Bisho, ex-capital of extinct Bantustan, Ciskei.
When I was a kid growing up in Apartheid-era South Africa, various crappy patches of land were assigned as "independent" "homelands" (i.e. dumping grounds) for verious tribes.

The Ciskei was fairly small, and it's capital city was truly... odd.

In an amphitheatre, with identical tiny, boxy houses on all sides, sat precisely one ugly concrete building featuring the local shopping mall and presumably the legislature. Large edifice, with a supermarket whose shelves were stocked with sacks of grain and other bland staples. I am at a loss to understand how anyone besides the supermarket staff managed to live there.



That's it. All there is. Country no longer exists, but the capital city lingers on, serving no known purpose.

Oh yes, the Bisho Massacre.
(Ladyfingers is in your wardrobe,, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 15:33, 8 replies)

Ah yes, reminds me of studying geography in Standard Six
Two million whites got seventy odd percent of the land, a million Indians were on the next (considerably lower) rung down while the 27 million coloureds and Bantu were given the dustbowl within which to eke out a living.

Whole populations were shoved en masse to these derelict "Homelands" which might as well been the mythical fucking Zion given the propaganda doled out to the unfortunate semi-literate blacks.

Nasty. Truly nasty.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Fri 30 Oct 2009, 15:49, closed)

Hello
Fellow expat.
(Ladyfingers is in your wardrobe,, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 16:00, closed)

I'm not an expat...
...my father got a job in Cape Town in the late eighties so I lived there for a few months.

I learned some interesting Afrikaans monosyllabic oaths too and have been known to call a "barbecue" a "braai".
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Fri 30 Oct 2009, 16:17, closed)

hells bells...
i sincerely hope you never had occassion to reside in the bleak, broken sprawl that is Southfield in the fair city of cape town in that case - the sarf efrican equivalent of Bognor Regis, without the added charm of being near the seaside.

/jy was sekerlik uit jou ma se gat gebore want haar poes was te besig gewees is one of my favourites. missing the colonies now.
(hotpiss is very much liking your popping musics, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 16:33, closed)

Cape Town native here...
...sill living in Milnerton. Joy of Joys. Fucking hate the place... you forgot that all time favourite "DJOU MA SE POETHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" in a phlegmy, wine-addled scream".

Oh, and it's not a pickup truck, it's a bakkie :).
(Tiktock Beating off flamers with a shitty stick, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 16:47, closed)

Lived in Cape Town until 2008.
I miss the place. Bergie shouting "poes!" and all.
(Ladyfingers is in your wardrobe,, Sat 31 Oct 2009, 0:29, closed)

Hogsback
Drove through Bisho a couple of years ago on the way to Hogsback, the place that apparently inspired Tolkein to write Lord of the Rings.
(CaptainParalytic, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 17:11, closed)

They like that little lie.
Tolkien, of course, never went there. He was out of Bloemfontein at 3 and never came back to SA.
(Ladyfingers is in your wardrobe,, Sat 31 Oct 2009, 0:26, closed)