January 30, 2006
By Neil Fraser
I TRUST you had an enjoyable festive season and wish you the very best for 2006.
Cities are complex and Johannesburg is more complex than many. It has a population of 3,2 million people (2001 – estimated to grow to more than 4 million by 2007) concentrated over 1 644 square kilometres, with over 1 million households (plus 22 percent of its population in informal dwellings).
It has an operating expenditure budget of more than R16-billion plus capex of R2,8-billion and delivers nearly R100-billion gross geographical product (in 1995 rands). This makes it big in anyone's language.
Its sheer size is complicated further by the fact that it is an area of great disparities brought about by more than a hundred years of separatist, colonial and apartheid regimes, leaving some areas greatly advantaged and others hopelessly impoverished.
And the buck for the efficient working of this convolution stops at one door – that of the executive mayor's office. The first executive mayor in the City's history, Amos Masondo, a former Robben Islander, Soweto civic activist and trade unionist, was installed on 5 December 2000. At the time, for many of us who hadn't heard his name previously, it was a case of new position, new man – reserve judgement.
Full-term report
Now his five-year term has almost passed and he released a comprehensive report of the period 2000 to 2005 on Tuesday, 24 January. I deliberately wrote this Citichat before receiving a copy of the report as I didn't want to be influenced by what I read – indeed I haven't yet read the report.
The object of this Citichat is to also reflect on what the City council has achieved under Masondo's leadership but from one citizen's point of view. In doing so, I realise that my view is admittedly narrow regarding the metropolitan scene and coloured by my involvement in the inner city, but I am also a citizen of the larger metropolis and obviously have that interest at heart as well.
Starting with the metropolitan area, one must firstly remember that it required a complex restructuring and amalgamation of many local authorities, which I feel has now bedded down well. Secondly, we were in a huge financial mess and our increased financial rating today bears witness to the remarkable progress that has been done on this front.
Thirdly, compared to the other metropolitan areas, we have developed into a well-integrated city. Few mayors of South African cities have been able to achieve this – in fact some have been responsible for polarising their cities.
Long-term plan
We are also one of the few South African cities, if not the only one, to have developed a long-term economic strategy – Joburg 2030. While it has numerous shortcomings, it has provided an excellent long-term foundation and it has lifted our sights beyond the normal five-year mayoral term of office.
Another positive long-term plan that was developed during this period is that for transportation and its focus on the attainment of a strategic public transport network. We need to accelerate that plan and invest strongly in aspects such as the Inner City Distribution System (ICDS) and the proposed public transport hub around Park Station.
(My criticisms regarding the ICDS are that we are not taking the opportunity of 2010 to "raise the bar" and go for a light-rail solution, nor are we sufficiently committed to bicycles as a viable form of transport – "The measure of a good city is one where a child on a tricycle or bicycle can safely go anywhere. If a city is good for children, it will be good for everybody else. Pedestrians and bicyclists should be given as much importance as motor-vehicles; even more so in developing country cities, where most households don't own cars.")
Over the past five years there have been significant improvements to many aspects of previously disadvantaged citizens' lives – the upgrading of public space in Soweto, including the tarring of roads, comes to mind, as does increased access to basic necessities.
The Human Development Strategy, released last year, is excellent, setting out various support mechanisms for the marginalised, among other initiatives.
The successful hosting of the World Summit for Sustainable Development was a great confidence booster in our ability to host international events. This applied not only to Johannesburg but also to the country as a whole and it was a source of great pride for the ordinary citizens of Johannesburg.
Outages
Irritations of electrical outages and defective traffic lights and rates and services collection problems – the latter having appeared to have improved dramatically recently judging by almost no negative media reports – need to be seen, I believe, in context of the lack of adequate maintenance and capex expenditure over many previous administrations.
However, there appears to be a definite lack in planning and co-ordination of bulk requirements to meet the current growth. Planning is still taking too long in providing approvals to submissions and land-use management does not appear to be efficient.
There is a nagging concern that city officials are either not fully accountable or too busy worrying about high-level strategies at the expense of on-the-ground implementation.
But these irritants aside, the ultimate test must revolve around economic growth and metropolitan Johannesburg has experienced massive investment, leading to significant economic growth in the order of 4,5 percent a year.
Inner city
Turning to territory I feel more comfortable with, the inner city, I remember well that my very first reaction to the new executive mayor was a positive one. This was because of his recognition of the importance of the inner city, through identifying its regeneration as one of six priorities for his term in office.
At last – a politician who appreciates the value of the core area, I thought.
That this was not going to be merely "lip-service recognition", as was the case with previous administrations, was underscored by his appointment of a councillor on the Mayoral Committee with responsibility for the inner city. His commitment to the future of the inner city was again accentuated a year later when he agreed to the erstwhile Inner City Office becoming an independent council entity, the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA).
The JDA would be responsible for project implementation in the metro area, but specifically for the first two years of its existence, limited to the inner city.
Recognition, responsibility and implementation capability supported by a substantial financial contribution through Blue IQ, resulted in the first major investments in the inner city for at least a decade. And it was correct for the initial investment to be that of the public sector, for that initiative sent out a strong message to the private sector that the executive mayor was serious about his priorities and that he was determined to restore confidence in the inner city.
