South Africa's Tower Of Trouble
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 เม.ย. 2014
- In the heart of Johannesburg, there is probably no building more notorious than Ponte City. The cylindrical tower with a hollow core was built in the 1970s as luxury apartments only for whites. In the ensuing decades, as whites decamped to the suburbs, Ponte became a symbol of urban decay, overrun by drug dealers and gangs and dubbed "suicide central" because of the number of people who chose to end their lives by hurling themselves off the tower.
Today, Ponte is undergoing a renaissance. The building has been renovated over the years and middle class families and young professionals have moved in. A few whites have too, mostly occupying the upper floors. In a nod to its location in what is still one of the most dangerous parts of town, the new Ponte has been turned into something of a fortress. Security is extremely tight and there are severe restrictions on visitors.
Vocativ recently went inside the infamous tower, which is the tallest residential building in Africa.
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this video went from ”the most dangerous place in Johannesburg” to ”i love this place because of it’s security” real quick lmao
Yea bcuz it was cleaned up...
@@AKAalicecullen but it was such a curveball. I myself thought the number one reason why people would want to live there now would be low prices, accessible to everywhere, that kind of stuff.
Not security lol
I was so confused
@@mcaesario it's called propaganda you silly raccoon
@@mcaesario security IS the #1 concern for every South African regardless of race.
The complete self-awareness of the drug dealers admitting that the place will be nice without them was interesting.
Lol it's not a choice maybe?
@Tony Mudau definitely a choice.
Facts... They tripped me out a bit
@@spin-cthrowshands5553
Nah, not in that part of the world. Their choice is to be a beggar without food or a criminal with food.
@@DildoFagginsNL They live in a major city in south africa... that is one of the nicest places in Africa. Africa isn't just sand and tribes... Jesus christ. They are addicted to the fast money obviously. They don't want to work for less.
looks like the building from judge dredd
Dewan de Swardt no it's not. Those buildings were rectangular.
Peach tree apartments were based on these apartments
They filmed (parts of) the movie in SA.
Exactly what I thought
THATS WHAT I THOUGHT! I WAS LOOKING FOR THIS COMMENT
Sounds like the Tower found better management and it sounds like the city needs a change in management.
EXACTLY. The current ruling party of South Africa, ANC, is ruining the entire country.
Terrence Chamberlain they are very corrupt and misuse funds.
Service delivery is also shambolic
Terrence Chamberlain white genocide. Farmers are being killed and robbed. South african president is openly calling for robbing white farmers and stealing their lands.
how to kill some one
Hal Heywood I hear you... no one is willing to speak of the war on whites goes against their slave masters wishes
Architecturally speaking the building looks really cool, if it was cleaned up a bit.
Thats what I’m thinking
Amazing how whites build beautiful things and blacks run them down
those are two of the most articulate & polite drug dealers i've ever heard
+Jonathan Doe yah I think maybe the girl's 1st language is Afrikaans but i'm not sure about the guy. Either way i was surprised considering their profession
No. They really killed me 😭😂😂. I was thrown aback because I was expecting them to be highly hood sounding.
Hey everybody come look at this... close minded idiots are exposing themselves...
😂😂😂
"It's fairly rare to see white people after dark" hahaha, sorry that made me chuckle.
and It's also hard to see black people after dark
Lol!!
0 0 hahaha unless they are smiling!
Norton Sparkles absolutely. they are basically living in a prison. make your few runs in the morning, then it's lock down time. 😂😂 the life of a coward.😂😂😂😂😂
Average Alien you wish you were black
When I was in South Africa, Hillbrow district in Joburg was considered the most notorious area in SA. I'm white and I lived in a fairly large town in the Western Cape, where you could walk the streets at midnight and have no problems. I left in 2006, but I hear that the crime rate is increasing all over SA? Though it must be said that much of the world's media loves to report on a stereotypical black versus white basis when this is often not the case... Eg. I was almost mugged in Cape Town, but I was lucky when a couple of black guys came to my aid. If I was on a beach, I'd ask a black family to look after my stuff when I went for a swim, I've taken wrong turns into Townships at night, and given directions home by the locals rather than being carjacked. Much of the world probably does not realise that many whites now live in makeshift tin shack camps. SA is a complex country.
