Sunnyside is one of the oldest
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
s of the city of
Pretoria
Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country.
Pretoria strad ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. The well-established area is situated east of
Nelson Mandela drive (and the
Apies River
__NOTOC__
The Apies River is a river that flows through the city of Pretoria, South Africa. Its source is located just south of the city (south of Erasmus Park) and it flows northward until it drains into the Pienaars River.
The word "Apies" is ...
), adjacent to
Pretoria Central.
Development
Sunnyside of the late 19th and early 20th century was a suburb of houses and mansions. Esselen street was named after
Ewald Auguste Esselen, the State Attorney of the
South African Republic
The South African Republic (, abbreviated ZAR; ), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republics, Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result ...
from 1894 to 1895. Since 2012 the street has been renamed to
Robert Sobukwe
Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe Order for Meritorious Service, OMSG (5 December 1924 – 27 February 1978) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid revolutionary and founding member of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, ...
street. The character of the suburb changed with the influx of mainly
Afrikaner
Afrikaners () are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers who first arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Casting''. Encyclopæd ...
s to Pretoria during the middle to late 20th century, when blocks of high-rise flats transformed the western section. The one time house of the writer and poet
Jan F. E. Celliers however survived until 1970.
The suburb now consists mostly of high density residential developments,
which in the 21st century ranges from reasonably upmarket to dilapidated. Esselen street is flanked by a strip of retail businesses, restaurants and clubs. The day time street scene is very busy, with heavy pedestrian traffic and hawkers peddling food or wares on street corners. Student residences or communes and residential houses are situated in the quieter eastern part. Like much of the inner city, this suburb's retail, entertainment and nightlife area has become less upmarket since the 1980s, and rundown and dirty in places.
Demographics
The post-Apartheid era saw an influx of local and foreign people of different races to the high density residential areas, which they found affordable.
Consequently, a number of languages are now spoken here. The social evils of crime and substance abuse
have necessitated beefed up security at all residences, the inhabitants of which are often living in impoverished conditions.
left, 300px, Sunnyside on a map of 1895
References
External links
An early photo of Esselen Street (now Robert Sobukwe Street)
Suburbs of Pretoria
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