Decay Constitution Hill Citichat 15 July 1999

CITICHAT 22/99 - 15 July 1999


Inner City Decay & Constitution Hill

Even the so-called best brains in the world can talk rubbish. The East African Standard of 28th June quotes that Richard Leakey (re-established director of Kenya Wildlife Services and nominated by Time magazine as one of the twenty best brains of the 20th Century) wrote to The Daily Telegraph in reply to their article headlined “Kenya hit by a plague of bandits” saying “there is crime in Kenya and the large towns and cities are obviously the worst places, as they are in any country. For sure, Nairobi is not anywhere as bad as Johannesburg at the best of times.” I had dinner with a Nairobian some time ago and he was telling me how driving to work every morning was hazardous, apart from negotiating the roads which are a series of potholes held together by some tarmac, the daily roadblocks of the local police en-route to the city require payments of “dash” or your timely arrival at work is seriously endangered. It’s not a good idea to score points off other cities, as pointed out by the writer of the article “when elephants fight, only the grass gets damaged.”

At the other end of the scale a realistic assessment of ‘Johannesburg’s decay and prospects for renewal’ was recently published by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) which I think does a great job. Written by Caroline Kihato, a CPS policy analyst, the article recognises the complexity of inner city decay and that, “in order to succeed, inner city renewal programmes need to be efficient, effective, holistic in their approach and cater for a diversity of local needs and interests. While physical and social upgrading are esssential for successful inner city renewal programmes, they are not sufficient in themselves. In many ways, the success of inner city regeneration programmes hinges on the way in which political issues are addressed. Thus inner city renewal strategies in South Africa need to guarantee local government’s accountability to its citizens, and ensure that it continues to meet its constitutional and civic obligations.”

What I really appreciated is the succinct statement on the kernel of our current problem which I have been preaching for some time but never as eloquently; “Ultimately, though, the decay of Johannesburg, as that of world cities, is related to change. Although this is by no means the only causal factor, apartheid policies of racial segregation and separate development impacted significantly on cities in South Africa, and particularly on Johannesburg, which is the country’s premier and economic business centre. Apartheid artificially kept a large proportion of the population out of the city, in order to promote the state’s policy of racial segregation and to lessen social and welfare expenditure on a large non-white labour force. Blacks were prohibited from living in the city itself or from owning city businesses, and blacks in rural areas were prohibited from migratine even to urban townships. Thus, when the apartheid state crumbled, the authorities wee unprepared for the large numbers of people who streamed to the cities. Johannesburg in particular has experienced a large influx of people from neighbouring countries, rural area and townships in search of economic opportunities and accommodation close to areas of work.”

She makes some really interesting observations in regard to opportunities and limits of public-private partnerships which create grounds for a great deal of thought - and debate. If you would like a copy, let me know or contact the Centre directly on cps@wn.apc.org.

Last Friday night saw a presentation/update on the Constitutional Court by the architects for the project. Talented bunch of people who have crafted the imagery and symbolism of our new Constitution and of Democracy itself into their design whilst retaining African heritage and tradition. They have also provided stark reminders of just what the Fort represented. Great stuff! That it was freezing cold in the courtyard of the Fort where the presentation took place, was a stark but infinitesimal reminder of the privation that so many had suffered in that place, man’s incredible inhumanity to man.

Think about that extract from the CPS publication and the symbolism of the Constitutional Court and one must conclude that the Johannesburg CBD itself must become a working, living symbol of the past overcome by the present and the future.