Fordsburg

Last updated

Fordsburg
South Africa Gauteng location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Fordsburg
South Africa adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Fordsburg
Coordinates: 26°12′24″S28°1′24″E / 26.20667°S 28.02333°E / -26.20667; 28.02333
Country South Africa
Province Gauteng
Municipality City of Johannesburg
Main Place Johannesburg
Area
[1]
  Total
0.55 km2 (0.21 sq mi)
Population
 (2011) [1]
  Total
2,350
  Density4,300/km2 (11,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
[1]
   Black African 46.2%
   Coloured 2.1%
   Indian/Asian 50.0%
   White 0.3%
  Other1.4%
First languages (2011)
[1]
   English 43.6%
   Zulu 15.1%
   Tswana 5.0%
   Xhosa 4.5%
  Other31.8%
Time zone UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)
2092
PO box
2033

Fordsburg is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Fordsburg is a residential suburb, although housing numerous shops and factories.

Contents

Today, Fordsburg is a major centre of Indian and Pakistani culture, with a large number of halal restaurants. The Oriental Plaza, located in Fordsburg, was created by the Apartheid government as a large shopping centre for Indian-owned shops, and is a major attraction in Fordsburg. The suburb was portrayed in the 2012 film Material, which highlighted some of the cultural, racial and religious issues still facing South Africa's post-apartheid society

From the earliest days of Johannesburg, the suburb housed a large Jewish community - with the Fordsburg/Mayfair Hebrew Congregation established in 1893 - as well as associated institutions such as a Kosher butchery, chevra kadisha, welfare organisations and Bet midrash. [2]

1922 Miner's strike

Old 1922 plaque in Fordsburg Square. Old 1922 Plaque in Fordsburg Square.png
Old 1922 plaque in Fordsburg Square.

Fordsburg was the site of a miners strike by Afrikaner nationalists and many Communists. Mine bosses insisted on using African labour in the mines. White workers opposed this policy, and Smuts called in the troops and airforce. [3] This strike is also known as the Rand Rebellion. A plaque in Fordsburg Square records the people who were killed there in the last battle of the rebellion.

Writer Herman Charles Bosman and playwright Athol Fugard, as well as anti-apartheid activists such as Yusuf Dadoo, GM Naiker and Nelson Mandela spent time in Fordsburg. [4] "In 1987, writer/composer Mbongeni Ngema rehearsed his new musical Sarafina! there, in preparation for a run at the Market Theatre and then Lincoln Center Theater in New York.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannesburg</span> Largest city in South Africa

Johannesburg is the most populous city in South Africa with 4,803,262 people in the City of Johannesburg alone. It is a conurbation engulfing many formerly separate cities and towns and is classified as a megacity. It is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. It is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa. Johannesburg is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa. Most of the major South African companies and banks have their head offices in Johannesburg. The city is located within the mineral-rich Witwatersrand hills, the epicentre of the international-scale mineral and gold trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hillbrow</span> Place in Gauteng, South Africa

Hillbrow is an inner city residential neighbourhood of Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is known for its high levels of population density, unemployment, poverty, prostitution and crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinatowns in Africa</span> African Chinatowns

This article discusses Chinatowns in Africa. There are at least three major Chinatowns in Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Johannesburg</span>

Johannesburg is a large city in Gauteng Province of South Africa. It was established as a small village controlled by a Health Committee in 1886 with the discovery of an outcrop of a gold reef on the farm Langlaagte. The population of the city grew rapidly, becoming a municipality in 1898. In 1928 it became a city making Johannesburg the largest city in South Africa. In 2002 it joined ten other municipalities to form the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Today, it is a centre for learning and entertainment for all of South Africa. It is also the capital city of Gauteng.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophiatown</span> Suburb of Johannesburg

Sophiatown, also known as Sof'town or Kofifi, is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Sophiatown was a poor multi-racial area and a black cultural hub that was destroyed under apartheid. It produced some of South Africa's most famous writers, musicians, politicians and artists, like Father Huddleston, Can Themba, Bloke Modisane, Es'kia Mphahlele, Arthur Maimane, Todd Matshikiza, Nat Nakasa, Casey Motsisi, Dugmore Boetie, and Lewis Nkosi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roodepoort</span> Place in Gauteng, South Africa

Roodepoort is a city in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly an independent municipality, Roodepoort became part of the Johannesburg municipality in the late 1990s, along with Randburg and Sandton. Johannesburg's most famous botanical garden, Witwatersrand National Botanical Gardens, is located in Roodepoort.

