Johannesburg - City of Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said he intended to revitalise the inner city, despite the fact that the Johannesburg CBD has earned a reputation for violent crime, pickpocketing, and trash piles at street corners.
Gwamanda discussed plans to attract business back to the inner city while making sure it becomes a liveable and inspirational environment while delivering his State of the City Address (Soca) yesterday.
The mayor said the inner city reflected the heartbeat of Johannesburg, and special attention had to be paid to ensure that those who live and work in the CBD felt secure.
“The regeneration of the inner city of Johannesburg therefore remains a mayoral priority and will also remain a key priority for all departments and municipally-owned entities. The roadmap is the framework through which the city and multiple stakeholders can collectively pursue the vision of the inner city as a place of opportunity,” he said.
Gwamanda said that he would bring back dignity to the space by making sure it remained a well-governed, transformed, safe, clean and sustainable space.
“We must do all that is humanly possible to preserve the cultural economy of Johannesburg; an inner city that offers high-quality, sustainable services, supports vibrant economic activity and provides a warm welcome for all residents, migrants, commuters, workers, traders, investors and tourists,” he said.
The mayor said strides had already been made to ensure that informal trading was regulated and that trading areas were designated.
There were plans to renovate the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg precinct and revive cultural spots, which attract many for entertainment and leisure.
“Braamfontein, which is now a designated student precinct, is seeing a massive boom in the development of student accommodation. The noticeable development brought about by the Absa towers and surroundings is also a good example of what we are talking about. All of this is happening as a result of the city working with our partners in the private sector,” he said.
Gwamanda stressed the importance of keeping the inner city clean. He stated that it was the duty of everyone who worked and resided in the area to keep the environment clean.
“To make the inner city clean, we will focus on greater co-ordination with all stakeholders involved in the cleaning of the inner city. However, there must be an appreciation that keeping the inner city clean is not the responsibility of the municipality alone,” he said.
Gwamanda said there would be efforts to reclaim hijacked buildings.
In most cases, some of the buildings were used to house criminals and were hazardous to those renting from illegal landlords. He said technology would be used to curb crime in the city.
“We also want to create a security precinct where we will have different law enforcement agencies establish a joint operations centre equipped with the latest technology to combat crime decisively in the inner city.”
The mayor announced 11 key priorities that the Government of Local Unity would focus on, including good governance, financial sustainability, energy mix, sustainable service delivery, infrastructure development and refurbishment, job creation and opportunities, a safer city, an active and engaged citizenry, sustained economic growth, a green economy, and a smart city.
The Star