Johannesburg is one of Africa’s most culturally diverse cities and home to residents from all corners of the world, making it a global diaspora hub.
From the sound of adhan atop the mosques of Lenasia, to the smells of souvlaki in family-owned restaurants in Edenvale, the bright Chinese arches at the entrance to Chinatown, all the way to the vibrancy of late night salsa socials in the city’s north, Johannesburg is a museum full of global souvenirs.
The city’s relationship with migrants is as old as its inception, influenced by two significant waves of foreign arrivals. Johannesburg was born in the late 19th century after George Harrison’s discovery of gold conglomerate. This prompted the first surge of migration, with an influx of European migrants and Southern African mine labourers to the slowly forming city, with the latter coming from neighbouring regions such as (modern-day) Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, Angola and Tanzania.
In one section of a United Nations report entitled International Migrants and the City’, Professor’s Karl Beavon, David Bond and Susan Parnell are credited for writing that after the collapse of the apartheid regime, “migrants began to arrive in Johannesburg from virtually every country in Africa and around the world. In a decade, a parochial and insular city in a pariah country was transformed into a jostling, dynamic, cosmopolitan ‘global city’.” This was the second surge. By June 2022, nearly 30 years after the end of apartheid, a city of Johannesburg report revealed that 13% of the city’s residents were born outside of South Africa.
“What I really like about Johannesburg is the diversity of people and culture. This is the biggest part of the wealth in this country,” says Barbosa Oliveira Junior from Brazil, who moved to Johannesburg in 1996.
Oliveira came to Johannesburg from a city called Belo Horizonte to continue his work with a Christian non-profit organisation that works throughout the African continent. Johannesburg has proven to be a place of fulfilment for Oliveira as the city has become a part of his identity.
For me, home is where my relationships are. I feel as comfortable in Johannesburg as I do in Brazil.
Curating a home environment filled with Brazilian music, football games, and Portuguese communication is how Barbosa enculturates his South African-born children.
Johannesburg: The City of Dreams
Johannesburg is still deemed to be a city of realised dreams and opportunity for many nationals around the world. “I think Joburg is where the money is, because I’ve been to Cape Town and it’s not the same,” says Algerian Barbershop co-owner Hocine Moffat.
In September 2016, Hocine moved to Johannesburg after being invited by his cousin, who had migrated to the city eight years prior. Johannesburg was a city of opportunity for his cousin, and it proved to be the same for him. After less than 10 years of living in Johannesburg, he recently became co-owner of a Mediterranean Barber shop. The indistinguishable difference between his calm and welcoming temperament and the atmosphere of the store is a marker of a non-South African who’s managed to construct a safe and familiar space 9 970 kilometres away from home.
“My dad always raised me to respect everyone and be kind always. Respect is iaqdar, kind is iddaq in my language Tamazight,” says Hocine when asked about how his culture influences his approach to business in the city.
Hocine resides in Johannesburg North, and although the Algerian community in the city is small and spread out, the Algerian national preserves his culture by participating in religious practices and holidays such as Ramadan and Eid.
The fragrant smell of chai glows in Ince Belli teacups, the intermittent cheers of men of different ages and the sound of Turkish comments paint a different picture from Hocine’s experience of community in a foreign city.
“On match days, we go to Otto, it’s a place in Greenside. It’s a very good social environment for us, we chill, we have our tea, and once the game is over, we head back home,” says second-generation immigrant Omer Turkmen.
Omer and Alpern Tiris belong to a small but close-knit community of Turkish immigrants in Johannesburg and live in a house with other Turkish men from different families. The house serves as an alternative form of university accommodation funded by the parents of young adult Turkish men in Johannesburg. The purpose of this accommodation arrangement is to provide a conducive space for the young men to live apart from women and observe their religious laws while being a short distance from the city’s two major universities.
“We have set times when we can go out and can’t go out due to religious reasons,” Omer explains. However, because football is an integral part of the Turkish cultural experience, the young men spend a significant portion of their free time connecting with fellow countrymen over a game at Otto Shisa Bar.
The formation of new contemporary culture in Johannesburg
The influence of migrants and their communities in Johannesburg extends far beyond tLatin American-inspired colloquial greeting “Ola”. It can be found in the city’s architecture, restaurants, music scene and entertainment.
From when the sun begins to set on Thursday evening till the early hours of Monday Morning, various bars and restaurants in Johannesburg are transformed into Caribbean, Latin American or Portuguese-speaking African countries. Salsa, Bachata and Kizomba from Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Angola respectively are three different dance styles that have been brought together to form Johannesburg’s SBK (Salsa, Bachata and Kizomba) scene.
“I would describe the SBK scene as a social and interactive party. People meet at these parties and ask each other to dance,” says Paciano Arleandro Sinankwa, owner of the Afro Latin Social.
