Masond inspects Noord Street taxi rank

During a tour of this vibrant area on Tuesday, 25 August, Executive Mayor Amos Masondo, accompanied by the mayoral committee, said he was impressed by what he saw but admitted that there were a few areas that still had to be spruced up.

"The road show is meant to get us close to reality. One hopes that as we tour the inner city, we put more energy into what we are doing," he said, as the tour wound through Hillbrow.

Governor's House

On the western edge of Hillbrow is the Governor's House, a pristine heritage building that was renovated after it was gutted by fire some years ago. Masondo visited the house, which is now used as a community development centre.

Within it is a child development centre run by members of the City's community development unit. It has facilities for street children who have been taken off the streets of the inner city to stay, and be reunited with their families.

Linear markets
Still in Hillbrow, Masondo was taken through the linear markets along Quartz Street. Put up by the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) and managed by the Metropolitan Trading Company, they are complete but do not have storage or ablution facilities.

Responding to Masondo's queries about this, Lael Bethlehem, the chief executive officer of the JDA, said this was because of a lack of budget, but they would be added as soon as money became available.

Pasted on street poles, walls, bollards and trees, are posters advertising different services. Masondo, pointing to one advertising "prophet" services, said the matter of these illegal posters had to be dealt with by the City's by-law enforcement unit.

"There are phone numbers on these posters and the culprits will have to be contacted and dealt with," he said.

A few metres away from the linear markets, two waste skips were brim-full and spilling rubbish on to the streets, despite Quartz Street being spotless clean. Masondo said it was imperative that waste was collected every day, otherwise efforts to spruce up the inner city would come to nought.

Yeoville
In Yeoville, Rockey Street is looking spick and span, a far cry from the Rockey Street of a few years ago, which was characterised by dirt and crumbling buildings. Thanks to the JDA, new paving has been installed and new buildings have been built or are being built, including a new library and a new recreation centre.

Along Hendon Street, still in Yeoville, what's left of a 60-year-old building stands. Behind the ruins of the once prestigious building, a cottage composed of three rooms has been erected, in which three families live.

One tenant said they paid R500 a month rent to a man called "Ndebele" who lived in Jeppestown. "The building has obviously been invaded illegally and the structure has to be demolished," said Masondo.

A JDA official said a demolition order had been issued, but because the building was more 60 years old, the agency was meeting resistance from the National Heritage Council.

City centre
Noord Street in the city centre is notorious for overcrowding and traffic congestion, mainly caused by illegally parked taxis. This is because the Noord Street Taxi Rank has been partially closed as there is flooding in the basement.

Bethlehem said the JDA had found that fire hydrants were the main cause of the flooding. To fix the problem, Bethlehem called on Joburg Water to replace the 50mm pipes, but did not specify when it would be fixed and at what cost.

Yet another building that had been abandoned and left to rot was 120 End Street; however, the Affordable Housing Company (Afhco) has completely renovated the 26-storey structure into beautiful, affordable rental flats.

"There are 924 apartments of different sizes for people of different incomes. Some apartments are already occupied and we are busy with developing a food court in the foyer," said Renney Plitt, the managing director of Afhco.

A huge shopping centre was also planned for the neighbourhood, according to Plitt. It would occupy about two blocks, making it one of the biggest shopping centres in the city.

In order to create a liveable environment for residents of 120 End Street, a stunning park with two five-a-side soccer pitches has been built just across the building. And Afhco has built a school, called City Kidz, for inner city children.

Responding to Afhco's needs, especially the issue of invaded buildings, Masondo said the City was in need of transitional housing because a lot of people lived in "unsafe conditions".

"As the City we are also committed to the renewal of the inner city. We try to work together with stakeholders and we will go out of our way to make sure all your issues are addressed."

Masondo added that some building hijackers had been arrested and people who had illegally occupied them had been evicted.

Bus facility
Nearby, on Trump Street under the M12 highway, is the cross-border holding facility. About 82 buses mainly plying the South Africa-Zimbabwe route are based in this facility, which was relocated from several sites in Braamfontein and the inner city.

Bus drivers have complained of a lack of toilets with running water, lighting and storage facilities. The drivers and commuters now use temporary toilets that are changed everyday.

Masondo also suggested that proper signage be erected in the holding facility.

One of the biggest developments to be undertaken in years in the inner city is going up. Banking giant Absa has poured more than R1,1-billion into upgrading its corporate headquarters, and a new wing, Absa Towers West, an office building with over 150 000m2 of floor space, is being built.

From this prestigious development, the tour wound its way to Chancellor House, where the law firm of former president Nelson Mandela and struggle stalwart Oliver Tambo was located, before their conviction for high treason. The JDA has set aside some R10-million to renovate the building.

A huge space next to the Bree Street Taxi Rank is always a hive of activity, with scores of parked taxis. Smoke billows from fires cooking skop, or cow's head, and other delicacies fancied by taxi drivers. At the far end, a group of people play an assortment of gambling games.

The member of the mayoral committee for infrastructure, Roslyn Greeff, who took over as acting executive mayor when Masondo had to leave the tour to attend a South African Local Government Association meeting in Cape Town, said the area should be monitored daily since most of the activities being conducted were illegal.

However, the food vendors appealed to be given some space where they would pay rent to operate their businesses.

Bethlehem explained that it was difficult to manage the site because it was owned by Transnet, the national transport utility, which was responsible for its upkeep.

As the tour left the area, it was invaded by the metro police department's by-law enforcement unit - and people could be seen running helter-skelter, some with steaming pots of skop and tables on their heads.

West
A drive through Fordsburg in the west revealed the good work being done by the JDA to turn the area into a beautiful residential and business space. The newly paved pavements are lined with young trees and the area is spotless clean.

Along Carr Street, behind the Potato Shed, a new shopping centre is to be built, with Bethlehem saying it would be three-quarters the size of Eastgate Shopping Centre when finished.

"The shopping centre will cost about R1-billion and will include 10 000m2 of retail space. However, the process to build [it] is being held behind by an illegally occupied building where 120 people have taken up residence," she said.

However, these people were set to be evicted in early November for the shopping mall development to begin.

The tour ended at Turbine Hall, in Newtown, which was renovated to accommodate the headquarters of mining company AngloGold Ashanti. The stunning building, which many people have recognised as an architectural masterpiece, is also home to a commercial conference venue, The Forum.

Wrapping up the tour, Greef said the work being done in the inner city was "impressive" and commended the Region F director, Nathi Mthethwa, for a job being well done.

"The inner city is finally looking like any other big city in the world. It is now a beautiful living environment. We have seen some amazing places but we also saw some not so impressive places which we have to redress urgently," she said.

Greef noted that a lot of taxi facilities were not being managed properly, hence the City had to put a lot of energy into this. She commended Absa for putting "tremendous" investment into the inner city. "A lot of things are coming together at last," she concluded.