Cleansound
pfm Member
What is supposed to be one of the scariest cities is actually not that bad 
Johannesburg South Africa
- Thread starter Cleansound
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Cleansound
pfm Member
I am most certainly not fooled by the graffiti, I have lived here my whole life and will continue to do so.
When was the last time you actually went there ?
I also don't see the relevance to skin, I am white by the way.
lived in alberton for 30 years, then lived in amanzimtoti for approx 10 years
if you are white, and go on a night out to places like Hillbrow, you are either mad or have balls of steel
I was there 4yrs ago on holiday to visit family ... been in the UK now for 10 years
was warned that I had to remove all jewelry of value and was told that it was unsafe to even walk to the shops at night
my mom sold her large house and bought a unit (townhouse) in a complex that has 8 foot walls surrounding with an armed guard at the gate
will I live there again?
if I were single as there is good money to be made .... however, I have small children and prefer to educate them here in the UK
the tipping point for me was when my son started school ... he was placed in a class of 36, of which 28 were african ..... 3 weeks later he was speaking like Eddie Murphy .... that's when I decided it was time to leave
sadly, my heart will always be there and I miss lots especially the family/friends/scenery/weather/food/people and humour
but life goes on and I can say that it took a while to adapt in the UK, but in my opinion, it is one of the nicest countries in the world and was an excellent choice (I considered the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada) ... The USA was also a consideration, but was much harder to get in
of all my friends/family, I do not know of 1 that was not either mugged, hijacked or had a break in at their home
and BTW, I am not racist
Cleansound
pfm Member
Hillbrow is off bounds, totally.
These pics were taken in the centre of the city we could say, we were in the wife's car and the kids loved the art as well
I hear you on the schooling issue, my kids are in a private school on the Cambridge System, it's the only possible solution.
Muggings , break ins etc. happen all the time, I have been on the receiving end more than once, but I love this place.
Not too bad
These pics were taken in the centre of the city we could say, we were in the wife's car and the kids loved the art as well
I hear you on the schooling issue, my kids are in a private school on the Cambridge System, it's the only possible solution.
Muggings , break ins etc. happen all the time, I have been on the receiving end more than once, but I love this place.
Not too bad
manicatel
pfm Member
As aircrew, I used to stay many moons ago in the Carlton hotel, downtown Jo'burg. There used to be several good restaurants within walking distance. As time went on, it got to the stage where we couldn't even walk 1 block to a restaurant without the hotel supplying us with an armed guard.
It could have been to keep the locals safe from us, but I presume it was the other way round!
We have since moved out to the MidRand area. There is a notice by the entrance to the bar saying "no guns allowed". Frequent reports of petty theft & mugging in the local shopping malls.
A lot of the houses have barbed/razor wire fencing, security gates etc etc. It can appear as if people are living in a self-imposed prison.
My impression is that it is getting worse or at the very best, not getting any better.
Admittedly, there are a few other stations worldwide that have a similar degree of personal security/safety implications. Most of them are also in Africa.
A great shame.
Matt.
It could have been to keep the locals safe from us, but I presume it was the other way round!
We have since moved out to the MidRand area. There is a notice by the entrance to the bar saying "no guns allowed". Frequent reports of petty theft & mugging in the local shopping malls.
A lot of the houses have barbed/razor wire fencing, security gates etc etc. It can appear as if people are living in a self-imposed prison.
My impression is that it is getting worse or at the very best, not getting any better.
Admittedly, there are a few other stations worldwide that have a similar degree of personal security/safety implications. Most of them are also in Africa.
A great shame.
Matt.
