Braamfontein Crises and Events

The Jameson Raid

The early growth and development of Johannesburg was not without its periods of turbulence and violence. One of the earliest such crises was the Jameson Raid. This was the culmination of the activities of the Reform Movement started by a number of successful mining and business personalities in protest against what they felt to be the government's discriminatory attitude to the Uitlanders in Johannesburg, who had contributed in no small measure to the growth of the town. There appeared to be no attempt to solve these grievances by peaceful discussion or negotiations.

Finally the Reform Movement decided to attempt to over-throw the government by taking up arms. All this happened under the leadership of Dr Leander Starr Jameson, and became know as the Jameson Raid. It was launched on 29 December 1895 when Jameson and armed forces crossed the border from Bechuanaland. Jameson, however, had been too hasty, due to lack of communication and all telegraph lines were not cut as planned. AS a result the Boers received warning of the attack, and Jameson was forced to surrender on 2 January 1896 in Doornkop near Krugersdorp.

Braamfontein Dynamite Explosion

The dynamite explosion in the railway yards at the Braamfontein station, on the afternoon of 19 February 1896 was a tragedy that still ranks as the worst accident in the History of South Africa. Ten railway trucks loaded with more than 3 000 cases of blasting gelignite exploded with roar that was heard ten kilometres away. It carved a crater 75m long, 18m wide and 9m deep in the ground. Fragments of the trucks and other goods were blown over an area of 13 square kilometres. There is no certainty as to hown many were killed: reports vary from 78 to 130 and a few boxes of human remains. At least 300 people were injured, many of them seriously. The area around Newtown where old Johannesburg Market stands today, then known as the Brickfields, and a large area of Vrededorp were flattened and between two and three thousand people lost their homes. The explosion is said to have shattered every window in the centre of Johannesburg. The unidentified bodies were laid out at the Wanderers Club, and President Kruger, who came from Pretoria at the first new of the disaster, looked at the bodies of the children and wept.

The explosion crater with work commencing on the edge - 19 February 1896

The Great Strike on the Rand

The years between the Union of South Africa and the First World War were ones of moderate prosperity. They were also years during which organised labour began to find its feet in the Union. The first trade unionists in South Africa were Uitlanders who came from overseas with long established traditions of trade union activities. By 1910 the trade unions had gained ground and were beginning to attract the uprooted Afrikaaners - the younger ones and those who failed on the land. These trade unions established among the men were, however, not recognised by their employers. Dissatisfaction grew among the miners on the Reef and culminated in an incident which arose from a little strike on the New Kleinfontein mine on the East Rand in May 1913.

The management refused to recognise this mining trade union and took on other men. This lead to a sympathetic strike in other mines. The government not realising the severity of the situation, took no steps to deal with the strikers' grievances, or to restrain them from violence until 4 July when a crowd of rioters set fire to the Park Station in Johannesburg, and 'The Star' offices there. Looting began almost immediately especially in jewellery and gunsmith shops, where the rioters were looking for firearm. The police opened fire which sparked further rioting and shooting in the town.

The angry mob proceeded to set fire the 'The Star' offices

The dramatic strike climax, outside Rand Club when the mob refused to disperse, when shots were fired at the military. One of the ring-leaders, J.L. Labuschagne, walked twice into the street, throwing his arms into the air cried 'Shoot Me'. The second time, when the crowd behind him began to move forward, he was shot through the heart.

Johannesburg's Demand for the Internment of Germans

Feelings against the Germans were running high during the First World War, especially after the sinking of the 'Lusitania' with the subsequent loss of many lives, and many German businesses and residences were being burnt. According to the records of the fire brigade, 65 fires were fought between 15h25 and 12h45 on 12 and 13 May 1915. Main Street, Johannesburg was reported to have been flowing with burning whisky from a nearby alcohol depot and in Newtown the large fodder warehouses smouldered for up to three weeks as a result of these anti-German riots.

Gundlefinger's was an early business owned by a German Pioneer of the same name

History Braamfontein

According to Anna Smith, in her book 'Johannesburg Street Names', there is no township Braamfontein - but rather an area of Johannesburg popularly known by that name. It is named after the original Braamfontein Farm, which formed part of the western boundary of the government owned Randjieslaagte, proclaimed in 1886 to become Johannesburg. It occupied approximately an area between the Braamfontein the Braamfontein Cemetery in the West and the Civic Centre in the east - between Wolmarans and Hoofd Streets, but excluding Wanderers View, Argyle and towards the west a rather vague area now known as Clifton.

