Ambitious plans to rejuvenate the inner city region of Johannesburg were launched late last year under a programme that will remain in place until at least 2010.


Representatives from a wide range of Johannesburg inner city stakeholders pledged their formal support for the rejuvenation of the city centre by signing the Inner City Regeneration Charter in November last year.

Championing the inner city’s rebirth, the forum will monitor and evaluate the progress of programmes and action plans as stipulated in the Inner City Regeneration Charter. Quarterly reports on progress in meeting charter commitments will be commissioned from an independent specialist.


To be convened and chaired by Executive Mayor Amos Masondo, forum representatives will meet on a quarterly basis, starting this month. All operating costs will be carried by the City of Johannesburg through existing allocations to the central strategy unit and public liaison department.

The forum will remain in place until the executive mayor’s term of office ends in December 2010.


The charter was signed at the Lutheran Church and community centre in an inner city hotspot, Hillbrow, which is more renowned for its high levels of crime and extreme dirt. The event marked the start of a project which is the Metropolitan Council and other stakeholders’ tangible promise to create a safe, clean and uncompromised inner city.


Functioning as a platform for community participation in order to further the aims of the charter, the forum “creates conditions for the local community to participate in the City’s affairs” as stipulated by the Municipal Systems Act.


The City invited key stakeholders and prepared draft terms of reference for the launch. Among various sectors represented were the South African National Traders Alliance, Madlulamho Housing, the Central Johannesburg Partnership, Kagiso Urban Management, Johannesburg Inner City Business Coalition, Johannesburg Diocese, Yeoville Stakeholders’ Forum, the Johannesburg Housing Company, Olitzki Property Holdings, Connaught Property, the Property Owners and Managers Association, Interfaith Community Development Association, Metro Evangelical Services, ward representatives and city officials.


“This list of invited key stakeholders and the draft terms of reference are not final,” said Yael Horowitz, the programme manager in charge of the charter, at the launch.


The launch also served as the first official meeting of the partnership forum and was opened by Executive Mayor Amos Masondo.


As the champion of the inner city’s rebirth, the forum will monitor and evaluate the progress of programmes and action plans as stipulated in the charter. It would commission “a neutral and independent specialist tasked with assembling evidence of the progress achieved”, Horowitz said.


It would also give stakeholders an opportunity to raise concerns and propose remedial action, ultimately becoming a platform to identify and build on areas of further common collaboration and action.

“The charter partnership forum is not established as a decision-making structure,” Horowitz said. Discussions in the forum may result in recommendations, but these will not be binding.


“The forum does not detract from the proper role and function of the committees of the council, which provides political oversight over the programmes and performance of the executive mayor,” he said.


Inner city regeneration has received much attention over the past year as the City set in motion a number of engagements with inner-city stakeholders to rejuvenate the area. This culminated in  the Inner City Summit held in May 2007, out of which the Inner City Regeneration Charter grew.

 
With so many commitments on the agenda, the first deliverables were already undertaken – and met – in July last year.


Some commitments are close to the hearts of inner-city inhabitants. The charter identifies specific desired outcomes to deal with crime and grime. For one, the by-law enforcement process is under review, and the City hopes to come up with creative solutions to punish law-breakers effectively.


Law enforcement capacity will also be augmented in key departments. By-law education will go hand in hand with this so that “infractions are an exception rather than the rule” in the inner city, the charter declares.


The City has increased spending to deal with grime and has opted for some state-of-the-art technology to help. This includes an additional 2 000 swivel bins, two additional mechanical street sweepers and 20 underground bins.


Joubert Park ward councillor Francinah Mashao said that much as the community welcomed the charter, they were still frustrated by private property owners who held them to ransom. “One thing frustrating us is property owners and landlords not forming part, participating in the [charter] process.”


Mashao felt that successful outcomes rested squarely on the commitment and participation of all. Masondo affirmed this sentiment: “The City can only do so much. With the effort of others we can achieve much, much more.”


He said that the City would continue to get all stakeholders on board.


At the launch, the mayor reminded everyone of the progress that had been made already.
 

“Seven years ago there was no Mary Fitzgerald Square, there was no Nelson Mandela Bridge, there was no Brickfields housing development,” he said.


After the presentations, delegates were taken on an extensive tour of the eKhaya Neighbourhood City Improvement District in Hillbrow, one of six statutory improvement districts in the inner city.


The Better Buildings Programme projects successfully completed in the eKhaya district clearly illustrated the positive effect regeneration could have on an area. The programme is undertaken by the Johannesburg Property Company and is also a charter commitment.


The City will have a complete database in place by June 2008 to detect and track bad buildings. Better law enforcement procedures will also enable it to get involved in managing and controlling such buildings.


Anne Steffny, Director of the Central Johannesburg Partnership, saw the charter as a fantastic effort but said that the basics of safety, cleanliness and law enforcement needed to be right. “It is a very brave move from the City to publicly commit to deliverables … It shows that the City is bold and has a vision.”


In a further development, the first phase of the Sisonke Project was launched in October, in downtown Joburg, with 20 underground rubbish bins ready for operation.

Waste goes underground

The Sisonke Project is a City of Joburg initiative, incorporating waste utility Pikitup and the Department of Science and Technology. Sisonke has three major projects – the underground bin system, the street prefect system and cleaning up informal settlements, including Slovo Park.


Speaking at the launch, Executive Mayor Amos Masondo said: “This is part of our comprehensive efforts to clean up the Johannesburg inner city and other CBDs and thus create a better environment for residents, visitors and the business community, ranging from informal to big businesses.”


The steel containers, five cubic metres in size, will also be installed in some parts of Soweto and Alexandra. “The sites are chosen on the basis of the volume of traffic and population densities. They are encased in a metal frame and sunk inside a concrete sleeve in the ground.”


The Sisonke Project is a R5.5 million initiative co-sponsored by Pikitup and the Department of Science and Technology.


The second phase of Sisonke involves cleaning up informal settlements, which is already under way. The process began in Slovo Park. Some 10 educators are helping with the project, which includes toilet cleaning, refuse collection and illegal dumping monitoring.


Slovo Park residents, together with the City’s infrastructure and services unit, are also planning to open a waste recycling centre and plant a vegetable garden.


The third part of Sisonke is a street prefect system. Seventeen street prefects are already employed by the City to monitor inner city crime. They also report incidents such as power failures, malfunctioning traffic lights, water leaks, overflowing waste bins and illegal dumping.


Masondo said that the street prefects were visible extensions of a broader society, where everybody took equal responsibility for their environment, their neighbourhoods and, eventually, the whole of Johannesburg.


The system works closely with other community-based organisations and service providers with the aim of improving on service delivery, with the main focus areas being Yeoville and Joubert Park.

 
The street prefect initiative is aimed at improving the lives of Joburgers as well as monitoring illegal activities and crime in the inner city. In all, the City will employ 23 street prefects.


The prefects will also monitor refuse removal, identify problems and report to the project managers. 
Sisonke is aimed at cleaning up the city for 2010 and beyond. “The pay-off line for the project – ‘Let’s clean our city together’ – reinforces the fact that together, through the support and commitment from our communities, we can keep our city clean,” a city spokesperson said.

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