August 28, 2007
By Emily Visser
"IT is important to come down to where people are on the ground, to see for ourselves what is happening." This is according to Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, the member of the mayoral committee for community development, who is undertaking visits to all of the city's regions to find out what the people want.
On Thursday, 23 August, it was the turn of Region E, when the needs of Alexandra residents and other communities in the region came under the spotlight during a day-long road show in the area.
The road show stopped off at the Klipfontein Multipurpose Centre
(Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)
The City recently undertook a similar road show in Soweto and will do the same in the other regions in the months to come.
Region E is one of extremes - affluent Sandton suburbs such as Strathavon, Sandown and Sandhurst lie shoulder-to-shoulder with Alexandra, a typical black township with large pockets of informal settlements.
There are a variety of established residential areas in the region, from the large, expensive homes of Houghton Estate, Saxonwold and Bryanston in the north, to the middle-income areas of Sandringham and Lyndhurst in the east and Linksfield in the centre. Newer developments like River Park and Klipfontein lie to the extreme east of the region.
Joining Mayathula-Khoza were key officials from the departments of sport and recreation; libraries; arts, culture and heritage services; and human development, based in the community development department, as well as ward councillors from the region.
Aimed at bringing the reality of community development and problems on the ground to the attention of officials, the road show did the rounds of areas where communities have expressed concerns to councillors about lack of progress or poor maintenance and utilisation of facilities.
Site visits
The tour started at South Bank Community Centre, from where it departed to the Alexandra Athletic Stadium, a newly built race track and rugby field. The stadium is a project under the Alexandra Renewal Programme (ARP), which has fallen behind because of drainage problems.
However, these problems have been resolved and phase two of the stadium, consisting of seating and change rooms, will begin in October. This phase should cost R42-million. The stadium would be completed in 18 months time, with phase three consisting of parking and a pavilion, confirmed Thabo Motloung, an ARP community and stakeholder officer.
Another new facility, the River Park Library, has been empty for over a year because it has no water and electricity. The ARP has offered to install the necessary services and the facility should open its doors in November. Staff interviews were taking place, confirmed Ntombi Tladinyane, the regional manager of libraries.
The Victoria Park Sports Ground is a poorly maintained soccer field that the community would like to use for training. The department would like to upgrade it so it can become a youth development facility that will include a soccer academy. This proposal is being investigated.
The Helen Joseph Sports Ground is an open lot used by criminals and drug users and dealers. The grounds are surrounded by shacks and Lali Mohlabane, the deputy director for human development, said the area needed to be re-walled as a matter of urgency.
Sankopane Community Centre, next to Alexandra Stadium, is jointly owned by the council and an NGO. It is poorly managed and is subject to abuse, with the council mostly footing the bill. The City would like to take over the centre as a fully fledged, City-run community development centre, including a library.
At present, it is run by a trust. The legal implications of the City taking it over will be examined and a request will be made to the trust to make a presentation to the section 79 committee for community development in September.
The road show also stopped at a Montessori crθche in Alexandra. The council has taken a decision that all early childhood development centres should be outsourced, which means the facility will close. It is the only one in the area with proper resources for early childhood development training and it is widely used by the community in general.
The department will look into the policy document and see if it can continue to operate at the premises.
Looking at the needs of the community: mayoral committee member for community developmetn Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, councillors and officials visit Alexandra
Last on the itinerary was at the Klipfontein Multipurpose Centre, an area in the extreme eastern part of the region. The community has asked that the centre house a clinic, library and People's Centre because it is far away from such services.
The department will look into various possibilities regarding this request. The centre is also under-utilised. Skills training facilities, consisting of a kitchen and a sewing and over-locker room, have not been used since the centre was completed more than a year ago.
Mohlabane said more staff would be deployed and programmes rolled-out at the centre.
Concerns
Mayathula-Khoza was adamant that challenges should be faced head-on and that lack of funding should not be used as an excuse for poor management and maintenance of facilities. "We do have businesses and non-governmental organisations in the area which we can make use of. In future I want to see solutions to these [funding] challenges."
