Forest Town, Gauteng

Forest Town
Forest Town
 Forest Town shown within Gauteng
Location within Greater Johannesburg
Forest Town
Forest Town
Forest Town (South Africa)
Forest Town
Forest Town (Africa)
Coordinates: 26°10′19″S 28°02′13″E / 26.172°S 28.037°E / -26.172; 28.037Coordinates: 26°10′19″S 28°02′13″E / 26.172°S 28.037°E / -26.172; 28.037
Country South Africa
Province Gauteng
Municipality City of Johannesburg
Main Place Johannesburg
Established 1908
Area[1]
 • Total 0.64 km2 (0.25 sq mi)
Population (2011)[1]
 • Total 1,072
 • Density 1,700/km2 (4,300/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)[1]
 • Black African 29.4%
 • Coloured 1.2%
 • Indian/Asian 7.7%
 • White 58.8%
 • Other 2.9%
First languages (2011)[1]
 • English 65.5%
 • Afrikaans 9.5%
 • Zulu 5.5%
 • Tswana 3.1%
 • Other 16.4%
Time zone UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street) 2193

Forest Town, as the name implies, is a leafy suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It lies between the busy thoroughfares of Jan Smuts Avenue and Oxford Road, and is bordered to one side by the Johannesburg Zoo.

History

The suburb was first surveyed on land called Sachsenwald, now known as Saxonwold, in 1908.[2] The name of the suburb is derived from the Sachsenwald plantation.[2]

Forest Town is most well known as the scene of a high profile police raid on a gay party in 1966, which triggered a moral panic and led to the Apartheid government passing the Immorality Amendment Bill of 1967. The Bill criminalised all sexual activity between men, as well as extending the legislation to include lesbians. Following South Africa's first multiracial elections in 1994, all discriminatory legislation was repealed.

In 2005, the Forest Town home of Jacob Zuma, at that time deputy president of South Africa, was raided by the Scorpions in order to obtain documents for his corruption trial.[3] Jacob Zuma, now a former president of South Africa, is currently under investigation for fraud, money laundering, racketeering, and a host of other criminal charges.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Sub Place Forest Town". Census 2011.
  2. 1 2 Raper, Peter E.; Moller, Lucie A.; du Plessis, Theodorus L. (2014). Dictionary of Southern African Place Names. Jonathan Ball Publishers. p. 1412. ISBN 9781868425501.
  3. ↑ "Raids on Zuma and Shaik continue". Mail & Guardian. 18 Aug 2005.


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