Private sector investment followed. It is quite difficult to estimate the amount of investment that has been attracted over the past five years, but it must be in the order of at least R10-billion to R20-billion for public-plus-private sectors.
That excludes probably another R10-billion that has been planned and not yet begun. At the end of the day, investment is what it is all about, for investment reflects stability and confidence and the executive mayor has played a real role in exchanging the previous negative perceptions for real investment.
Downsides
Sure there have been downsides during the past five years and here I probably am going to be somewhat picky.
Top of the list must be the issue of disorder and lack of adequate law and by-law enforcement. That there has been an improvement in this area cannot be denied but we really have a long way to go. While the Inner City Task Force does its best and is responsible for much of the improvement in this area, it needs far more resources to be truly effective.
In my opinion, the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department has consistently underperformed. This may be exacerbated by the fact that it is too stretched to be effective. The massive growth that we are experiencing requires am equally large growth in law enforcement, but we also need attitudinal change. Areas such as Hillbrow, Berea, Yeoville, Jeppe and those surrounding Joubert Park and others are not acceptable and, if anything, have deteriorated over the past years.
These areas all reflect a lack of enforcement, as do aspects like taxis and informal trading, the latter probably more responsible than any other single aspect for the deterioration of our public space.
The City council has attempted to deal with the problem through a limited number of informal trading malls and many informal trading stalls on pavements forming linear markets. Hopefully, this latter experiment of providing rows and rows of cheek-by-jowl informal trading stalls will prove once and for all that this approach is ineffective, unless accompanied by education, enforcement and additional cleaning resources.
Even then, maybe it is time to rethink our policy towards informal trading. While many are quick to plead for nothing to impede the marginalised from making a living, or that informal trading should be seen as a poverty alleviation approach, the fact of the matter is that a very high percentage of street traders are nothing but fronts for formal sector traders.
Conservation
Our heritage conservation problem is another enforcement issue. Heritage conservation and, in fact, the built environment generally, has suffered greatly because of inadequate enforcement and a laissez-faire attitude by the authorities.
Just look at the hulks of previously great buildings that are allowed to stand as monuments to degradation with no apparent intervention. Others are altered and added to, in complete contravention of the law.
The American conservationist, Donovan Rypkema, points out that "a city doesn't get its character from brassy new hotels with space capsule elevators gliding up the walls. Nor does character come from Astrodomes or from phallic monuments to architectural egos.
"Character comes from people, from the past, from tradition, from the interplay of human forces and emotions in the process of daily life."
We need to encourage owners of heritage buildings to refurbish through rates credits on the one hand and heavy fines for non-compliance on the other.
Grime
Moving from enforcement, grime remains a massive issue. Those parts of the inner city that are not covered by City Improvement District services are unacceptably dirty. Pikitup appears to concentrate on areas that are reasonably easy to manage and receive remuneration for, and then seems totally to ignore others.
Our pavements over much of the city are in the most awful condition, adding to the grimy feeling. Here is such an obvious visual target for improvement – maybe via the central government's Extended Public Works Programme.
Decent pavements will facilitate cleaning and will dramatically change the face of the city. Look at Braamfontein and Main Street for proof of the value of such upgrading. We need a programme that will systematically upgrade inner city pavements, be it over the next 10 to 15 years.
The late American urbanist Dan Sweat once commented wryly that if the city did not deal constructively with the urban poor, the urban poor would deal destructively with the city.
While there have been some good poverty alleviation initiatives emanating from the City, there just haven't been enough. We have not paid enough attention to dealing with the city's urban poor – the squatters, illegal occupiers, gangsters and others. Five years should have seen a plan in place that recognises that "the poor will be with us always" and looks at innovative ways of accommodating them.
Direction
Over all of these downsides is my concern about a total lack of strategic direction regarding the planning of the inner city. The planning regime appears to be bogged down in high-level strategies that don't necessarily translate into pro-active implementation on the ground.
We need seriously to look at the City's hopelessly outdated zoning laws. We have been badly damaged historically as a city by stupid parking ratios, yet these issues are ignored. What is being done to ensure that the large numbers of "new" residential units are being catered for in terms of clinics, crèches, localised retail, schools and so forth?
The truth of the matter is that it is the private sector that is largely shaping the emerging city and that is not necessarily in the best interest of the city as a whole.
Lack of enforcement, grime, the urban poor and a lack of pro-active planning are therefore my negatives regarding the past five years. While these comments are only a brief personal review of the period under the executive mayor, it is also worth noting that this year is the tenth anniversary of the start of the Johannesburg Inner City Urban Revitalisation Process.
It is also the beginning of a new term of political office. It will thus be a good opportunity to set a new strategy for the next five to 10 years, a strategy that honestly interrogates and deals with the strengths and weaknesses of the process to date and continues to send us in the right direction for the future.
For my money, notwithstanding the downsides, I think the executive mayor and his team have done a very good job. I like the title of his report –
Reflecting on a Solid Foundation – because I believe that this is what has been achieved.
I would certainly like to see him lead the city through another term of office during which period we can continue to build on that foundation. I am confident that not only are we well on the road to the goal of a world-class African city, but that "2010" will provide significant further opportunities for the city and its people. Well done, Mr Mayor.
Best regards, Neil
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