Taking Issue – Fixing Johannesburg’s potholes is part of a grander task

GEOFF SIFRIN

Taking Issue

What does it mean for South Africa’s Jews that the Democratic Alliance’s Herman Mashaba, a well-known black businessman, is now Johannesburg’s mayor?

The vast majority of Jews are city-dwellers in metros such as Johannesburg and Cape Town, and injection of new energy into the former, after the DA’s seizing control of it from the ANC in the August municipal elections, may impact significantly on how they feel about the place and its 4,5 million inhabitants.

Mashaba’s task is compounded by his being new to South African politics, and coming to it at a time when citizens are deeply suspicious of politicians – one consequence of President Jacob Zuma’s disastrous era in power.

Cynics have always been leery of politicians, but two decades ago the country experienced a golden period when Mandela’s magic made people believe otherwise.

Jews haven’t always lived only in cities. Jewish life in rural areas was vibrant in the early and mid-20^th century, with numerous Jewish farmers and lively small-town communities. For example, almost the entire 50-kilometre stretch between the towns of Ogies and Leslie in Mpumalanga passed through Jewish farms and Leslie had an active synagogue, as did other places.

But most rural Jews sent their children to city schools, from where they never returned to the farms and small towns. The parents eventually followed to spend their latter years in the cities rather than alone in their farmhouses.

Mashaba faces an uphill battle in imparting to all of Johannesburg’s residents that this city is in capable hands and has a good future for them.

This goes beyond obvious things like fixing the potholes, making the traffic lights work properly and ensuring an uninterrupted electricity and water supply. He has set among his priorities reducing unemployment by encouraging small business, and tackling corruption.

Johannesburg’s 130-year history is riddled with Jewish involvement dating from its origins as a mining town, including a string of Jewish mayors and other public figures, Jewish entrepreneurs developing industries and businesses, Jewish prominence in the professions and academia, and so on.

Going forward, what are the chances of Johannesburg living up to its official public relations slogan as a “World-class African City”? The high security walls behind which people have to live out of fear of rampant crime and the city’s grubbiness, fill it with tensions.

Many have children and friends in other countries, hear about a “safer” life there, and can’t help comparing.

Ultimately, Mashaba’s task is about creating a renewed Johannesburg patriotism. Sadly, the country’s racially divided legacy continues affecting everything and the city is no exception. Its demographics still reflects the grotesque apartheid geography where – as the racist system’s architect Hendrik Verwoerd intended – black areas were seen as labour pools for whites and blacks were forbidden by law from living in white areas except as employees of whites.

Today, although the racial laws are gone, black and white populations mostly continue dwelling in the same separate areas they inhabited then and have little social contact; the former is largely poor and the latter wealthier.

Jews are concentrated in the middle-class white areas of northeastern Johannesburg, with a significant proportion in the neighbourhoods of Glenhazel, Orange Grove and Sydenham.

It is safe to say most of the city’s Jews – and most other whites – have never ventured into black areas like Alexandra and Soweto, either out of fear or lack of interest in knowing how other citizens live.

This too is apartheid’s legacy, where blacks were familiar with white areas and their residents’ lives because they worked there daily, but whites never knew the black areas.

For Johannesburg to truly succeed, this geographic black-white divide must be erased. If people will leave their little ethnic bubbles, good things may become possible.

Read Geoff Sifrin’s regular columns on his blog sifrintakingissue.wordpress.com