Ejo’burg.. esdididini – Will Joburg be ready for 2010?
“Ejo’burg….esidididini” – Special Assignment does its usual sniffing around to find the truth and this week its somewhere close to our heart – the Joburg Inner City building renewal plan – the big question is – will Jozi be ready for 2010 – make sure to watch and find out!
Special Assignment
10 May 2005
SABC3
2130
The challenges are formidable, yet exciting. “Ejo’burg.. esdidi…
dini” explores the process of turning the city around in time for the 2010 World Cup. It is directed by Msizi Khuhlane and was filmed by Jan de Klerk.
They call them “sink holes” or “bad buildings”, the many derelict buildings in Jo’burg’s inner city. They have been abandoned by their owners and now house illegal tenants who live in squalor and fear. Toilets overflow, pipes leak and refuse piles up in the stairwells. This Tuesday Special Assignment travels with the Inner City Task Force, the team responsible for targeting these buildings and making them habitable again.
Rescuing bad buildings from the abyss is just one of the strategies the Jo’burg Metro has adopted to revive the inner city. South Africa will be hosting the Soccer World Cup in 2010 and all our major centres will have to be ready for the spectacle. Johannesburg is the country’s economic hub and the aim is to make the CBD and surrounding areas a destination of choice – for tourists and locals alike. Ultimately the goal is to make Jozi world class.
There is one big problem though. The Johannesburg city centre is probably far less ready for the soccer spectacle than most of our other cities. By the mid 90s it had gone into decline as major businesses started vacating it for the safety of the northern suburbs. Crime was out of control, hawkers had started trading where they pleased, and many apartment blocks were overwhelmed by large numbers of tenants. Even the Johannesburg Stock Exchange had left, symbolising the departure of serious capital from the inner city. And with capital gone, grime and crime took over.
In the last three years there have been fresh moves to rejuvenate the inner city. The Johannesburg Development Agency has been tasked with the daunting task of turning Johannesburg around in time for the 2010 soccer spectacle. The inner city and surrounding areas are abuzz with construction: new residential blocks are going up in places like Newtown, while majestic old buildings are being renovated and turned into upmarket apartments. Any vibrant city has a mix of residents and business, and city strategists hope to achieve just this.
Steps have also been taken to deal with crime. In a desperate effort to rid the city of thugs, the Metro and big business set up a surveillance system to monitor the streets. It is a move that has paid off. The last bank robbery in the CBD was in 2002 and was thwarted in just 46 seconds. In response, many businesses have now chosen to stay on in the city centre, while SAPPI has just built its impressive new headquarters in Braamfontein.