J.J. Lindeque purchased the south-west portion of the Braamfontein from a Mr F. van Dyk in 1884. Part of Lindeque's area was bought by the government in order to to increase Johannesburg's water supply. A further protion was bought by H. Ecksten & Co. but when no minerals were found, they decided to establish a plantation to supply the timber for the mines. This plantation was known as the Braamfontein forest. In 1892 the Braamfontein Co. connected with H. Eckstein & Co. resolved to establish the township of Parktown.

Braamfontein Cemtery

In 1887 a block of twelve stands were set aside for Johannesburg's first cemetery in the north-west corner of Bree and Harrison Streets, where the Traffic Department offices had been since 1968. By September 1887 a cemetery had been established in Braamfontein as the first official burial ground. A crematorium was only opened in the south-east corner in, although a Hindu crematorium had been established in the Brixton cemetery as early as 1918.

Originally the major area of Braamfontein was occupied by small dwellings many of whcich were semi-detached, thus establidshing a middle-class suburb. With the rapid growth of the town and the addition of the University of the Witwatersrand to the west, and the first Collage of Education in Hoofd Street, the population increased. Like Parktown this suburb was not far enough north and west from the grwoing centre of Johannesburg to allow it to continue as a purely residential area. Thus within the last few decades it has been converted into a commercial zone with many high-rise buildings for the growing financial and business enterprises of Johannesburg. This, in turn, attracted several new hotels and restaurants.

Historical Postcards

Here are some Historical Postcards of Braamfontein, which I scanned and uploaded from 'A Johannesburg Album' by Oscar I. Norwich:

Melle and de Korte Streets

De Korte Street

De Korte Street looking towards Bertha Street

Braamfontein from the Cemetery

Smit Street

Juta Street

Harrison Street

Horse Shoe Bar after Mob Attack

Burning furniture and fittings in the Pavilion Beer Hall

The 5 July Massacre

Dead Horse outside Corner House

A sad incident Come on shoot me

The Star Office - Gutted

The Luggage and Booking Office at Park Station

After Dynamite Explosion Disaster - 1986

Dynamite Explosion Disaster - 1986

The Post Office adjacent to the Dutch Reformed Church

Gundlefinger's after the Great Conflagration

Dutch Reformed Church on de Korte

Remains of Rolfes, Nebel's Liquor Warehouse after the fire

Myths of Johannesburg

On the savannah plains of Africa, there is no greater collection of myths than those about the city, specifically Johannesburg, known as Jozi, Jubheki and Egoli.

“I was told there is a helicopter that hovers over the N1. If you are going below 120kph, it airlifts you for slowing down traffic,” said one bemused Zimbabwean visitor. “I was told,” another chipped in, “that if anyone says to you ‘eita’, know that you are in real trouble.”A Zimbabwean national, a PhD student at Wits, was woken from his reverie about making tons of money in Gauteng by his professor. “I am sure you have realised that the streets of Johannesburg are not paved with gold.”

As has been written about New York or the United States, opportunities are supposed to abound here more than anywhere else in the whole of Africa. Everybody comes with the hope of making a quick buck and going back home as the tycoon with ship-loads of money.Makaya, a Zimbabwean student previously based in Botswana, was told that Jo’burg was the most dangerous city in the world. “Jozi is very rough,” his brother warned.

“I was given this horrible picture of this place. People carrying guns everywhere,” he said. When he came to Johannesburg in 2003, a taxi driver charged him R70 from Park Station to Wits university — a journey of less than 5km that would normally cost R30.“Of course, I thought that was a lot of money for the short distance, but I could not argue. I was afraid,” he confessed.

When a friend asked him to accompany him to Hillbrow, he balked at the suggestion. “I told him I did not want to get killed.” When he eventually got used to being in the city he was surprised, when he went out one night, to see that there were people who actually went out at night.

In yet another instance, an immigrant from Malawi was at once dazzled by the fabled lights of Jozi and terrified of its guns. “I had heard about the guns and I saw them here. I have witnessed a number of armed robberies.” Yet he found the malls, the roads, the tall buildings, all the glass and steel irresistibly fabulous. “It was more beautiful than I thought. I thought it was a little London,” he enthused.

A Kenyan national, who has been living in Johannesburg for almost a decade, went back to Nairobi for the December holidays. “Where is the gold I heard is to be found in Johannesburg,” one of his countrymen asked him in Nairobi over a drink. When his cellphone rang, another helpfully suggested: “You can pick up your phone, this is not Johannesburg. You can speak on your phone, our thugs are not as dangerous as those in Johannesburg.”

“The folks at home are usually excited that you are coming to the city of gold but they are also fearful that there is a lot of drugs, alcohol abuse and crime,” said a colleague from the Eastern Cape.

From Mail & Guardian