Fast-paced, frenetic JOHANNESBURG has had a reputation for immorality, greed and violence ever since its first plot auction in December 1886. Despite its status as the largest and richest city in the country, it has never been the seat of government or national political power, allowing it to concentrate fully on what it has always done best: make money and get ahead. Those priorities have, over the years, cut across political and racial lines: only in Jo'burg would ambitious black Africans like Nelson Mandela have been able to train in a white law firm; only in Jo'burg would creative hotspots like Sophiatown and Alexandra exist at all; and only in Jo'burg would white liberalism have been given any intellectual recognition in the dark days of apartheid.

 

Even so, the divisions of the old South Africa are as apparent here as anywhere else. Ridiculously opulent white mansions in leafy suburbs are protected by high walls and razor wire, only a mile or two from sprawling shanty towns housing millions of intensely poor blacks. As the new political dispensation sees formerly white areas administratively yoked with the black townships, so the city struggles to cope with massive pressures on housing, services and law and order. Nowhere is the new tension more in evidence than in the previously all-white central business district, where an influx of poor blacks, and a soaring crime rate, has caused a mass exodus of shops and restaurants to the northern suburbs.

As the centre readjusts, so the fringes expand: there will be a continuous ribbon of development between Johannesburg and Pretoria, originally 50km apart, within a decade. Meanwhile, the black middle class, much more evident in Johannesburg than anywhere else in South Africa, is moving from township to suburb, while tens of thousands of immigrants from elsewhere in Africa flood into inner-city suburbs like Hillbrow and townships like Alexandra.

There are very few conventional tourist sights in Johannesburg, and some visitors fall into the trap of retreating to their hotel room, too intimidated by the city's reputation to explore, venturing out only to the bland, safe, covered shopping malls of the northern suburbs while making hasty plans to move on. However, once you've found a convenient way of getting around, either by car or in the company of a tour guide, the history, diversity and stimulating energy of the city can quickly become compelling. Johannesburg offers fascinating museums , most notably the Museum Africa in Newtown, as well as excellent art galleries. A number of suburbs have a thriving café culture , which by the evening transforms to a lively restaurant scene. There are shops with excellent contemporary African art and design, striking buildings, and of course the townships , most easily explored on a tour but, in some places, somewhere you can get to under your own steam. Johannesburg is also a great place to watch sport : Ellis Park was the scene of South Africa's emotional victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the IAAF World Cup was held at the neighbouring athletics stadium in 1999, and the massive FNB soccer stadium on the edge of Soweto, which fills to capacity for local derbies or international fixtures, remains the principal venue for the country's most popular sport.