I worked for 2 years on the 44th floor of the Carlton centre ... I was a partner in a CAD (computer aided design) training school ... JHB was a really nice place a few yrs ago ... I even lived in Hillbrow when I was 19yrs old ... lived there for nearly a year ... was a really good place for live music/pubs etc
when I visited 4yrs ago, my initial impression was that everyone (white) was highly stressed and they all seemed nervous when walking the streets ... you most prob won't notice, as you have grown acustomed to it on a daily basis
Lived in amanzimtoti (100m from the beach) ... that was a good life, but I hear that things have changed for the worse there aswell
the sad thing is that there are so many people unemployed, and there are no state handouts like in some countries .... So some revert to crime (more than often violent) to stay alive and to feed their families
then there is affirmitive action ... that means that if you are white, you stand very little chance of getting a job .... many white university graduates sell hotogs on street corners etc to make a living .... many skilled engineers now work on contract in Dubai and similar places
then is is BEE (think thats what it is called) .... if you own a company, you are now forced to hire black directors and you have to have a certain percentage of black workers in your company, otherwise you get fined thousands
then there is corruption .... huge, and even the police are on the take ... my eldest son got a full driving licence by paying an official for it ... my son never even had to drive a car to get it
then there is the south african president .... uneducated, corrupt and was recently convicted of rape and bribery in an international arms deal
many of my friends/family who live there would love to leave, but they do not hold the correct passports or funds so are stuck there
approx 2yrs ago, my cousin (Bernadine) and her husband (George) were awoken by a noise in the kitchen of their pretoria smallholding/small farm
he went to investigate, as he entered the kitchen, he was smashed with a hammer in his face ... my cousin heard the commotion ... ran to assist and she was stabbed with a large kitchen knife in her back which pierced her lung ... there were 2 intruders
both George and Bernadine fought, George was stabbed several times, 2 of his fingers on his right hand were cut off from the knife when he tried to block ... Bernadine recalls hitting one of them with a hammer on the head, then she lost conciousness
a short while later, she managed to crawl to the lounge and phoned her daughter then passed out again
daughter phoned the ambulance/police as she rushed over to assist
Both George and Bernadine were admitted to intensive care and George was in intensive care for nearly 6 weeks
they both survived ... George had multiple stab wounds in his abdomen ... fractured skull, 2 fingers missing and lost his left eye
Bernadine was in intensive care for 2 weeks with a pierced lung and a scar on her back that is more than 6 inches long
and nothing was stolen/taken ... robbers fled ... robbers have never been caught
this story made page 4 of the pretoria newspaper, as it's a common occurance and nothing extraordanary
George and Bernadine sold up, and have moved to a 'safer' area
sadly, that is the state of affairs in south africa, and I do not see it getting better in the near future ... so yes, even though I am a lot poorer now, the UK is a great place ... just some who were born and bred here do not appreciate what they have or where they live
and just heard from my mom in SA about really sad breaking news ... a UK woman was murdered after her and her husband were hijacked in a taxi in cape town
Cape Town - A couple from the UK on holiday in South Africa was hijacked in Cape Town and the woman killed, Western Cape police said on Sunday.
Two armed men approached the shuttle service bus they were in at the intersection of NY108 and NY112 in Guguletu around 23:00 on Saturday, forced the driver out and drove off with the couple, Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut said in a statement.
Around midnight they dropped the 31-year-old man off in the Harare area of the Khayelitsha informal settlement.
"After seeking the assistance of a passing motorist, he was taken to Harare police station unharmed."
Following a search, the hijacked Volkswagen Sharan was found in Lingelethu West. The body of the 28-year-old woman was on the back seat.
Traut would not comment on how she had been killed, saying a post-mortem would first be conducted.
Their names and where in the UK they're from were not released. They arrived in Cape Town last Thursday.
The two suspects were still at large
Cape Town - A couple from the UK on holiday in South Africa was hijacked in Cape Town and the woman killed, Western Cape police said on Sunday.
Two armed men approached the shuttle service bus they were in at the intersection of NY108 and NY112 in Guguletu around 23:00 on Saturday, forced the driver out and drove off with the couple, Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut said in a statement.
Around midnight they dropped the 31-year-old man off in the Harare area of the Khayelitsha informal settlement.
"After seeking the assistance of a passing motorist, he was taken to Harare police station unharmed."
Following a search, the hijacked Volkswagen Sharan was found in Lingelethu West. The body of the 28-year-old woman was on the back seat.
Traut would not comment on how she had been killed, saying a post-mortem would first be conducted.
Their names and where in the UK they're from were not released. They arrived in Cape Town last Thursday.
The two suspects were still at large
Cleansound
pfm Member
I think the problem we have in this thread is that doom and gloom is focused towards South Africa, the incident mentioned is not an isolated case to South Africa, it can happen anywhere in the world.
dim_span, sorry for being direct, bit it's your type who loves to just focus on the bad who puts fear in to peoples minds for no reason.
You have not lived here for ages and sit on the other end of the ocean reading news headlines and pretend like these things ONLY happen is South Africa.
