February 22, 2005
By Bafana Nzimande
A BRIGHT, multi-coloured building next to a busy road in Jabulani, Soweto, will lure local moms and tots away from "better" day care centres in the Johannesburg city centre and its suburbs.
Alive with vivid orange, yellow, green and purple window paintings and bright indoor walls that soon will be covered with cartoon characters, the aim of the new Jabulani day care centre is to stop the trend in Soweto of sending local children to suburban nursery schools. It will provide excellent day care services right in the middle of Soweto. Its doors will open at the end of April.
Set to provide local tots and moms with excellent day-care services.
"Upmarket day care centres are not part of township life, hence a lot of local parents are forced to enrol their kids in posh suburban areas, where such facilities are a common feature," said Sthembiso Mntungwa, project manager at Johannesburg Property Company (JPC).
Established by JPC after it invested more than R1,197-million in the project, the upmarket Jabulani day care centre is divided into three single-storey blocks. There are eight classrooms in two of the blocks, which can accommodate about 80 children. The third block houses the administration office and toilets.
The centre will benchmark its services against other, well-established day care centres around Johannesburg.
"The Jabulani day care centre will provide the same, or even better, services that are being offered by the so-called 'better' day care centres located outside Soweto," Mntungwa said.
It would also send a strong message to the rest of Gauteng and to the world that it was possible to provide similar services in black communities, he said.
Located on Bendile Street, a main taxi thoroughfare, a wire fence around the centre will protect toddlers from road hazards.
It was built in a proper zone that was approved to be safe, said Lungile Xhakaza, JPC project portfolio manager. It would also be easy for parents to catch taxis into town after dropping their children at day care.
"This is another way in which JPC is empowering local residents who have been running nurseries from their small houses," Xhakaza said. "It will provide them with a top-class facility where they can provide quality day care services that will not only benefit the community of Jabulani, but Soweto as a whole."
Administration and teaching staff had not been appointed yet, but JPC would publish a service provider tender in local print media very soon, said Xhakaza.
"We are still waiting for our technical team on site to finalise all technical matters before we can appoint any service provider for the centre," she said.
All health and safety by-law inspections have been conducted to make sure the centre provides a safe and secure environment were toddlers can be assured of spending cheerful days.
In early February 14 schools in Hillbrow and the city centre were raided and closed by the Johannesburg Metro Police Department for contravening the city's health and safety by-laws. These closures were part of the city's 500-day Operation Token Days campaign of enforcing by-laws.
"It is very important for all Joburg residents to obey the city's by-laws, because if they fail to do so they face the possibility of being grabbed by the long arm of the law," said Edna Mamonyane, the Johannesburg Metro Police Department spokesperson.
"Whether a nursery school is located in a township or in a stylish suburb makes no difference. The point is, it must comply with the city's health and safety standards," she said.
JPC said Soweto was home to many South Africans who had worked hard and in some cases had paid dearly to put this country back on the world map. It hoped to play a part in making their lives better through community development projects targeted at the sprawling township.
One such development was transforming the vandalised council-owned train shops in the Jabulani hostel into a lavish shopping complex, said Kanenelo Seabe, JPC project site manager.
Seabe said the company had invested more than R3,3-million in these two projects, both of which formed part of JPC's commitment, in partnership with the city, to invest in community development projects in Soweto.
Work on both projects started in June 2004; the shopping complex is expected to be completed by May and the day care centre should be completed by March this year.
For more information about the Jabulani day care centre or about the Johannesburg Property Company call 011 339 2700 or go to www.jhbproperty.co.za
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