Jozi inner city belongs to everyone

08 June 2016

 

There would be no redevelopment of the Johannesburg inner city without or at the expense of the poor, Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau said last night.

 

Addressing more than 400 people at the Johannesburg City Hall during a Ntirhisano community outreach programme, Mayor Tau said the inner city belonged to everyone who lived in it – and the poor were part and parcel of it.

“In order to build Johannesburg into a world-class African city, all the stakeholders must be involved and the poor should have a choice where they want to live and prosper,” he said.

Ntirhisano is a provincial initiative that brings the provincial government, municipalities and communities together to unlock service delivery issues facing them.
Ntirhisano is a Xitsonga word for “co-operation” or “working together”.

The Executive Mayor was accompanied by several Members of the Mayoral Committee, including Councillors Rosslyn Greeff (Development Planning and Urban Management),who was programme director; Chris Vondo (Community Development); Matshidiso Mfikoe (Environment and Infrastructure Services); Nonceba Molwele (Health and Social Development); Christine Walters (Transport); Mally Mokoena (Corporate and Shared Services) and Sello Lemao (Public Safety).

The meeting was also attended by Inner City Whip Councillor Phineas Madisha, Councillor Zama Shezi, City Manager Trevor Fowler and Region F Director Irene Mafune.

Mayor Tau also said the City of Johannesburg had agreed with the informal traders in the inner city that they should trade in designated areas where they would be provided with all the necessary facilities. He said informal traders were a very important component of the economic development of the city.

“We understand that informal traders contribute a lot to the economy of the city. We should stop talking about formalising informal traders. We should instead leave them informal, but well-managed and controlled. We will continue working with all the people of the inner city,” the Mayor said.