2022 here lol, Where did you move to if I may ask?, I'm a legal immigrant and have lived here all my life and things have just gotten worse since then lol SA is a hard country for young people and I want to leave to now but I can't becuase they are no jobs lol.
It depends where you live hey, cities have gotten much worse and would probably be unrecognizable to when you left, small towns are about the same, just with more riots throughout the year. I'm from Mooirivier and we generally have about one a month, which is much more than when I was a kid. Just be a cool, reasonable person, and carry a gun understanding that not everyone else is a reasonable person, and you will be fine.
As I type this I'm looking at this building from my room,still hard to believe it's safe. And I've been staying across this building for 3 years now.😔😔
What about now?
I wonder why they didn't ever clean out that shit in the core. Why Leave a rubbish dump?
it's Kitsch. For tourism.
It's radioactive dump. Can't touch it.
Only one thing.....💸💸💸💸
+Mister Milkman yea but isn't that like saying "I'm not going to mow my lawn because the grass is going to keep growing"
Gabba Shanking
Or it's like looking at the lawn the day before it's mowed.
I heard that there was talk some years back, of the city tearing it down. I am glad to see that never happened. I have fond memories of Ponte. There use to be a Ten Pin bowling alley there in the late seventies, early eighties. My parents used to play league there every Wednesday for many years and my brother was also a top bowler for many years. I remember one of his friends lived there in one of the penthouses which were a three story apartment, a triplex. Very spacious, very nice, and stunning views, as the penthouse occupied the top three levels. I loved this building and I'm glad to hear it has made a comeback, it deserves it. It was beautiful living. However I think the bowling alley will not be so lucky, I don't think in the current climate that ten pin bowling would catch on.
Thank you for the video, its been a trip down memory lane.
Yeah, ten pin bowling is a sport for the cold-war type of crisis. Not the current hot crisises like a Pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
What are good sports and leisure activities for the current hot crisises then?
@@humansomewhat2167 I'm not sure actually, I like mountain biking and my brother and my children are into it as well. What would you say?
Bowling alley - memory lane - very nice
You're white I assume? You can write and you have good memories of good things,so I'm just assuming..
Thank you so much for posting this video. I have been living obsessed with this building and this is much appreciated. I just hope that one day I can visit the place.
This is by far one of the most interesting videos, from the lack of awareness (or hyper awareness of self) by the drug dealers, to homeboy ending it with hope of the future for his country, I was just completely blow away.
10/10 would watch again.
Ponte Tower is quite a long way from the skyscrapers in central Johannesburg.
Johannesburg is somewhere where I would not walk around in the city centre, even in the daytime.
I can't really imagine that they solved the problems regarding drugs and violence in the building, but rather moved it elsewhere. This is of course a small archievement. But to ensure safety and good living conditions in the rest of Joburg you would need a fundamental change in government, infrastructure and the minds of society. Unfortunately it's not as easy as said at the end of the film.
Unfortunately those problems concentrated in a vertical fortress are just amplified.
This building looks beautiful, the views from any floor, day or night, would be amazing.
I can't believe I've never heard of this place before that's awesome
they should send judge dredd there
raima nasrodin he won't have enough bullet.
@@JunYew judge dredd, predator team, expendables team, the man with no name, and contra team nees to be to
I worked there many years ago as a receptionist it was fun and we had such good time it is sad it has become a place of horror..
Those flats are beautiful. Why anyone would want to destroy their own hometown is beyond me.
Because they tried to make it for whites only.
Did you not watch the video? It was gangs that destroyed it
It wasn't the white people that's for sure!
And its not their hometown
Just looking at the building gives me cold shivers! Great work they doing there!
Start a one strike policy. Commit just one crime and you're out.
Out where?
which breeds more violence. Fix the root cause first.
That creates more crime
Fletcher DeMaine mind changing your profile pic? Thanks.
Ekama Noieau The incinerator, after placing a few pieces of lead in their skull.
I’m American and that symbol on the top of the Building looks awfully suspicious.
I saw this building first in CHAPPIE and I thought it was just a film set effect - not even a real building - coz I dint see this one in District 9 which was set in Jo'Burg too.
