With a social calendar again chock-a-block with functions, Neil Fraser celebrates a quirky benchmark: the return of the party people to the inner city.
Neil Fraser
March 22, 2005
AT the end of last year I remarked in one of the Citichat Year-End Review editions that "phone calls" had become a benchmark for the changing fortunes of the inner city. I recalled that during the decade from 1992 to 2002 I used to receive half-a-dozen calls a month from anxious property owners asking for advice ranging from to whom they could give away their properties to how long they would have to hold on before they could get a decent price. Since 2002 the number of calls had increased to a half-dozen-plus a week from people seeking advice as to what and where to invest.
Well, that trend still continues - if anything it gathers pace weekly, but some other quirky benchmarks are also emerging. One of them is the number of functions being held in the inner city. From 1992 the number of functions taking place in the inner city steadily declined and with the closure of the Carlton Hotel some years back, functions outside "9 to 5" weekday hours dried up.
Over the past few years this trend has consistently reversed and now we are even starting to get "function jams". On Wednesday this week two unique events took place, at the Constitutional Court and the Drill Hall respectively. The latter function, which I missed because I was attending the former, was the opening of "Preview", an event that "explored the chameleon-like nature of the Drill Hall" - chameleon-like because it was built on the ruins of a "native prison" in 1904 as a military base buttressing British colonial power after the Anglo-Boer War, hosting prestigious military functions (including cocktail parties and balls!), a courtroom for the Treason Trial, a sports venue for young cadets, invaded by squatters leading to two fires and a number of fatalities, badly damaged by the last fire and refurbished into offices for the Rand Light Infantry and various non-governmental organisations.
For information regarding "Preview", which will run until the end of April phone 011 333 1112 or 083 956 0507 or e-mail jppap@worldonline.co.za
There are a number of reasons for the increasing number of inner city functions. Paramount is the steadily changing perception of most of the inner city as no longer a no-go area. Allied to this is the increasing number of available venues and attractions. One of the "new" venues is Constitutional Hill. The Hill is proving to be increasingly popular as host to numerous and incredibly diverse functions, book launches, art exhibitions, music recitals, a meeting venue, banquets and so on. On Saturday I took a group through the city to look at the new developments and found the Hill extremely busy as the venue for a huge international Rotary luncheon.
Wednesday evening's function, held in the foyer of the Constitutional Court, and attended by Madiba, celebrated another milestone in the inner city revitalisation process. It celebrated the signing of an agreement between Constitution Hill, represented by the Johannesburg Development Agency, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation whereby the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Commemoration will be accommodated on the site.
One of the buildings still to be developed on the site is the Tourist Centre, which will house the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Commemoration. The evening also marked the opening of the exhibition "466/64 - A Prisoner Working in the Garden", which displays Mandela documents and photographs not previously exhibited publicly.
Already proving to be one of the most important tourist draw-cards in the inner city, the establishment of the centre will greatly increase the numbers visiting Constitution Hill. Inevitably they will also be drawn from this northern edge of the inner city to the steadily increasing number of attractions that the inner city has to offer. Among these are some exciting projects - currently embargoed for public release - that will hopefully be announced shortly.
Since the beginning of this year I have made six presentations to more than 500 people on progress on the inner city revitalisation process and I am constantly staggered at the small percentage of these who have actually visited Constitution Hill. In fact, at the end of all the presentations I have been asked for contact details for those now wishing to tour the project.
It is such an important site making such an important statement about our past and our future that I think a visit should be compulsory for every Joziburger. Admittedly the numbers of visitors have been increasing but why aren't more locals flocking to share the great experience it offers? Is it the marketing, our tourism strategy or just indifference? Possibly it is a bit of all three.
But maybe the indifference is not on the side of the public but of the authorities.
Over the Christmas period a neighbour asked for advice regarding places to take a foreign guest. I recommended a number of places of interest and was horrified to learn of her subsequent experience. Quite a few of the venues I suggested were shut either for the holiday period or on the day she visited them with her guest (not Constitution Hill, which bowled them over).
Her attempts to find out why they were closed and when they would be open was met with recorded messages referring her to other contacts or just silence. She tried provincial and national tourism bodies to be told that they could not really help as most of their staff was on leave. I would have thought that the year-end holiday period would have been a wonderful opportunity for boosting local tourism but it appears as if we are not really interested. There has been a lot of publicity over the past few years about the lack of a service ethic in the country and this appears to be true.
Have a great weekend, Neil
