September 15, 2005
By Lucille Davie
ALTHOUGH she is too petite to be a soccer player, soccer is going to be a big part of Lael Bethlehem's life in the next five years.
The new Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) chief, appointed for five years from 1 August this year, Bethlehem takes over from Graeme Reid, in the post for the past four years.
"It feels good to be filling his shoes," she says.
And centre stage to her job is the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Bethlehem is only too aware that the challenges of the job are enormous, especially in view of the termination of the involvement of Blue IQ, the provincial body that financed the major projects Reid oversaw - Constitution Hill, the Nelson Mandela Bridge, Kliptown and Newtown.
But her response is upbeat. "Wow, I get to continue these projects. This is an incredible opportunity. Very few people get to do this."
One of her biggest challenges is to sustain the projects the JDA has undertaken over the past four years. A big part of that involves getting them to a point where they can sustain themselves.
Bethlehem's downtown office is unpretentious: two small square desks fill the modest space. One holds her laptop and other desk paraphernalia; the other is bare, with four chairs pulled under it.
She is interrupted by her staff throughout the hour-long interview. The exchanges are friendly but businesslike and to the point.
Established in April 2001 as a limited liability company, the JDA is a city agency charged with stimulating and supporting economic development initiatives throughout the greater Johannesburg metropolitan area under its commitment to Joburg 2030, the city's long-term economic development strategy.
Bethlehem, who has a masters degree in industrial sociology from Wits University, headed the City's economic development unit for three years prior to her JDA appointment, and reports that the original 2030 plan, produced in 2001, has so far seen "no major revisions".
Soccer World Cup
But back to the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The sports facilities at Ellis Park and Soccer City at Nasrec need an urgent revamp, she says.
"The sports facilities at Ellis Park don't hang together ... The transport infrastructure around Ellis Park also needs to be upgraded, and 6 000 parking bays need to be provided."
Besides this upgrade, the adjacent depressed suburbs of Bertrams and Doornfontein also need a long-overdue, rejuvenation shot in the arm. The ideal solution, says Bethlehem, would be to demolish shabby houses, some of which are around 100 years old, and build blocks of mixed-income flats, along the lines of Brickfields in Newtown.
The covered stream, the beginnings of the Jukskei River, that has its origins below Ellis Park, runs through these suburbs and would make an attractive feature if it were uncovered, and the parkland alongside it developed, she says.
The neighbouring manufacturing precinct also needs to be spruced up.
Estimates at a budget for the 2010 event come in at R2-billion, with the City hopefully chipping in around R600-million, the national government making a contribution as part of its transport infrastructure obligations, and the private sector also coming to the party. Housing subsidies will help with upgrading the suburbs.
"We are going to have to prioritise needs," Bethlehem explains.
It seems likely that the soccer final in 2010 will be played at Soccer City at Nasrec. But this is an area that needs "a huge amount of attention", particularly the transport infrastructure, she says.
Previously created as a buffer area in apartheid South Africa, between Soweto and the city, it has become a wasteland in recent years, despite having credible assets like the stadium, the expo centre and the road infrastructure.
Bethlehem estimates that R1-billion should be channelled to Nasrec to revamp the precinct.
Eastern CBD and Joubert Park
Another challenge the JDA faces is on the eastern side of the CBD, particularly the proposed fashion district, which, together with jewel city, could be developed as a design district.
The fashion district is moving slowly, held up by funding, with plans for a fashion square and house announced in November last year. The district incorporates an area of some 26 city blocks, housing more than a hundred fashion-related businesses.
Jewel city is slightly south of the fashion district. A small diamond cutting and manufacturing precinct, it has tremendous tourism potential.
The Joubert Park precinct, which could easily be called "chaos precinct", says Bethlehem, is a badly managed area. It is now a major transport hub, consisting of Park Station, through which 300 000 people pass daily; the untidy Noord Street Taxi Rank; and the Jack Mincer Parking Garage in Harrison Street.
The transport facilities have attracted traders and hawkers, exacerbating the congestion. Bethlehem expresses some frustration at the situation, and says the answer is obviously an integrated concourse, which would involve re-thinking the residential elements in the area.
"There is still lots to do," she concludes.
Soweto
But the JDA is not only concerned with inner city developments. Soweto, built originally to house blacks as simply a labour pool for the city's needs, desperately needs to be diversified in order to provide its residents with shops, entertainment and recreation facilities.
"In the last 10 years we have concentrated on housing in Soweto; we need to make more diverse use of the land in Soweto," Bethlehem says.
An idea worth considering, she explains, is to locate a call centre in the township. At present Sowetans travel to places like Bryanston to work at call centres, spending wasted hours on transportation, which doesn't always fit their night-time work schedule.
The City could consider making land available for a joint venture with the private sector, says Bethlehem.
Other areas in need of development include the Randburg CBD and Yeoville.
"The challenge is to undertake catalytic changes that create conditions for the private sector to sustain the developments."
Joburg's growth
Bethlehem, a native Joburger who loves the region and its chutzpah, is concerned that the city is not keeping up with the population growth - 22 percent over five years, according to the 2001 census.
"We are struggling to keep up, as is the whole of Gauteng - backlogs are growing, but we are coping better than other cities. It needs incredible energy but can we develop the city fast enough?"
But there is a flip side. "Every great city in the world developed through migration. It's worse if the population doesn't grow - cities need the advances that come with growth."
Bethlehem reckons the City is doing a "pretty good job". Five years ago, when the present structure was set up, there were "severe problems. The council was in crisis, with a capital budget of R295-million".
Today the capital budget is R3-billion, just one element of the larger operating budget of R18-billion, which means so much more can be done, especially as it is now better managed.
Comfortable environment
So, what makes this woman, clearly a ball of energy and drive, tick? She grew up, she says, as a privileged white in a comfortable environment under the apartheid government, aware of what she was getting compared with the majority of the population.
She was very affected by the events of 1984, when the resistance to apartheid was at its height.
"I was old enough to know I was a beneficiary of apartheid, but young enough to be part of the generation that could do something about apartheid."
Bethlehem believes that Johannesburg is important in the African context, and this makes the city's development a "huge challenge".
She sees it as a "tremendous privilege" to be in the public sector, where she can make a real difference to the lives of ordinary Joburgers.
Meanwhile, she admits that as an exchange student to the US in the late 1980s, she played soccer. "I'm still looking for a team that will accept an out-of-shape woman in her mid-30s!"
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