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Westdene Dam Disaster
The Westdene dam disaster was a bus accident that took place in Westdene, near Johannesburg, South Africa, on 27 March 1985. The driver of the bus was Coloured (mixed-race individual) and the passengers were all white, which caused some contention. Of the 72 occupants, 42 drowned inside the submerged bus and two were declared deceased shortly after being taken to a nearby hospital. The remaining 30, including the bus driver, were rescued. The accident The driver of a double-decker bus, 41-year-old Willem Horne, lost control and the bus crashed through barriers into the Westdene dam, a few kilometres from the centre of Johannesburg. A witness said it appeared that a tyre had blown out, sending the bus swerving into another vehicle before it smashed through a fence and plunged into the reservoir. The bus was transporting students, aged 13 to 17, from the local white Afikaans-language high school (Hoërskool Vorentoe). A student said the bus initially stayed upright but then ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westdene, Gauteng
Westdene is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. Westdene lies between the historic suburb of Sophiatown and Melville with the Melville Koppies West nature reserve to the north of the suburb. Westdene derives its name from its location, literally meaning ''west-valley''. 'West' since it is located west from the city centre and with ' dene' derived from the Old English ''denu'', meaning ''valley''. History Before the 20th century Westdene was originally part of the farm Braamfontein, established in the area in 1853. The farm stretched from Westdene in the west to Houghton in the east and from Newtown in the south to Linden in the north. Various parts of the farm were sub-divided and sold many times over and in 1871 Gerhardus Petrus Bezuidenhout sold his south-western portion of the farm to Frans Johannes van Dijk who in turn sold the land to Johannes Jacobus Lindeque in 1884. The portion of land became known as Lindeque's Portion and would eventually develop into the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demographia, the Johannesburg–Pretoria urban area (combined because of strong transport links that make commuting feasible) is the 26th-largest in the world in terms of population, with 14,167,000 inhabitants. It is the provincial capital and largest city of Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. Johannesburg is the seat of the Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa. Most of the major South African companies and banks have their head offices in Johannesburg. The city is located in the mineral-rich Witwatersrand range of hills and is the centre of large-scale gold and diamond trade. The city was established in 1886 following the discovery of gold on what had been a farm. Due to the extremely large gold de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini. It also completely enclaves the country Lesotho. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World, and the second-most populous country located entirely south of the equator, after Tanzania. South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, with unique biomes, plant and animal life. With over 60 million people, the country is the world's 24th-most populous nation and covers an area of . South Africa has three capital cities, with the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government based in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town respectively. The largest city is Johannesburg. About 80% of the population are Black South Afri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics during the course of the 18th century. Now spoken in South Africa, Namibia and (to a lesser extent) Botswana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, estimates circa 2010 of the total number of Afrikaans speakers range between 15 and 23 million. Most linguists consider Afrikaans to be a partly creole language. An estimated 90 to 95% of the vocabulary is of Dutch origin with adopted words from other languages including German and the Khoisan languages of Southern Africa. Differences with Dutch include a more analytic-type morphology and grammar, and some pronunciations. There is a large degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, especially in written form. About 13.5% of the South ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westpark Cemetery
Westpark Cemetery is a large cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is the resting place of some of the country's well-known citizens. It is a non-denomination designated burial ground, and thus has Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Chinese burial areas. The Jewish section contains a Holocaust Memorial, erected in 1959. It was opened in 1942, and historically was part of one of Johannesburg's original farms, ''Farm Waterval'', which was purchased in 1887 by two Geldenhuys brothers in the hope of finding gold. While they did not find gold, Louw Geldenhuys employed Boer War veterans to build the Emmarentia Dam, and leased smallholdings with fruit trees. In 1993, 13 hectares were donated to the city for public recreation and, eventually with the other sections, became the Johannesburg Botanic Gardens, Marks Parks Sports Club and the Westpark Cemetery. Today, the sprawling cemetery is the resting place of thousands of Johannesburg residents, and has separate Chinese, Muslim, Je ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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