People from Johannesburg often say, that when looking for a house in the city, "Location is Key". This is genuinely true. The location of your home makes a huge difference between a good standard of living and bad. Many years back, I regularly commuted between Pietermaritzburg and Durban and didnt struggle. In Johannesburg, driving from A to B is tiring. The main reason is the regular stopping and starting in traffic jams and accidents. When we first moved here, we decided from a strategic perspective that we would seek a home in Greenside/Emmarentia. These areas were historically majority White but in recent years has seen a massive movement of Indian Muslims moving in. Most of these people used to reside in the suburbs of Mayfair and Lenasia and have moved in primarily because it is an upmarket neighbourhood (you dont see a lot of riff raffs and beggars)situated close to the Sandton and Johannesburg CBD's and surrounded by good schools, shopping centres (the Zone and Cresta), parks, a dam and a golf course. Our reasoning for wanting to and moving into this area conformed with the majority.
My First Visit
I remember in the 1980s hearing the equivalent saying of it being easier to buy gold than to get space at the Carlton Centre. The Carlton Centre in the 1970s, 80s and very early 90s was the place to be for the rich and famous of all races. It is 50 stories high comprising both office and retail space. Alongside this structure was the famous Carlton Hotel. So far we have discussed settling in to Mayfair and visiting Fordsburg. The next step was to get accustomed to Johannesburg's terrible traffic, especially getting from home to work and back. Joburgs traffic is horrible. Unlike Pietermaritzburg, where no matter where you are, to get from one end of town to the other takes a maximum of 20 minutes, Joburg's traffic could take anything from 20 minutes to 4 hours if you get yourself in a traffic jam.
After settling in Mayfair, the next step was to identify places to relax on weekends. Fordsburg, being in close proximity to my home became an instant hit. Historically, For many years Fordsburg was a business district dominated by South African Indians. In the last 10-15 years, Fordsburg has seen a surge in immigration of nationals from the Indian Subcontinent. The two main attractions include, the Oriental Plaza and the Fordsburg Square Shopping Areas on Mint Road.
Few people in Johannesburg can say that they have not heard or been to Mayfair in Johannesburg. As a Pietermaritzburger, moving to Johannesburg, this was my first port of call and ended up being my home for the first two years of my stay. Historically, Mayfair during the dark days of the Group Areas Act, was a "Whites Only" area.
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