HOW SOUTH AFRICA HAS CHANGED!

An inexplicable collapse.

FORBES ON JOHANNESBURG, 1982:

Visiting South Africa

Forbes

November 8, 1982

Highlight: The last white-controlled nation in sub-Saharan Africa has more than its share of problems. But it also has plenty to attract the visitor. And Americans are traveling there as never before.

Johannesburg… is South Africa's Houston, complete with skyscrapers, apartment towers, expressways, shopping centers, lush suburbs, air pollution and lots of hustle….

Jo'burg is the most convenient place to shop; you can buy everything from springbok skins to Paris originals. …Jo'burg is also rich in museums -- archaeological, military, zoological, natural science and art. …

Best hotels include the five-star Carlton and the Landdrost. Singles average $80 to $100 per night. Don't miss dining at Annabel's, which also has dancing, in the Landdrost. …

THE NEW YORK TIMES ON JOHANNESBURG, TODAY:

Police cars surrounded the building and officials barged inside to find trash clogging the elevator shaft three floors deep. A bathtub sat full of rancid water. Mattresses were wedged into unusable bathrooms. The building choked with cooking smells, decaying trash and human waste. One apartment frequently catches fire, but the stairs on the fire escape were sawed off and sold as scrap long ago. …

[A] New York Times investigation found that for decades, multiple governments and political parties have ignored the problem. Financial records show that the city’s property management agency is insolvent, despite holding thousands of properties, including some in the wealthiest sections of the city. The agency, which has been dogged for years by corruption allegations, does not have an audited list of its holdings. Some low-level municipal officials have capitalized on this by illegally collecting rent from squatters, according to multiple current and former city officials.

The city government has effectively abandoned its downtown housing stock, following in the footsteps of many private landlords who have deserted their buildings. Armed men, desperate families and opportunistic squatters have moved in, creating vertical slums in full view of the government.