But CHAPPIE took me to a liking to Die Antwoord songs and again I saw this structure in one of their scores - so I got a feeling that this building must be real - coz one set cannot be used twice for something not related to the same movie.
So I looked up on the Wiki article about Jo'Burg and amazingly it had no pics or words about this building.
Desperate to find what it is - I searched Google with "Building in Jo'Burg Vodafone tower " - coz I only took up this detail from CHAPPIE and Antwoord videos as identification.....................and then..........I came across the name Ponte City.
I am literally amazed how such a great architecture has been kept in warps from the world - off the Wiki.
This building literally is from the future from a sci-fi movie - so unique that it will attract anybody who seeks an urban high-end lifestyle.
However amazingly its a home for the middle class and more so maybe coz - the apartments can be rented only and cannot be owned - i dont know this part though.
If the super rich starts buying apartments off it - they will turn it into a heaven - if the criminal tops take control -It can be their World Trade center of Underworld.
But the building is now left to common people and it feels really great how this has turned its neighborhood from once a signature of high class and then underworld to a place where one can live happily.
Its an example for the whole world and its society to reform.
I may reach it one day as a tourist - and who knows if I ever land a job in SA and have to live there - my first preference would be renting an apartment in this
I live in SA and too would like to live in the building. People here never take me seriously when I say that because of the reputation of the area, Hillbrow. The reason the rent is not high is because of the area, no rich investors would buy apartments there for the same reason. Until the area is sorted out, it will always be considered a no go, which makes me sad.
I by chance stumbled upon this very encouraging video which just proves me once again, there is hope. It just shows again: leave it to the people to sort out and organise themselves and they live in peace and harmony. Leave it to the government and you'll have perpetual racism, intolerance and chaos.
i have always been intrigued by this building... i always pass by and stare at it
I lived there from 1975 to 1979, 28th floor. Was the premier address in JHB. Not everybody was accepted to
become a tenant.
The outro states an open question:
"Ten years ago, it was a vertical urban slum. If a building like this can be pulled back from the brink, and turned into something sustainable, why can't the rest of Johannesburg undergo the same metamorphosis, and for that matter, the rest of South Africa?"
As documented in this video, improvements only arrived when fences and high security were implemented. From what I can see, all white neighborhoods in South Africa have already adopted this model. The black neighborhoods should copy it, to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Mad Martigan because blacks are not capable if it, never going to happen
@@davidgenereux1487 skin color is only color, they're still human, not a different species
@@stealthis they have a bad way of convincing me then.
I'm sorry but they will never separate from the criminal element.
Only heard bad things about Ponte City in recent years. Nice to hear it’s back on track again. Spent much of my childhood here visiting my dad. Of course it was a very different experience then.
You still live in J'burg?
@@kngkrmson2179 moved to Texas 24 years ago. Still have family in SA.
@@louisem.3829 Ah okay. That was a huge step to take, I think. I heard a lot about European people moving to the US. But South Africans moving there: didn't know that! 😅
@@louisem.3829 I also met a few South Africans that live in my country btw: Netherlands.
Chappie brought me here
Mummy?
I live in Johannesburg and I've always liked the building but I am terrified of it
+Daniel Gibson That sounds like a contradiction.
boogieedownberlin What a fuckin stupid dumbarse pathetic comment
It's a movie
What an incredibly interest design of a building. It’s obviously had it’s problems but apartment architects around the world could learn a thing or two from designing something interesting like this, and not the standard box buildings we’re used to seeing world wide
I used to see this building every day in the eighties and now I live on the other side of the planet but, it brings back memories.
+Sunclief I lived there in the 80s.
It's a ray of hope. I hope all of SA can follow this shining example.
Reminds me alot of Peach Trees from Judge Dredd....
The Dredd film was filmed in Cape Town and Joburg, that's why!
mstitel' you are pretty
The Gamer Eric she's russian
That building is what i think of when i think of SA. Crazy i never knew where it came from or why i knew about it. Now i know!
SO basically richer white people moved back in and everything got better.
***** I watched a documentary about China building a road in Africa.
Trail of dust or something like that
Those people are stupid as hell.
The natives literally fucked their entire city and screwed everything up.
Empire of Dust
It is actually (of course) the other way around..
