I did not know what to expect for my two-day layover in Johannesburg on my way to Santiago. I had heard that Joburg was a city full of contradictions, violence, echoes of the apartheid and young black and brown South Africans on the move and ready for business.

My friend, who I had spent a week in Cape Town with, loved it so much he was ready to move there.

But when I got there it felt like a world apart.

I stayed in the suburb of Rosebank at the Hyatt Regency Johannesburg hotel. The hotel was close to a mall and was dubbed as “extremely safe” by TripAdvisor. I felt instantly at ease there.

My first evening I ordered room service and just slept. I was feeling a bit down as Johannesburg was the mark of my last few days on the continent of Africa until further notice. The next day I went to the hotel concierge, who was from Zimbabwe, and booked a day tour through the city and to the apartheid museum. After discussing Zimbabwean politics with the concierge, I met with my private guide for the day and started off tracking the apartheid in Johannesburg.

The city tour was nothing less than shocking. Upon exiting the suburbs, I entered the decaying and abandoned city center. Thousands of squatters in abandoned apartment buildings overwhelmed the streets and took an apocalyptic vision of a world held captive by apartheid supporters through sheer neglect and disinterest.

Even the Skyscrapers stood empty.

Our first stop was the tallest building in Johannesburg. It was a former hotel whose floors sat mostly empty said for the mall below and the 50^th floor which is open to tourist. What was once the tallest building in Africa is a clear example of what happens when laws do not catch up to policy implementation.

Johannesburg was left to fall upon itself at the end of apartheid. White businesses, property owners and foreign investors, fearing retribution for their heinous acts during the apartheid, abandoned much of downtown Joburg but kept the deeds. Instead of selling it to the Government or other investors they intentionally left the buildings empty, to punish those for breaking the chains that once held the people of color in South Africa.

The empty buildings became vulnerable to squatters and soon streets bustled with life as the poor and recently immigrated took over the buildings. With the government unable to practice imminent domain to take control of the abandoned buildings to refurnished them to deliver pride back into the downtown area it became almost a no-go zone for everyone not from there. In a way the white owners are punishing the city for the crime of being free. So 50 floor skyscrapers, like the Carlton Centre, sit mostly empty towering over squatter communities, largely of immigrants and the poor, looking for a better life in the ghosts of apartheid neglects.

Instead of downtown Joburb being the center of commerce and activity those with money and education moved to the suburbs. The recreated cities within the suburbs and built a public transit system to connect them.  The Gautrain, which is exceptionally well kept and clean, runs through neighborhood after neighborhood supplying wealth to its suburban inhabitants while skipping over the forgotten people of downtown Joburg.

The shocking reality of current day Joburg contrasts with the hope of some of its people. It was a short lesson that still stays with me to this day. If you happen to be in Joburg and want to track the apartheid you must visit the following four sites.

The Carlton Centre: Former Tallest Skyscraper

View from the 50th floor of the Carlton Center.

It’s worth a guided tour of the skyscraper to begin to get a taste for what downtown Jobrug was and what Joburg is. Sitting on top of 50 floors my guided pointed out to me abandoned building after building. He led me around the neighborhood with a bird’s eye view critical of the actions of those who benefited most from apartheid and their refusal to let Joburg grow into what it was once before.

The Constitutional Court of South Africa

Leaving central Joburg you enter a neighborhood more of promise where the Constitutional Court of South Africa and The Old Fort, which was once used as an apartheid jail, sit side by side on Constitutional Hill. As a reminder to never forget history both represent the result of injustice and justice. The Old Fort Prison is a must see and it’s highly recommended you book a guided tour of the location. In the guided tour you can learn more about the history of the jail, who was jailed within its bars, how white, black, and colored prisoners were treated, and test your own biases. Its history is haunting. They complete the guided tour by taking you to the Constitutional Court. A building built of glass and open to the public in the hopes of cultivating a sense of transparency. Inside the court, the air is warm, and you feel a sense of justice and reconciliation on the rise as you sit in its halls.

The Apartheid Museum

Photo: Jasmine Nears

Perhaps the most significant place you can visit when tracking the apartheid in Joburg is the apartheid museum. This museum is worth setting aside at least three hours as your traverse each room documenting in nauseating details the extend of apartheid, it’s effect on the people of South Africa, and its eventual demise. As a person from the United States the apartheid has echos of the Jim Crow system and yet it could be argued was far more brutal and systematized in a way the surpasses some of my wildest imaginations. You leave the museum, shaken and angry. My guide, upon seeing my expression, urged me to release my anger. To not hold those who committed such egregious acts responsible, but yet move forward to the future. While I still simmered with anger, the resolve I saw in the people to take back their country and their land humbled me and I kept my opinions to myself.

Soweto

No visit to Joburg is complete without visiting the suburb of Soweto. I had heard so much about it over the years and to me I expected tin roof houses with children running around. But it was like any other suburb I had every visited. The people there were middle to upper middle class and just living life. I instantly felt ashamed of my preconceived notions and realized upon visiting both Mandela’s house and the memorial to the child killed in the Soweto uprising that I had been deceived by a biased history. This place is significant, safe, and like other middle class neighbors I am used to. In fact, I felt the need to stay there next time I visit.

After my day trip to Joburg I left hopeful and troubled. I think that’s the feeling most appropriate for a short visit to this beautiful and complicated place. It’s a beautiful place but it’s still caught within the world of the apartheid while the suburbs around it grow and flourish. Joburg needs laws to change so the resilient people of this city can help themselves.

After visiting the four main sites of the apartheid in Joburg I spent the night in Pretoria. I took the Guatrain, which is a perfectly safe and convenient way to get around the suburbs, to meet Mama Ruth’s daughter as I had promised while in Botswana.

She met me at the train. She showed me her favorite park. We spoke, laughed, and ate dinner. She was as warm as her mother and I felt incredibly happy to meet her and get to know her.

It’s unclear when I will return to Joburg, but when I do, I hope to see it in a different light.

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