City of Gold in Stamps

During the 1980s Carike Keuzenkamp sang a song called “Johannesburg” … stad van goud maar die enigste goud is in die laat namiddag son … // city of gold, but the only gold is in the setting sun! Words that hold some truth since Johannesburg originated thanks to the discovery of gold in 1884, which also sparked the conflict that gave rise to the South African War (also known as the Anglo-Boer War). Hence the “gold” beads you’ll find on my collage cards depicting Johannesburg. Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa and the seat of our Constitutional Court, the highest court in this country.

From a historical point of view, it might interest you to know that Soweto (“South-Western Townships” during apartheid) is now considered a part of Johannesburg. From the late 1970s to 1994 mainly black workers from the mining industry lived there, pretty much as Lenasia is mainly inhabited by South Africans of Indian descent. These places are no longer called white “no-go” areas since apartheid was abolished in 1994. If you go to https://www.instagram.com/p/CWnZyfYKNRf/ it will be easier to picture it.

If you’re interested, I’ll guide you through the first postcard of the “The City of Gold” I made: Postcard ZA-156733. The brown 14c stamp forms part of South Africa’s fourth definitive issue (15?July 1982), but was only released on 1?April 1986 since the price of standard postage had increased by then. This Edwardian Baroque-style building was constructed in 1914 and currently houses the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. Depending on what map you use, the City Hall is either on Helen Joseph Street or President Street (its old name) and was declared a national monument on 12?October 1979.

The 5c coil stamp that occasionally pops up here also comes from the fourth definitive series and depicts the old Post Office erected in 1897, in Rissik Street. This street was named after the then Acting Surveyor-General of South Africa, Johannes Rissik. He and his colleague, Christiaan Johannes Joubert, apparently told President (Stephanus Johannes) Paulus Kruger to name the new ‘dorp’ ‘Johannesburg’ because the three of them (Kruger, Rissik and Joubert) all had the same name. The Post Office, now a national monument that no longer houses postal services, was gutted by a fire in 2009. Its reconstruction started in 2016, but with the Covid pandemic and other political issues, is probably still in progress.

The commemorative stamp on this card comes from a set called “The Golden City”, issued on 25?September 1986 (a similar stamp of JHB's skyline was issued on 13 Nov.1975, one I rarely use). I find a comparison between the old city (14c) and the new (25c) quite interesting. Here is a link to the 25c maxi-card pictured above. The remaining two stamps in this set depict gold mining and gold bars respectively. Somehow the 20c gold mining one seems akin to the 1? d stamp issued in August 1941. You will also find these on my Kimberley postcards to convey the mining idea. I’ve only recently noticed that the 2c-stamp from South Africa’s first definitive issue (31?May 1961) is a depiction of “pouring gold” – ideal for anything Johannesburg related! The only reason I’ve been ignoring this (horrible!) blue stamp is because there was a complete over-production of them.

Occasionally I have access to the 5c JG Strijdom Tower stamp, released on 22?May 1971. This iconic, 269m tower has been part of Johannesburg’s skyline since 1971 and has been renamed “The Hillbrow Tower”. It was built for the country’s telecommunications company, Telkom.

As “Beautiful South” sings … this could be Rotterdam or Liverpool … it could also be Egoli (Jo’burg’s Zulu name) because it’s “anywhere alone”. As one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world I shudder to travel there unless I’m armed with a Garmin!