Tamera Sunny, a 25-year-old TikTok creator from Durban, and her friend recently spent five nights in Johannesburg's Ponte City, a building notorious for its history of crime and violence. The pair had booked an Airbnb apartment at Ponte Tower without researching the area or the building's past. Sunny said they only discovered the area's reputation after the booking was made. The group had planned a girls' trip to Johannesburg for Comic Con and had booked a top-floor Airbnb apartment with floor-to-ceiling views and hundreds of five-star reviews from international guests.
According to Sunny, the group had not initially planned to stay in Ponte City, but their friend had booked the accommodation without researching the area. Sunny and her friend had a non-refundable booking, so they decided to make the most of their stay. They spent their first day at Gold Reef City and two days at Comic Con before settling into the Ponte apartment. Sunny said she knew almost nothing about Ponte Tower or Hillbrow before the trip, but after an online search, she learned about Ponte's history, including its origins as a luxury residential tower during apartheid and its later decline and association with crime.
Sunny said she and her friend took precautions throughout their five nights in Ponte, imposing a strict evening curfew and ensuring they were back inside by about 6pm or 7pm. They also chose to spend one Saturday night at Masingita Towers in Sandton so they could go out after dark without having to drive back to Hillbrow. At the apartment, Sunny said they took additional measures to make themselves feel secure, including barricading the door with a chair and pots and pans on top, keeping knives on the bedside table, and sharing their phone location with family.
Despite the fears surrounding the building, Sunny said her experience inside Ponte was different from what she had expected. She described the apartment as spotless, modern, and beautiful, and was surprised by the security at the building, including facial recognition and a reception area. Sunny said she encountered families, children, and professionals going about their daily lives inside the building, which was not what she had anticipated.
Sunny said the drive into Hillbrow was "weirdly clean", but the building's appearance was imposing. She described the elevators as ancient, slow, and squeaky, which was scary. Walking towards the apartment also brought the building's history back to mind, with the core, an open hollow cylinder in the middle of the building, being a stark reminder of its troubled past.
Once inside their apartment, Sunny said she and her friend spent their evenings watching K-dramas, having dance parties, and playing murder-mystery games. She described the view from their 52nd-floor apartment as "beautiful and eerie at the same time", with the city glittering below them. Sunny said she was surprised by how the building had changed over the decades, with residents telling her that it was now a family-friendly building.
The experience also changed how Sunny viewed the people living in Hillbrow, who she said were simply "normal people" working, studying, and raising children. She realised that people inside the building were just trying to live, and that they did not walk around thinking about the dark history every day. Sunny's experience has been shared on her TikTok account, where viewers have questioned why she would deliberately choose to spend the night in a building with such a reputation.
Key points
- A 25-year-old Durban TikTok creator stayed five nights in Johannesburg's notorious Ponte City after booking an Airbnb without realising its reputation.
- The creator, Tamera Sunny, said she and her friend took precautions to stay safe, including imposing a curfew and barricading their door.
- Sunny's experience challenged her perceptions of Hillbrow and its residents, who she said were simply "normal people" trying to live.
