August 14, 2003
By Lucille Davie
ON a cold, windy Thursday morning a group of city and provincial officials turned the first sods to mark the commencement of the Brickfields housing development in Newtown.
The atmosphere inside the white tarpaulin on the dusty field below the new Nelson Mandela Bridge was jovial. Inner city rejuvenation champion and executive director of the Central Johannesburg Partnership Neil Fraser directed proceedings.
Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa turning the first sod of Brickfields
Led by Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) chairperson and CEO in the form of Murphy Morobe and Taffy Adler respectively, and with guest speakers Dr Steve Booysen, group executive director of Absa Bank, Samson Moraba, chief executive of the National Housing Finance Corporation, Norman Mbazima, deputy finance director of Anglo American Corporation, Paul Mashatile, Gauteng Housing MEC, and keynote speaker Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa, each speaker proclaimed satisfaction that the project was getting off the ground.
"We can say with pride that Gauteng is a better place to live in," pronounced Shilowa.
The first phase of the project will see 650 mixed-income housing units go up in Brickfields, a suburb of the early town that, because of good clay soil and the nearby Fordsburg spruit, became Johannesburg's first brick-making operation.
The second phase will see a further 350 units built at a total cost of R100-million. The development will see, interspersed with low-rise blocks, four high-rise blocks of between eight and 12 storeys soar into the Joburg sky in the first such upward residential development in the country in the past 30 years, and the first of this magnitude in Joburg's CBD.
The project is one of the first Presidential Job Summit Pilot Projects announced by the Minister of Housing in 2001. It represents the largest public/private social housing funding partnership in the country.
The Gauteng province provided the initial capital injection, at 30 percent or R19-million. This was followed by an interest-free loan of R3-million by Anglo American Corporation; a loan of R25-million by Absa; and a further R25-million provided by the National Housing Finance Corporation. The Gauteng Partnership Fund is to invest R10-million in equity, matching Absa's equity investment.
Another smaller scale public/private social housing partnership in the city is the JHC's Elangeni project, in the south-eastern section of the city.
The JHC, established in 1995, has invested R112-million in 1 756 housing units within the inner city, R22-million of that in the form of direct housing subsidies. In the process it has added five percent to the present housing stock of the city.
Shilowa referred to those businesses that "abandoned" the city 10 years ago. "Where others feared to put in their resources, still others said: 'how can we contribute to Johannesburg?'"
Johannesburg is one of the "cleanest areas you can find, with one of the best transport systems", unlike Sandton, which "has very little infrastructure" because it is "not built for a CBD like Joburg", he added.
Shilowa berated the financial sector that "needs to come to the party". He gave as an example the fact that 10 to12 projects worth R10-million have been given to black contractors by the Gauteng housing department, but they were not able to find the finance. It was even harder, he said, for women contractors.
He encouraged retailers to look at investing in buildings that are in a state of decay in the inner city. And trade unions. "They have members in these housing units, we want them to come to the party too."
Brickfields in the 1880s.
But it was not all reprimands. Describing Brickfields, Anglo American director Mbazima said: "It is a new, modern development, adding to the Newtown skyline. But most importantly, it is a residential development which will see people living here in comfort and safety."
"I really look forward to travelling over the Mandela Bridge in the months to come and seeing, day by day, Brickfields going up," he added.
Absa director Booysen reminded the audience that Johannesburg is "the most important city in sub-Saharan Africa. Success for Africa's leading city will have a dramatic impact on South Africa's image and potential".
He explained that Johannesburg is competing with cities like New York, London, Buenos Aires, Singapore and Sydney, so that when "global capital looks for a home, it should find Johannesburg more inviting than these other cities".
Joburg measures up well against its competition for investment in Africa, he said. It is the major financial centre on the continent; the JSE is 11 times larger than its next rival in Africa; approximately three-quarters of the country's business headquarters are located in Johannesburg; and it is southern Africa's most connected city, with an advanced telecommunications infrastructure and a world-class air transport hub.
"While we have a good infrastructure, trustworthy and innovative financial and banking systems, with skilled, talented and hardworking people - we must ensure Johannesburg remains a great city of the world," he added.
And he feels positive about the present development: "Brickfields is an investment in people. It will provide housing for the ordinary people who will live and work in the CBD, the people essential to the revitalisation of the city centre."
Gauteng MEC Mashatile stressed the private/public partnership aspect of the deal. "We can only succeed in partnerships. I wish to thank all the partners that made this happen. The City of Johannesburg is an important partner."
He ended by saying: "Let the people live in the city." Fraser recounted that Mashatile's catch phrase has become: "Viva, Johannesburg, Viva."
