Neil Fraser
21 June 2002
Despite my advancing years – or maybe because of them - I love jigsaw puzzles! My wife seems to spend the year scouring the shops searching for the most impossible puzzle which she presents to me at the start of each Christmas holiday.
I suspect it’s part of her therapy in moving me from frenetic to comatose before again entering the fray for another year! This last festive season, the picture was a black and white photograph, except there was very little of either of those colours for almost every one of the 1 500 pieces was a different shade of grey.
Urban renewal is like a giant jigsaw puzzle in many respects yet is different essentially because it is such a dynamic process. You never finish the puzzle because pieces in previously completed sections are constantly being removed and replaced and even the edges never seem to completely join up.
This week, as steady progress on the Johannesburg Inner City jigsaw puzzle proceeded, parts of the edge and a number of pieces in the middle have again fallen into place.
In regard to the latter - the pieces in the middle - it was the launch this week of two very different projects. The Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) ‘Elangeni’ residential development in the south-eastern sector of the Inner City and the Music Industry Development Initiative (MIDI) ‘Newtown Music Centre’ on the western side of the Inner City.
In regard to the former - the edges - details of which we’ll cover in a later edition, it is the very real progress that has been achieved in the development of an accurate Inner City Building Data Base (which is being accompanied by appropriate enforcement of city by-laws) as well as the launch of the City’s Spatial Development Framework.
These two issues are very much part of the framework, or of the ‘edges’ in the jigsaw puzzle analogy. They also are very clear evidence of Council’s increasing commitment to the revitalisation of the Inner City.
Rather than deal with the statistical information related to the two buildings being launched, I thought readers might be interested in some of the underlying philosophies that were expressed in some of the speeches.
In fact, the highlights for me at both launches were some of the supporting speeches rather than those of the main speakers, with respect! In the case of the launch of the Elangeni housing project the welcome by two speakers, Santi Botha, Group Executive Director of the ABSA Group and of John Coulter the Chief Executive of JP Morgan were significant.
In her welcome, Santi Botha confessed how satisfying it was for her to work in and be part of the inner city. ABSA were the main financiers of the Elangeni project, the first major institutional funding to be provided for inner city residential in the past 20 years; so they have truly put their money where their mouth is!
In his welcome, John Coulter spoke about JP Morgan’s part in the New York renewal programme and emphasised his organisation’s commitment to urban renewal through social and developmental support.
But it was the speech of the Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) Chairman, Bishop Mvume Dandala that highlighted why the urban renewal of Johannesburg is so different from those of other cities in other countries.
The Elangeni project has been developed on a site known as 80 Albert Street. Only locals will appreciate the significance of that address. 80 Albert Street was the site of the infamous "pass" or "dompas" offices of the apartheid regime.
Bishop Dandala said: "The buildings, rising as they do on this historic piece of land where many of our people were forced through the oppression and humiliation of the pass system speak for themselves.
"They are the vessels which will provide a safe, secure and dignified passage for those who come back to reclaim this part of the inner city... Some eight years ago I was part of the group that conceived the Johannesburg Housing Company, and piloted it through its feasibility stage.
"Many people said we were mad. The inner city was rough, uncontrollable, unbankable and should be abandoned to "them". I often wonder about the assumption and consequences of following through this advice. For what was being advocated was the abandonment of billions of rands of investment in property and infrastructure.
"The term "them" was used to diminish literally thousands of people who had taken their futures into their own hands and moved from the physical and spiritual poverty of apartheid ghettos to the relative freedom and opportunity of inner cities. Were we really being asked by the conventional wisdom of the day to consign this massive investment, this huge human response to political and economic opportunity, to oblivion?
"Who indeed was being mad? Eight years of working within a very different paradigm have exposed the still conventional wisdom about the inner city as myopic, racist and indeed subversive of social and economic growth.
JHC and its partners can proudly point you to 1 535 homes, a figure which increases to 1 709 with this evening’s launch, where over 4 000 men, women and children live in circumstances which expose the myth of "them".
The buildings are clean, quiet and orderly. Rent is paid as a matter of course. Vacancies are below 5%. Children go to school, parents go to work. Communities discuss issues related to improving the management of the buildings, and participate in life skills, sports and cultural activities.
"So, behind the physical project that you see this evening, is a social housing institution making a significant contribution to the regeneration of the city. However, and in my view more importantly, behind the organisation is an approach which is driven by a community based theory of social investment. "They" have become "us".
And "we" are now a major asset to the community, the city and the country."
Great words by a man whom I believe will play an increasingly significant role in the future of this country.
The second launch was that of the Newtown Music Centre.
A couple of years ago I was on a panel adjudicating the award of seed funds to various creative industry initiatives for the development of projects in Newtown on the western edge of the inner city.
One of the ‘winners’ was the MIDI Trust – the Music Industry Development Initiative. Its General Manager, Rosie Katz, spoke about the work of the Trust and how the years of dreaming and planning had finally taken shape in the buildings which were now being officially opened.
She later told me that the opening was for her personally the culmination of a seven-year dream. Certainly for me, it was exciting to be able to see the results of the decision that had been taken just a few years ago, for Rosie it must have been mind-blowing!
The Newtown Music Centre is a multi-purpose venue that features a 1 000-capacity main arena, a smaller live music venue and hospitality suite, training facilities, 6 rehearsal studios and recording studios.
The project is highly developmental focused and the live music provided at the launch was like wow, man! The whole initiative is just so exhilarating!
In another supporting speech, Xoliswa Ngema, the JDA Project Manager for Newtown, provided a concise, focused update on the development of the area: "Newtown is set to become the creative capital of Johannesburg and South Africa offering a wealth of arts and creative activities such as dance, music, craft, theatre, performance venues, museums, science & technology centre and a computer club.
"The vision for the area is quite ambitious, with a number of strategies in place to achieve it.
"The first is to make the area safe, secure and attractive to overcome the perception that Johannesburg has nothing to offer except crime and grime. We will be installing 10 additional CCTV cameras and these will be in place before the World Summit in August.
The second part of the strategy centres on infrastructure development and accessibility. Contractors are on site to develop the Nelson Mandela Bridge and the Carr Street interchange. The upgrading of infrastructure is ongoing. We are busy with the upgrading of Turbine Hall, The Electric Workshop, the walkways and pavements.
Thirdly, we are turning Newtown into a 24-hour city, by building 2 000 townhouses behind the Market Theatre, the area is called Brickfields, giving people an opportunity to work and live in the area.
Lastly is the clustering of the creative industries in one area. As mentioned, these are theatres, museum, craft, dance, science & technology and music. As we all know these sectors play an important role and contribute meaningfully to job and wealth creation."
So, the pieces in the puzzle are coming together more and more rapidly and the end result is going to be a unique and exciting city. But the bottom line is Bishop Dandala’s words: "they" have become "us"!
