Resident celebrates 50 years of living in Bryanston
BRYANSTON – A 79-year-old resident recently celebrated 50 years of living in Bryanston.
Wolfgang Jochims was born in Germany but he has spent some of the best days of his life living in South Africa.
“I love this country, my sweat and tears are in the soil of this country,” he said.
He arrived in South Africa in April 1960 to work as a mechanical engineer after responding to the South African government’s drive to recruit skilled people to build the country’s infrastructure.
When he was not working, Jochims was a social adventurer and went on expeditions to explore the best places the country had to offer.
Some of the places he visited included the Kruger National Park in Polokwane, Cape Vidal in KwaZulu-Natal, Eiland in Mpumalanga and Duffelspoort Dam in Magaliesburg. “I am very grateful that I came to this country,” he said.
“I’ve been happy and living healthy here.”
In 1966, Jochims went back to Germany, but he did not feel quite at home. “I was miserable and hated the weather so I came back to South Africa,” he recalled.
When Jochims returned here in March 1966, he found his dream home which he has now been living in for 50 years. He had one look at the house, saw children and chickens running around in the yard and decided to buy the property and make it his home.
Two years later he married his South African wife, Carol Ann Towns, and they had two daughters who attended Bryneven Primary School and Bryanston High School.
Jochims said Bryanston looked completely different then. His house is probably the only structure that looks just as it did 50 years ago. “Bryanston residents then had stables and horses running around their yards,” he explained.
He said the municipality always encouraged residents to plant trees on the pavement to beautify their suburb. “There were no alarm systems, no electric fences or beams in the garden, or even automatic lockable gates,” he added.
“Properties were separated by one-metre high diamond mesh fences and most people were too lazy to manually close their gates.” Jochims enjoyed the country life and the open spaces of Bryanston. He said the only shop in the area was José Coreia’s Riverside Fruitmarket which today is still part of the Riverside Shopping Centre.
“I used to view the Formula One races at the Kyalami Race Track with my daughters by climbing to the top of one of the old pine trees on the pavement that were originally planted when this area was a farm,” he recalled.
Jochims is still a proud Bryanston resident and now enjoys taking part in the weekly Bryanston Riverside park run.
“I encourage people in Bryanston to be proud of their community and to value their investment and property,” said Jochims.
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