What do you think poverty will drive people to do. Don’t act like poor White people do not have lawlessness in Europe.
BLK Diamond 🤡🤡🤡
Great to see some South African content on YT
Yes, but it is not for good reason. It is disgusting, dirty and stinky
It’s awesome to see people coming together for good, we’re all human beings at the end of the day and the sooner we all realize that we’ll make this world a better place. As each generation is brought into the world I believe we inch closer and closer to making things better, I truly hope that one day in the future we’ll live in a world where there’s no such thing as race, we’ll all be the same race, the human race.
i heard they based the building "peach trees" in the judge dredd 3D move on ponte tower aka "vodacom village "... i think its a right unique building and loved looking at it.. hillbrow isn't to far away & thats not a place for tourists lol
I love the attitude of all the younger gentleman in this ! All of them are so fantastic and have such a amazing attitude
8 years later, this video pop into my recommendation
South Africa has so much potential to shine
That building seems to share many similarities with the David Tower in Caracas.
“Those Nigerians”... 😂
Africa is SUCH a redeemable continent. If the right people were in charge and the resources were in place it could be better..
Poncho but instead we blame each other for its problems
Also a lot of other countries in the world are in the process of colonizing Africa just like has been done before. This all is helping to make it easier. Those who are in charge in Africa, answer to leaders of other parts of the world and it is their job to destroy the place in order to make the colonization take place easily and smoothly. Any day now if you ask me.
It's nice n clean. Spent a night once there. Was really surprised. Had a beer downstairs and went up to sleep in one piece
What is cost of rent as you go up in floors? Like what is lowest rent level and highest and does it go by income level? Anyone know waiting list is? Heard waiting list for free public housing was over 20 yrs.
Didn't know the Ponte was on the rise again, it's a good sign!
It's important to remember that changes takes time and apartheid was so deeply destructive.
No, the lesson of the video is that apartheid was better
Я понимаю ягсбургскую речь лучше чем американскую,спасибо Нилу Бломкампу и Ди Антвурд.Своим детям по этому видео показал разницу произношения на английском.
Somebody mentioned the likeness to a building from Judge Dredd. Peachtree, Megacity 1. But, yeah, it does look like it's from a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller! Wonder if it's been in any B-movies.
I recognize it from the movie Chappie, which has music from the South African band Die Antwoord and Hans Zimmer. Worth a watch!
Boy, am I glad I live in Cape Town. It's far better than Johannesburg. We're also a lot more suburban than our neighboring city. Although, that doesn't mean we're without crime, we're just less prone. Durban also has a lot of areas that you just can't go to or else you ain't coming back.
I'd love to visit Cape Town, it looks like the racial diversity there is much more even among ethnic groups so people are probably a lot more familiar with each other. It seems like the only city left in SA that has a future.
Sounds like you haven't actually travelled around CT very much, or the Western Cape for that matter. Calling yourself less prone to crime is a little ignorant, I think. Capetonias like to think they live in a safe haven, without realising it's just like everywhere else in SA.
5:17 South Africa need more people like that!
Anyone know about the Johannesburg Sun hotel? It shut down in 2002 I believe. I'm doing a research project, and can't find any photos of the inside! Anyone know what's happening with it?
Never been to RSA, but I've seen many videos about the country. I love it. It's so raw, but also very beautiful, green, unique. And of course a big history.
Quallebaggi
@@jesperigor What's that?
I've been to this building nice area .......... not really........
Clorox Meme by your name im not sure to belive you
the design of building is pretty cool
They just dispersed the crime from one tower into the neighborhood. World saw what some people did last year's riot. Small shop owners, esp, Indians were attacked, shops vandalised, things looted, left their families devastated. Never been there, never want to.
One thing i have always wondered whenever i look at it is how they get the furniture inside the building
As an American I feel like I got lucky and got to go on the sunset tour of the pontes and see that country before it completely dissolves from normal society
You sound delusional “dissolves from normal society” the USA is such a ghetto country
excellent mini documentary! well done~~!
I work for Vocativ and I am the video editor on the Ponte piece. I really appreciate your very kind words about the Ponte piece. You should check out the Wall Dogs piece that we put up this week. It is very good too.
