next two years.
The group also launched the gateway project, an effort to clean up the ten main entrances to the city, and they’ve begun to tackle everything from potholes, to homelessness to education. Could Johannesburg one day be spoken about like London, Paris or New York? Well, that is the intention, much of what’s happening in Joburg is due to perceptions. We have a long way to go. I mean, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s not impossible. We need to get up there and be the gold standard for cities in Africa.
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