April 10, 2006
By Neil Fraser
SINCE I wrote my closing comments on the Gauteng provincial government precinct Citichat, 3 April, things appear to have at last been happening following a long period of apparent inactivity and a deafening silence on the issue from the South Africa Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra).
Firstly, the appeal that a group of us had submitted to Sahra against the demolition of eight of the buildings and other aspects of the proposals, scheduled to be heard on Friday, 7 April, was suddenly postponed until later this month.
Secondly, the council's appeal, which presumably would also have been heard on 7 April, was withdrawn last Friday afternoon following an agreement between the council and the province to establish a working committee to re-examine the provincial government proposals. Last week I wrote, "One only wonders how the politics of this will be allowed to play out" now we have the answer.
This could be an important step towards resolving the conflict over the proposals. A working committee between all interested parties prior to the release of the design on such a critical aspect of the city, instead of the secrecy with which the provincial government tackled the project and the indescribable inefficiency that the appeal was subject to, would have saved a great deal of time, effort and cost not to mention blood pressure.
State of the city
Executive Mayor Amos Masondo delivered his State of the City address on Monday, 3 April. It included a number of issues critical to the interests of the inner city.
During the last council term of office, the metropolitan area of the city was sub-divided into 11 administrative regions; prior to that it had been sub-divided into four political areas. The 11 regions are now to be reduced to seven. The inner city, previously Region 8, will now be combined with Johannesburg south, Region 9, to form a new region, currently designated Region F.
What does that mean for the inner city? While we must remember that the regions are merely administrative in function, my first reaction is that this will mean that the inner city will not only be losing its identity but, more importantly, it is likely that its absorption into a much larger area will mean that the focus on it will be diffused. In the first period of democratic local government the city centre was virtually ignored when the gerrymandering that took place resulted in it being subjected to three of the four political areas. As a result largely of pressure from the business sector, the Inner City Office was established to ensure a focus on the city centre.
To a degree that focus was diffused at the beginning of the term of the second democratic council in 2000, when the 11 regions were introduced and the city centre found itself in a large area covering some 36 suburbs. Now the focus will be further lost with the amalgamation of the two regions Region 9 brings with it a further 76 suburbs. In addition, and more importantly, it would appear that there will no longer be a single political responsibility for the inner city area.
I shudder to think that every new term of council is going to bring about such major changes. I realise that we must deal with inefficiencies in the system and that this may mean some adjustments seven regions should be more cost effective than 11 but, from a city centre point of view, major changes of this nature cannot be an improvement.
If any change would be beneficial to the city centre it would be reducing the inner city to an even smaller one and having a greater focus possibly the area of the urban development zone should be considered as the maximum.
Having also seen the extent to which regions have produced plans, glossy brochures and all that goes with trying to create an identity, I hate to think of the cost of this rationalisation, let alone the ongoing insecurity it must bring to staff.
Inner city
Interestingly, in other sections of his State of the City address, Masondo takes cognisance of the inner city's problems.
So under a heading of Pikitup, he states: "The inner city represents a special challenge to urban management. In this term of office, we need to take the efforts of urban renewal and regeneration to a higher level. The challenge of achieving a clean city requires urgent attention. A radical plan is required to turn the situation around in a significant way. Failures of the past can no longer be tolerated. The inner city is the face of Johannesburg. It mirrors this great city in many ways. To change the situation around we require both a strategy and a detailed 24-hour implementation plan."
As previously emphasised in these eletters, I couldn't agree more.
However, it appears as if the focus on inner regeneration, diffused as it may be as part of the metropolitan area and a larger administrative region, will now be channelled through a new mayoral committee portfolio, that of development planning and urban management.
Masondo commented "
urban renewal has remained an important part of our agenda. The turnaround in the inner city of Johannesburg is indeed happening and the results speak for themselves
the establishment of the development planning and urban management portfolio, demonstrates our commitment to transforming and integrating the (metropolitan) city
The urban management component of the portfolio will especially ensure the continuation of the inner city regeneration in the Johannesburg, Randburg, Roodepoort, Sandton, Eldorado Park, Soweto and other similar business districts."
The issue of urban management was raised again later in the speech, when the mayor dealt with the tragic fire that claimed 12 lives and to which I referred in Citichat, 3 April.
In this regard he said: "There is an urgent need for all the roleplayers in this city the judiciary, the civil society organisations, business, the religious groupings, the affected communities and the government to hold a special conference and answer the question: what is it that needs to be done to consolidate on achievements gained to date on urban renewal and regeneration in the inner city?"
I wouldn't have phrased the issue quite that way I'm not a politician but that could well be the starting point for drawing up a new agenda for urban regeneration in the inner city for the next five years, including coming up with a plan for housing the poorest of the poor. Let's do it, Mr Mayor.
Under the heading, Sustainable human settlements, the mayoral address rated housing as the "second most important concern of our people after jobs" and committed itself to the achievement of a number of targets. While the inner city housing issues are not specifically mentioned, one of the commitments is to deliver "50 000 mixed income housing, in partnership with other players".
In the final section of the State of the City address under the heading, Growth and Development Strategy, Masondo also gave notice of a Growth and Development Summit, to be held on 12 May. Diarise that date.
Ciao, Neil
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