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Joburg's most dangerous places
17/07/2008 14:10 - (SA)
Georgina Guedes
In The Star earlier this week, the front page was dedicated to a comparison of the crimes reported in the different police precincts around Johannesburg.
The purpose of the comparison was to show which suburbs were the least and most safe. The area around the Norwood Police Station was reported to be the second safest in Johannesburg. Rosebank was first.
This is heartening news. I live in Orange Grove, which borders Norwood and falls under its police precinct. Orange Grove has had a bad reputation for some time, and my mother-in-law worries about us living there.
I've done my best to reassure her. I feel perfectly safe at home. I don't hear horror stories of bad things happening to people in my neighbourhood. Children play in the streets, neighbours greet each other and now, the Houghton Hotel is being constructed on our borders, which is sure to bring up the tone of the area even more.
No good loot
The theory I've had about living in Orange Grove is that the reason that crime isn't so bad there is that no one has anything much to steal. People who break into houses in Sandton - one of the lowest ranked suburbs in The Star's piece - are guaranteed of scoring some decent jewellery, a flat-screen TV and a luxury car.
I'm certainly not suggesting for a second that we should all live in ascetic self-denial, eschewing all material possessions; I'm merely observing that it's the wealthier areas that attract the crime - which leaves me, in my journalists' and artists' haven, relatively safe for the time being.
Of course, Louis Botha Avenue is a vein of lawlessness winding its way through the suburbs - anyone who's woven between taxis along it at four o' clock on a weekday afternoon will testify to that. Add the fact that it's a major artery between Alex and Town to the cluster of shebeens and restaurants nestled along it, and it's unavoidable that some seriously dodgy stuff must go on down there.
But even Louis Botha isn't enough to bring Norwood's crime statistics down by much. And I like the place, actually. There are some bargains to be had if you're willing to shop around, and the Radium and the Blue Naartjie are some of Johannesburg's finest eating and drinking establishments.
The Norwood nightlife cycle
Norwood used to be a hive of activity with some of the best restaurants in Johannesburg lining Grant Avenue. Then a couple of the better restaurants closed down, and the arrival a tyre-fitment centre made the place seem a bit like some industrial area (although the guys give brilliant service).
More recently, a couple of new ones have opened, and they, combined with brilliant stalwarts like Picolla Primadonna, the best Woolworths café in Johannesburg and the newly refurbished Norwood Mall, is making the area exciting once more. With the Houghton Hotel coming to our doorstep, the sky's the limit.
And then, we'll all buy flat-screen TVs and luxury cars, and the crime will move to Norwood.
Georgina Guedes is a freelance journalist. She works from home, so she'd better feel safe there.
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