One of the biggest challenges facing communities in Alexandra and in Johannesburg in general is poverty. Mayathula-Khoza urged officials and councillors to keep in mind the goal of eradicating poverty when they established various programmes.
Sharing information: the mayoral committee member for community development Nandi Mayathula-Khoza discusses issues of concern to Region E
(Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)
"When we run our programmes we must analyse collectively [as a department] that we are reducing poverty by half."
She noted that "we are doing good work but we don't communicate our programmes and plans". She also referred to the community's responsibility to know and to adhere to by-laws; the fact that programmes should be sustained; extending community services to informal settlements; and supporting orphans, child-headed families and the disabled.
Chairperson of the section 79 committee for community development, Bongani Zondi, said Region E had a number of problems, among them poor performance by some officials. Noting the lack of caring for facilities in the region, Zondi said the committee would make recommendations for maintenance to be included in scorecards.
"From today, this [section 79] committee is going to deal with all the problems faced by the community."
During the discussions preceding the tour it became clear that City officials and councillors needed each other and that communication channels between the two should be expanded.
It was important that the City's programmes and policies be communicated to all concerned officials, the community and councillors.
Concerns raised by councillors were a lack of access to facilities, poorly maintained grounds and buildings, and no security at these places.
Other concerns included: the unavailability of some officials; people with lapsed lease agreements were still using facilities; some programmes were not sustainable; some ARP projects were not sufficiently orientated towards community development; and facilities were appropriated by churches with block-bookings up to a year in advance.
Mayathula-Khoza confirmed that similar concerns were raised during the road show to Region D (Soweto) that took place a few weeks ago.
Actions
Hilda Mkhwanazi responded to the challenges and concerns on behalf of the human development unit. The unit is drawing up a template to profile the Region E community in terms of human development issues. "We will be in touch with councillors in this regard to start with community profiling soon."
Mohlabane said youth development would receive more focused attention, with training given to manage and run these organisations. Regional and city-wide youth forums would be launched. Learner forums would be established and policy dissemination meetings held with operational managers from the regions every second Monday.
Sport and recreation manager Douglas Middleton said signage at facilities was outdated or non-existent and should be examined. Staff shortages contributed to poor maintenance of sports and recreation facilities; this issue should be looked at more creatively. Concerns were also raised about the ARP, which did not communicate its plans to the community.
Libraries in Region E are well supported and run excellent programmes. Matthew Thema spoke on behalf of library information services and said his unit was trying to introduce life skills into library programmes. The region has 16 libraries.
Other services include Braille and large print which will be extended to Alexandra libraries where there is a great need; and career development assessment for Grade 10 to 12 learners offered by the local economic development forum. A success story is the Third Avenue children's library in Alex, where over 100 children come to listen to stories every day.
Alba Letts, the deputy director for arts and culture, said there was no lack of facilities in the region and a lot was happening in terms of arts and culture in Alex. These activities, however, needed to be co-ordinated.
Staffing remained a challenge. Sport and recreation and arts and culture activities often overlapped, which meant officers could work together. "We need to become creative in terms of staffing as there are no dedicated arts and culture officers in Region E."
In closing, Mohlabane, speaking on behalf of the executive director for community development, Pilisiwe Twala-Tau, said the department's various units "should be working together" and should also "find ways to bring the ARP into the process".
Mayathula-Khoza said issues would be addressed, with officials reporting back to her on issues raised, providing timeframes. "For every problem there is a solution. It is not just about scorecards, it is about making a difference."
The department of community development will report on progress made in the region to the member of the mayoral committee on 23 September.
Other regions will also be visited by the road show:
Region F (inner city) - 10 September
Region C (Roodepoort) 10 October
Region A (Diepsloot) - 22 October
Region G ( Orange Farm) 11 November
Region B (Randburg) 23 November
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