Various South African and non-South African Joburg residents attend SBK events known as socials, where a dance instructor typically teaches attendees a dance style before leaving them at the mercy of the DJ to explore and experience other dance forms. For instance, the instructor might teach the couples how to Salsa in the beginning, but as the night continues and as the DJ begins to change genres, the couples begin to find themselves deeply enthralled in the world of Kizomba or Bachata. Although Central and Latin American and African migrants brought their dance styles to Johannesburg, they aren’t necessarily the only people keeping it alive in the city of gold. Ritmo La Vida is a South African-owned dance studio in the heart of Randburg that is a testament to the cultural convergence that continually takes place as a result of Joburg’s multicultural atmosphere.
“Make yourself feel at home,” says the owner, Ali Anderson, as he begins to prepare himself a drink of brandy. Anderson is an interesting character who’s confident yet humble, humorous yet orderly and commanding yet sensitive. He’s racially ambiguous with an Asian name, European surname and the ability to switch South African vernacular languages that can only be explained by him having lived in Johannesburg for a substantial amount of time. Anderson’s paradoxical nature places him in the perfect position to be able to advance Latin culture in Johannesburg without creating an atmosphere that’s reminiscent of colonialism and Africa’s history of idolising foreign cultures.
I like to come here because I understand the music. I lived in Brazil for three years, and it’s very nice to be able to have a bit of Brazil here in South Africa.
“I like it, it feels like cheap travel because South Africans are actually a minority in the Kizomba space,” says Ritmo La Vida student Reabetswe (Rio) Modiba, when asked how he feels about participating in the preservation of non-South African cultures in Johannesburg.
Modiba believes that many Johannesburg residents are inadvertently exposed to and experience the effects and influence of Zouk (another Caribbean genre of music and dance) and Latin culture in their everyday lives without their knowledge.
“I think the biggest thing is people not even knowing that it exists (Zouk). They’ll see it, they’ll like it and not know what it is. My mission is to spread it amongst our people because there are already influences of Zouk. If you listen to Sava’s song Isoka, it has a Zouk beat. You could dance Kizomba to it,” Modiba passionately continues.
For Xola Benya, Ritmo La Vida is more than just a cultural experience. The dance studio is a reminder of his life in Brazil and an opportunity for him to feel part of a global community.
Ritmo La Vida is a piece of home for migrants and the perfect representation of Johannesburg for South Africans.
Racial Dynamics: Apartheid’s legacy impacts the migrant experience
Many of the migrants who spoke to Wits Vuvuzela are either positively or negatively affected by the legacy of Apartheid. For instance, many of their experiences of the city are akin to those of middle-class Johannesburg residents because of their proximity to whiteness. This is one of the main factors that contributes to most of them having positive socio-economic experiences. In an academic paper titled ‘European Immigrants in Johannesburg: Perceptions, Privileges and their Implication for Migrant Experiences’, Professor Terry-Ann Jones and Dr Tamara Last make an interesting observation, that “Europeans are largely absent from South African’s imagined identity of an immigrant”.
Although none of the non-African migrants who spoke to Wits Vuvuzela are European, many of them are white-passing and experience the privileges that come with being white in South Africa. At the same time, many of these ex-pats struggle to make sense of the city’s racial categories, viewing the categories as unnecessary and limiting.
“For me, it’s even weird to say ‘black South Africans’ because I didn’t grow up with those labels. In Brazil, it doesn’t matter what the colour of your skin is. What matters is if you’re Brazilian period,” Barbosa says.
Hocine shares the same sentiments as Barbosa and believes that it is unfortunate that many Joburg residents are extremely race conscious.
“Since I’ve been here, it’s still that thing about the skin, which is sad. It mustn’t be like that,” Hocine says with concern.
Hocine’s primary identity lies in him being Berber, which was the predominant ethnic group in North Africa before the Arab conquest of that region. However, because the Berber identity is one that not many Johannesburg residents are familiar with, he identifies as white. Unfortunately for him, this decision has not been able to shield him from the xenophobic reactions and remarks that result from South African Joburg residents learning about his heritage.
“They say, ‘You’re not from South Africa. South Africa is for black people. I’m from Soweto, and if I had a gun right now, I could shoot you right in the face,’” Hocine explains calmly.
The anecdotes and perspectives of the various migrants regarding race and xenophobia serve as evidence that Apartheid’s legacy of hyper race-consciousness and inequality play a role in the experiences of expats in Johannesburg.
A commitment to Johannesbug
Although migrants in Johannesburg are not immune to the effects of Johannesburg’s service delivery and infrastructural issues, many of them seem to hold the city in high regard.
“I don’t mind staying in Joburg for another 10 years. I had plans in my mind to move overseas, but if that won’t happen, I don’t mind staying here,” says Hocine his barbershop.
Just before Benya leaves and the Ritmo La vida dance class comes to an end, he reflects on his Johannesburg experience as a South African who’s spent most of his life abroad.
“It’s a city of many tales, that’s how I’d put it. It’s incredible because there are not many cities like Joburg. It offers world-class experiences,” he says with a contemplative glare in the distance.
Just like Benya, most of the migrants who spoke to Wits Vuvuzela view Johannesburg’s cultural diversity as the wealth that places it as a world-class African city.
FEATURE IMAGE: An image of buildings and apartments in the heart of Johannesburg, Braamfontein. Photo: Sechaba Molete
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