April 8, 2005
By Bafana Nzimande
BRAVING the freezing weather, Executive Mayor Councillor Amos Masondo undertook a day-long mayoral roadshow to Soweto on Thursday, 7 April 2005.
Accompanied by members of the mayoral committee and senior city officials, the mayor visited Regions 6 and 10 to assess the City's various development projects and to interact with stakeholders and residents at brief public meetings. Leaving the Metropolitan Centre at 7.30am, Masondo's bus headed for Eldorado Park Secondary School, where the mayor spoke to pupils and teachers about the City's priorities.
"Young people are the future leaders of this world, hence we need to invest in that future by making sure that we involve them in everything that we do so that we can be assured of a bright future," Masondo said.
A chance to meet and greet: schoolchildren from the Eldorado Park Secondary School welcome Councillor Amos Masondo
The school has about 1 400 pupils and more than 200 met the mayor, asking him about unemployment, health, crime and drugs in Joburg. "Johannesburg faces the same challenges as other big cities around the world, but [it] has initiated many programmes meant to deal effectively with all these challenges, such as learnership programmes to fill the skills gap," Masondo said.
After a ballet performance by two pupils, the mayoral delegation made its way to Kliptown to assess the progress of the renovation and upgrading of the sprawling informal settlement. Alive with informal traders and filled with corrugated iron shacks, Kliptown is one of Soweto's historical sites. It has been targeted by the City for infrastructure development through the Kliptown Development Project.
"Kliptown has made a huge contribution to our country's freedom and democracy, so it very important for us to make sure that we do not lose its significance," said Masondo.
Kliptown Development Project
Johannesburg Development Agency's Aubrey Mangaye, the project manager for the Kliptown development, gave an overview of all the plans for the area. These include building a shopping complex and a tourist site, grading the roads and building brick houses.
After a quick tour of the area, the roadshow dashed off to the Orlando Power Station in Orlando, to inspect the progress on another City development project, the Orlando Ekhaya.
Johannesburg Property Company's Alan Dinnie, the Orlando Ekhaya project manager, spoke about the project to build Soweto's shopping and entertainment complex.
"We have just issued proposals for development and once we have finalised that stage, Sowetans can look forward to shopping and dining in Soweto," Dinnie said.
Baragwanath Taxi Rank
From there it was up the Old Potchefstroom Road to the Baragwanath Taxi Rank development project. Baragwanath is one of the busiest public transport nodes in the country, forming one of the major entry points into Soweto.
Lead by Robert Bathke of the Johannesburg Development Agency, Masondo walked through the taxi rank, inspecting the progress.
Phase one and two are complete, including the realigning of Old Potchefstroom Road, the construction of some of the taxi ranks, a pedestrian walkway and facilities for informal traders.
Phase three is now nearing completion.
During the tour Bathke explained that there had been a short delay in implementing phase two "due to a lack of co-operation from the local taxi association". The association had initially refused to be relocated, "but everything is now back on track".
The mayor then had an opportunity to talk to traders, representatives from the taxi industry and residents. He listened carefully to their concerns and urged Sowetans to work with the City. He pointed out ways the community could get involved: through community meetings, attending empowerment zones where traders can get business advice, and using the People's Centres. "We are not a government that works in isolation, that is why we urge our people to engage with us."
The spokesperson for the Witwatersrand Taxi Association, Gibson Boikhotso, urged the City to provide basic business education for those involved in the taxi industry. "My only plea to the City is to provide us with education about the tendering system, because we do not know how to tender but we know how to buy a taxi and put a price," Boikhotso said.
Tshepisong
Next stop was Meadowlands, where the mayoral delegation checked up on the upgrading of Vincent Road, before heading for Tshepisong. The bus arrived at the Tshepisong Peoples Centre at 3.30pm, after a long day, for Masondo's final meeting.
"This tour was mainly meant to achieve three objectives - to ensure that people have a better understanding of the government; to ensure that people buy in to all the programmes the government is unfolding; and to ensure that all government officials become sensitive to the issues affecting the communities they serve," Masondo said.
Soweto was no longer a dormitory town, he said. It should position itself as a place were people could work, sleep and be entertained, but "all these projects can become a reality only if the City, together with its people, can work towards one goal", he concluded.
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