Paul Ewen Thanks a lot great work.. Keep up! Be sure that i ll watch Wall Dogs!
strange, it was full size on my screen. full 1080p.
The tower is hideous. It seems it is still in recovery. But it is iconic because of its history. I would love to visit it.
Any update from the Ponte towner. Is it safe to stay
It's actually the Nigerians that messed up JHB, PTA an CPT
Poison Corpse and who let them in?
That's not true
Chris Geden it’s actually very easy to cross the South African border. The only boarder guards we have are stationed at roads and moats parts there isn’t even a fence separating the countries
That’s Facts
@@bandilezuluu How do you know?
Make more buildings like this ;)
"that place could turn into something nice, drug free and everything, even though I do sell drugs" 😐
Great video, informative and uplifting
Looks like apartheid made sense.
fantastic building, similar in design to a high rise in Singapore's Outram Park
WOW I saw this building in 2 movies and had no idea this place is actually real!
Ponte City! Used to go bowling here as a kid.
This is absurd. What a nightmare
I just come here for Chappie.
Man always wanted to visit there, learn more about Joburg
They should play the theme song from "The Jefferson's".
"a we be movin' on up...!"
Looks like a giant cigarette
If you want to know why read the book "The Bell Curve."
It's unpleasant.
But, then, reality is - itself - unpleasant.
ecce lux 70, I.Q.🤔
@@albertogutierrez8653 are you bragging?
It looks scary, like there's a dark cloud over it. I'm speachless. #thecarter
Well they managed to solve the problem , great job Africa ,you did better than a lot of other countries.
That building is amazing! I mean rich people would kill for those views
Fixing SA is like trying to make a dead horse walk. That building is SCARY btw, not safe at all judging by the windows and shape. I do wonder what the actual foundation looks like and when last it was inspected...In Florida we just had a condominium building collapse. This building here should be demolished. It is 51 years old and very huge, tremendous weight. That hollowness is CREEPY. So this building is resting on much less foundation surface than conventional buildings that could mean far more forces on it's circle foundation.
It looks like the scences in the film Chappie concerning Ponte Tower are more real as Science Fiction!
I was watching this the whole time thinking that judge dredd would've been mentioned lol
South Africa was a better country under apartheid, unironically.
Thanks to the ANC Joburg fell apart.
this building looks so cool tho. i’d rent an airnbnb tbh i hope it’s really safe now to be there
I'd love to see the view from the top!
I guess if nothing else it's actually a pretty cool looking building, inside and out
If your reading this, Jesus loves you !!
I think i've seen it in a movie before.. What movie is it?
Wonder how many of those “suicides” were really suicides?
In the 1970's this was a choice address and there was an excellent restaurant on the shopping level. Then post-colonial collapse occurred. Ironically the turnaround involved turning Ponte into a fenced off secure enclave for the privileged. That is hardly the model for the turn-around of the Jhb CBD.
The natural scenery of South Africa easily surpasses that of North America as shown by many of these videos. I like the fact that a good many concerned citizens cooperating with law enforcement has resulted in much better living conditions. I'm tempted to pay a visit.
A concrete jungle? 😂
Really lol, u must be mentally ill
A friend of mine died in that building some months ago
This building gives me the creeps, I could never live in this cannon tube, with money or without. Iwould rathe live in the tent.
Congratulations Nigeria you brought drugs to South Africa happy for yourself Nigeria happy for yourselves
This comment section is pure cancer.
Salvator seeno these people are so retarded
Tried to avoid reading it, but my curiosity got the best of me.
Salvator seeno it really is! It's unbelievable so many think like that. Then say they aren't being racist
These comments are just words, Cancer is a serious life threatening disease. I see no similarities.
Annabel Lee it's not racist to say that Sub-saharan Africans have low IQ's. It's a fact and the truth hurts to some like yourself.
As a white guy Hillbrow was my playground in the early to late 80's- Ambassador Hotel with its Twilight Zone disco, Bella Napoli disco, Fontana cafe's roast chicken..... was completely safe then.
I live in South Africa and I've been to the Ponte building and I'm NOT planning to. Nam angazi why kodwa ngiyayisaba lendawo.
Lovely positive ending of hope and change! It only takes a few to become the catalyst.