September 5, 2007
By Lucille Davie
THE south has something the north doesn't have – an organised forum that promotes business, tourism and the environment across the whole area, while conducting monthly operations to clean up the suburbs and isolate problems.
It is referred to as the Sojo Business and Tourism Forum. Sojo is an acronym for South of Johannesburg. The monthly operations involve the metro police and the South African Police Service (SAPS), and City units like emergency management services and environmental health, and agencies like Pikitup, the Johannesburg Roads Agency and the Metro Trading Company.
The sweeps target vagrants and squatters, illegal dumping, illegal power connections, the removal of unauthorised posters and swooping on slumlords, a particular problem in Rosettenville and Turffontein, where illegal immigrants have settled.
In the process, says Sojo's chief executive, Nicky Vakaloudis, it is hoped that the stigma and negative image of the south will be changed.
"The south is much safer than the northern suburbs," she says. Down south there are far fewer electric fences topping high walls – most of the homes in older suburbs still retain their low walls. This could be for socio-economic reasons but, says Vakaloudis, although crime statistics in the south may look the same as those for the north, they cover a much bigger area.
Another factor could be that there are good response teams down south, she says. Besides the big security companies like Stallion and Chubb, there are a number of smaller companies that "respond quicker".
The skyscrapers of the city, viewed from the tranquil surrounds of Wemmer Pan
Sojo covers a huge swathe of the south – from Alberton in the east, Wemmer Pan in the north, Aeraton and Nasrec in the west, through to newer suburbs like Bassonia and Oakdene in the south.
Formed in 1998, it defines its vision as being "a non-profit organisation committed to the rejuvenation of business areas in the south, and the upliftment of this node as a business area providing secure employment in pleasant surroundings". It started with five members and nearly a decade later has over 100.
Sojo was formed through the amalgamation of the Booysens Business Forum and the Southern Business Partnership. Vakaloudis has offices in Booysens, and together with her six cleaners, secretary and an operations manager, they handle queries and complaints from residents and businesses, passing them on to the relevant agencies.
They organise the monthly sweeps and other events for businesses and residents of the south. Sojo sends out quarterly newsletters, detailing individual complaints made to agencies, and the total number of successes. Complaints can be made by phone or through the Sojo website.
Entertainment and tourism
The south has a lot to offer in terms of entertainment and tourism, and Sojo has identified a "recreation loop", with a channel through Soweto.
There's Wemmer Pan on the northern edge of the southern suburbs, a green lung providing a place for water sports and a venue for annual events like Lusito Land and the Dragon Boat races. The Transport Museum is on the same site.
Gold Reef City offers a range of different things to do and see; it has a theme park with its rides, a period hotel and village, a former mine now open for visits, as well as the Apartheid Museum, casino and a soon-to-be-opened new Lyric Theatre.
A ride from the bottom of the headgear at Gold Reef City
Right in the middle of the Sojo precinct is the Turffontein Race Course, established in 1889 and attracting some 3 000 people every race day.
And in the south is the Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve, with its Tswana and Boer farmhouse ruins. It was recently stocked with game, and offers an indigenous stretch of land and vegetation crisscrossed with hikes and trails.
In the west is the Nasrec complex of venues, including Soccer City, the Expo Centre and the Crown Mines Golf Course. Further south, in Soweto, is the Hector Pieterson Museum in Orlando West, Oppenheimer Park and Credo Mutwa Cultural Village in Central Western Jabavu, Nelson Mandela House in Orlando West, Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown, and Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Moroka.
Major sweep and other events
The last major sweep of the southern suburbs was carried out in early August. A team of 150 – made up of 100 metro police officers, officials from the City's environmental health and urban management units, Pikitup and Booysens SAPS officers - took to the streets of Aeroton, Southgate and Nasrec.
Pikitup cleaned 27,5 kilometres of roads and pavements and collected 3,76 tons of refuse. Illegal signage, shacks and caravans were removed by metro police. Environmental health officials served 14 spot summonses for the contravention of by-laws. Nine spot summonses for contraventions of the Business Act were served.
Sojo strives to bring the southern community together with projects like the annual spring-clean carnival. Run for the past three years, businesses and the SAPS and metro police, parade through the streets with bags, picking up litter.
This has been taken further with participation in the annual Dragon Boat Festival. Businesses and the SAPS and fire department erect stalls alongside Wemmer Pan, and corporates compete in boat races.
Vakaloudis is planning to make the boat races a quarterly event, heralding the start of each season and bringing the community together more often. "We have got the dam; we must use it."
Last year the first Christmas in July was held at the Booysens Hotel; the celebration was repeated this year. Businesses book tables for a dinner and bring along a gift to be given to an underprivileged child. "It was a lovely evening, and important for networking," she says.
Establishment of CID
One of Sojo's next jobs is to establish city improvement districts (CIDs) in the southern suburbs, a private sector initiative to get businesses to contribute to paying for dedicated cleaners and guards in their suburbs.
The major problem faced by the forum, says Vakaloudis, is to get businesses to understand that although they pay municipal rates and taxes, they need to pay again if they want their streets and pavements to be spotlessly clean and safe.
The first CID is in the early stages of being established, with Kagiso Urban Management, the company running other CIDs in the city and northern suburbs, helping to draw up a business plan.
"We'll get there; we continue to be positive," says Vakaloudis.
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