You paint a false picture, there are many news headlines all over the world that tell stories of murder, crime and mayhem, read your local U.K. papers and you will find similar stories within.
The soccer World Cup was a great success for many reasons justifiably.
I will have to ask admin to delete this thread if you were to keep doing this.
you can do whatever you like .... I posted this because I thought it was relevant to the thread
I don't put fear in people's minds ... just stating facts ... and yes there are similar things happening all over the world, but not at the scale that it happens in south africa
Cleansound
pfm Member
I tend to disagree with you, it just get's exaggerated and zoomed in, on the fact that it's the big bad South Africa.
What about the U.S. where a kid kills classmates, or in the U.K. where gang bangers kill several "****'s" or in Brasil where you veer off in to the "off limits" areas and you get mugged , raped and killed for a watch and an empty wallet ?
This couple were in the wrong neighborhood, the impression you give from your postings is that there is absolutely nowhere safe for people to be.
Last point.
It actually has zero, zip and no relevance to the thread, this thread was about some pictures within the PHOTO section of this forum, your very first response was political and racist and even a stern warning to myself telling me not to be fooled by the graffiti, because it's SUCH A DANGEROUS place, The original intention of this thread was never to make it a weekly news report of isolated cases or are you simply a bitter and twisted ex-pat who also now believes that the minute you step off the plane you get escorted to your baggage by a lion.
Careful not to roam your streets at night, I don't want to read about some ex-pat who got killed by hooligans (whilst being in the wrong neighborhood)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_South_Africa
A survey for the period 19982000 compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ranked South Africa second for assault and murder (by all means) per capita and first for rapes per capita in a data set of 60 countries.
According to a survey for the period 19982000 compiled by the United Nations, South Africa was ranked first for rapes per capita.[7] One in three of the 4,000 women questioned by the Community of Information, Empowerment and Transparency said they had been raped in the past year.[8] More than 25 per cent of South African men questioned in a survey published by the Medical Research Council (MRC) in June 2009 admitted to raping someone; of those, nearly half said they had raped more than one person.[9][10] Three out of four who admitted rape attacked for the first time during their teens.[9]
South Africa has the highest incidences of child and baby rape in the world of countries that are capable of keeping statistics
A survey for the period 19982000 compiled by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ranked South Africa second for assault and murder (by all means) per capita and first for rapes per capita in a data set of 60 countries.
According to a survey for the period 19982000 compiled by the United Nations, South Africa was ranked first for rapes per capita.[7] One in three of the 4,000 women questioned by the Community of Information, Empowerment and Transparency said they had been raped in the past year.[8] More than 25 per cent of South African men questioned in a survey published by the Medical Research Council (MRC) in June 2009 admitted to raping someone; of those, nearly half said they had raped more than one person.[9][10] Three out of four who admitted rape attacked for the first time during their teens.[9]
South Africa has the highest incidences of child and baby rape in the world of countries that are capable of keeping statistics
Cleansound
pfm Member
You are actually quite a sad individual, when you have nothing to add to a debate or when you have been defeated you take the "temper" route.
Perhaps you should go bowling for Columbine. (google it, you might wisen up)
I do ask again, what has all this to do with the PHOTO forum ?
What is supposed to be one of the scariest cities is actually not that bad
so .... I am responding to your questions and allegations directed at me, by quoting facts ...
and yes, although I am sitting in another country, I am fully aware of what happens in south africa, as I still have very close family and freinds who live there, and am in constant contact with them ....
I also read the south african news on a daily basis
Cleansound
pfm Member
The second quote was not a question but a statement made in jest.
My advice, get your family away from here as quick as you can, they need to get to safety.
Tsk.tsk.tsk.
Sad and bitter twisted ex-pat, the world is full of the.
yes ... I am sad, as I still have close family and friends in SA .... and no, I'm not bitter at all
and .... I have a choice ... I can go back today if I so wish as I still own a house in Jeffries Bay and will get a job very quickly (1 phone call)
yet I wish to remain here .... so go figure
and BTW cleansound, what passport do you hold?
Cleansound
pfm Member
Wow, my apologies.
Two reasons, I didn't realise you were that esteemed, we miss you Mr. President.
Secondly, I totally miss-judged you, Jefferies Bay, that's impressive, prior to that I was assuming Delmas, Danville or Springs.
Cheers, I have rapists to run from.