Since the Witwatersrand gold reef was discovered more than 120 years ago underneath what is now Johannesburg, the city has had a reputation as a harsh, get-rich-quick and violent place with little to recommend it beyond its fabled money-making opportunities.

Born and bred Jo’burgers have long bridled at this image – and Jimmy Manyi, the head of the Black Management Forum, the lobbying group for black business people, and group executive, corporate affairs of Tiger Brands, South Africa’s biggest food producer, is no exception.