Stakeholders in a new move to halt inner city decay
21 November 2016
The City of Johannesburg and its key stakeholders in the inner city – including business owners, informal traders, property owners and church representatives – will on Thursday November 24 hold a crucial meeting at which a committee to spearhead efforts to rid the city of grime and tackle urban decay will be established.
The move follows a major clean-up campaign in the inner city in October during which the Executive Mayor, Cllr Herman Mashaba, vowed to reclaim the area from filth and urban decay to create a conducive environment for businesses to invest in, create jobs and grow the economy.
The City has, in terms of the newly adopted 10-point plan, committed itself to achieving a minimum of 5% economic growth by 2021.
During the October clean-up campaign, Mayor Mashaba received a memorandum from the St Mary’s Cathedral detailing how the church precinct could be revamped. He committed to working with the church to improve the surroundings.
Last week Thursday, November 17, several City entities – including the Johannesburg Roads Agency, Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), waste management entity Pikitup, Johannesburg Water and the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) – joined forces and descended on the church precinct to create awareness of the importance of environmental cleanliness among informal traders, business owners and residents working and living around the precinct.
Region F Citizen Relationship Urban Management Acting Director Pieter van Vuuren said there were a lot of challenges within the precinct, including crime, vagrancy, overcrowding and illegal dumping. He said the Mayor had decided that the precinct be given top priority.
“We want the locals to know that the City intends to clean up the area. They must help us make it sustainable,” Van Vuuren said.
He said Thursday’s meeting at the cathedral would also tackle challenges faced by residents. The Environmental Health Department will make a presentation on by-laws and regulations that must be complied with at the meeting.
The Dean of the Cathedral, the Right Reverend Xolani Dlwathi, said: “For me, there is an improvement, which shows the beginning of new things. And it’s quite impressive that there are steps being taken to resolve this.
“For us, however, what we really want to see is a clean precinct that is properly managed, with by-laws that are enforced, and proper security in place. We want our people to be safe when they come to the cathedral.”