I find Johannesburg captivating. I can’t say I will always be here but it has shaped me and whatever I will do in the future.
As a social scientist it’s an extraordinary laboratory and social experiment, with millions of mad scientists hard at work. Like the lab of any mad scientist, it produces both wonders and horrors. It has many of the characteristics of Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro, but what you see here is the remarkable possibility of change. That can be bad, but it also gives us reason to hope that we’ll see something that will amaze everyone.
In the eight years I have been here a lot has changed in terms of architecture, cultural events and even population. Twenty years ago, for instance, a suburb might have been white middle class and then it became predominantly Nigerian or Zimbabwean and in the future it could be inhabited by a mix of South Africans and immigrants.
I don’t think I could live anywhere else in South Africa; when I retire perhaps I will go and live in Coffee Bay (in the Eastern Cape) or somewhere calm like that, but I’d have to make sure there’s good coffee to drink, not just to look at.
I’m currently listening to Bruce Springsteen, whose CD, Born in the USA, I have just bought. I guess I’m rediscovering my youth. I also recently downloaded a mixtape put together by some guy named Deka.
I read fiction and I’ve just finished reading Barrel Fever by David Sedaris, a short-story collection. It’s both misanthropic and extremely funny, a rare combination.
In South Africa I would say one of the most powerful works I have read is Waiting for the Barbarians by JM Coetzee. I loved the way it spoke about suspicion and fear of the other. At the time it spoke about race but now you could say it speaks about xenophobia or the continuing fear people have of transgression.
For exercise I play basketball at the weekends. I am not really good but it’s a simple enough game — all you need is a hoop and a ball. I also run and cycle. When I’m feeling a bit less active, I will watch sports on television, except rugby and cricket. But as I don’t have DStv, that doesn’t leave me with much choice. I sometimes watch local football but I have been disappointed with the quality of the matches in the Premier Soccer League. Still, I was born in Pittsburgh, so it’s natural for me to be an Orlando Pirates fan.
During the World Cup I saw Argentina play Nigeria. I didn’t watch any other live matches. Most of the matches I watched at home, at the Goethe-Institut’s trailer park in Parkwood and at Zoo Lake. Sometimes I watched with friends; it was great to catch up with friends I wouldn’t ordinarily be able to be with at 4pm on a weekday.
I really enjoy being in Rosettenville. There’s a great supermarket down there called The Real D’Oro. They sell good fish, cheese and olives. There’s a real vibe when the Angolans, Portuguese and Mozambicans all come out to shop. I like the Radium Beer Hall in Orange Grove. The last good gig I went to was Abdullah Ibrahim when he performed with the Big Band. In fact, that’s the last gig I attended. — Percy Zvomuya
Loren Landau is head of the Forced Migration Studies Programme at Wits University