Lenasia, also known as Lenz, is a suburb south of Soweto in the Gauteng province, South Africa, originally created to house Indians. It is located in Region G of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Lenasia is approximately 35 kilometres southwest of the Johannesburg Central Business District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suburbs of Johannesburg</span>

The suburbs of Johannesburg are officially demarcated areas within the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa. As in other Commonwealth countries, the term suburb refers to a "neighbourhood", although in South Africa most "suburbs" have legally recognised borders and often separate postal codes. The municipal functions for the area, such as municipal policing and social services, are still managed by the city government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brakpan</span> Town in Gauteng, South Africa

Brakpan is a mining town on the East Rand of Gauteng, South Africa, approximately 38 kilometres east of Johannesburg.

Yeoville is an inner city neighbourhood of Johannesburg, in the province of Gauteng, South Africa. It is located in Region F. Originally intended as a "well-to-do" neighbourhood, it instead developed into a white working class and lower middle class area as the city expanded northwards and public rail access improved. From the 1920s onwards it became a significant enclave of German Jewish and Eastern European Jewish immigrants. It was designated as a "white area" under the Group Areas Act during the apartheid era. It became a "grey area" in the 1980s, as a limited number of non-white residents began to rent in the area. From the end of the 1970s, a growing number of night clubs and galleries opened in Yeoville, or relocated from Hillbrow. This led to the neighbourhood becoming the leading nightspot in the city.The white population began to decline in the 1970s, and this white flight accelerated in the early to mid 1990s, with most residents migrating to the northern suburbs. Today, it is widely known and celebrated for its diverse, pan-African population but notorious for its high levels of crime, poverty and degradation.

Johannesburg North is a suburb of Randburg, South Africa. It is located in Region C of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

Mayfair is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. The suburb is west of the Johannesburg CBD and is adjacent to Fordsburg. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pageview, Johannesburg</span> Place in Gauteng, South Africa

Pageview is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Populated by non-whites, predominantly Indians, until the 1970s, it was one of two adjacent suburbs commonly known as Fietas.

Randpark Ridge is an upmarket suburb of Randburg, South Africa. It is located in Region B of the City of Johannesburg. It fell into the town of Randburg during the apartheid era. Developed in the early 1980s and still relatively new, Randpark Ridge is bordered by several other suburbs including Weltevreden Park, Sundowner, Boskruin, Bromhof, Honeydew and Fairland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rand Rebellion</span> Uprising in South Africa from 1921 to 1922

The Rand Rebellion was an armed uprising of white miners in the Witwatersrand region of South Africa, in March 1922.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oriental Plaza</span> Shopping centre in Johannesburg, South Africa

The Oriental Plaza, known locally as the Plaza is a large shopping centre and tourist attraction in Fordsburg, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Consisting of multiple connected malls, it was created for Indian traders who were forcibly removed from nearby Fietas by the apartheid government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vrededorp, Gauteng</span> Place in Gauteng, South Africa

Vrededorp is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region F of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Vrededorp is situated on the North-Western side of Johannesburg and is 1,764 m (5,788 ft) above sea level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fordsburg Square</span> Municipal square in Johannesburg, South Africa

Fordsburg Square in Fordsburg is a thriving square that is the site of a flea market was recently known for being run-down. This square in Johannesburg is the location of a battle between striking miners and the South African police, army and air force.

The Red Square was an open plaza in Fordsburg, South Africa that was a popular site for mass political meetings in the 1940s and 1950s. The site is now covered by the South Mall and Car Park 4 of the Oriental Plaza. Completed in 1976, the Plaza was built to accommodate Indian traders evicted by the apartheid government from the main trading street, 14th Street as well as other streets including the eastern and western boundary street, Delarey and Krause streets of Pageview, Fietas.

The Fordsburg Reformed Church was a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) that served the western Johannesburg suburb of Fordsburg from November 6, 1896, to 1988.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Sub Place Fordsburg". Census 2011.
  2. CHAPTER FOUR JEWS – REFORMERS, REBELS, OR JUST UITLANDERS?, accessed 23 June 2013
  3. Marikana: A lesson in late liberal democracy Archived 2012-08-24 at the Wayback Machine
  4. "Eish!". www.southafrica.net. Retrieved 11 December 2021.