![]() So you learn responsibility at a young age.” You have to be sure you are clean before you leave for school because there’s no one to do that for you. “You’re finishing matric in those hard times when you don’t have electricity, you don’t have sanitation resources at home. To buy textbooks, Montsho took a job as a “garden boy ” in Rustenberg. ![]() One of four siblings, his father was usually working in Johannesburg, and family finances were stretched. Montsho’s early years were leagues away from the opulence of the Lost City. Montsho’s mother, Francinah, “was a room maid at the Cabanas while I was still at school”, and his aunt held a more senior position at the staff village. In 1979, Sun City opened and became a major employer in the area. An affable, straight-talking man, he was born in Diepsloot, Soweto in 1967 and moved to Phokeng in Rustenburg when he was 12. It has been a “devastating” time for Montsho, whose personal history is tied to this place of dreams. The eight-metre-high carved doors of the hotel closed for lockdown, and stock was sent back to the Sun City warehouse. By February, as China locked down, there were still Brazilian, German and UK guests, but occupancy had dropped dramatically. Josiah Montsho was appointed general manager of The Palace of the Lost City Hotel in December 2019, when the luxury hotel was brimming with international tourists.
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