New City Manager, Premier Comment, Media Citichat 6 April 2001

CITICHAT 13/2001 - 6 April 2001


New City Manager, Premier’s Inner City Interest, Poor Media Reporting

Hidden away in last weekend's Sunday Times Metro was the announcement of the appointment of Pascal Moloi to the post of City Manager as successor to Ketso Gordhan who did great foundational work on the Council's major restructuring process. Pascal worked closely with Ketso as the GJMC Transformation Manager and comes to his new position with solid local government experience under his belt and skills at a high level. I know that he is also committed to the revitalisation of the inner city so his appointment bodes well for the future. Excellent choice!

Then on Tuesday a meeting convened by the Premier, Mbhazima Shilowa, with a number of his MECs, the Executive Mayor and members of his Mayoral Committee, senior officials from the Provincial Government and the Council and what the media insist on calling 'captains of industry' (surely there is a more appropriate name for business leaders?)

The meeting had originally been called by the Premier to review the inner city CCTV project but he used the opportunity and broadened the focus to the inner city revitalisation programme. After presentations by the CCTV team, business and the council, the Premier displayed an excellent grasp of the problems and issues as well as the initiatives which are underway and planned. I say excellent grasp, because over the past five or so years I have attended a number of such meetings with the Premier's predecessors who generally haven't been as inciteful. They also usually ended up crossing the lines of city responsibility between different levels of government which in turn created confusion in the ranks. To be honest, I go to these sessions with a feeling of dread as to the outcome which is usually the creation of yet another committee which does nothing but talk. I particularly remember one a couple of years ago which was attended by all the wrong people, all with lots of opinions and no commitment. Not one single initiative emerged from it! Premier Shilowa, on the other hand, said that he would not suffer the opinions and advice of the many people whose only actually owned nothing in the city and worked outside of it. He wanted people who had a real interest through investment and ownership and presence in some form. He also skillfully diverted attempts to set up yet another task force under his chairmanship placing the prime responsibility where it should be, with the city, whilst motivating the private sector to continue with its partnership involvement.

Clearly he intends to continue to keep his finger on the pulse of the city and act as catalyst and motivator. His Government has already demonstrated their commitment through their recently announced 'Blue IQ' initiative. This initiative has three strategic thrusts for the Province. Creating a high value-added manufacturing sector, enabling Gauteng to become the SMART Province of South Africa and developing the Province's service sector. 10 mega projects have been identified and R1,7 billion has been allocated to them. These include investment in two major Inner City projects being the upgrading of the Newtown Cultural Precinct and the creation of Constitutional Hill which will include South Africa's first permanent Constitutional Court. There are also others that will have a positive impact on the city including the rapid speed train between the city and Pretoria and the upgrading of the City Deep Container depot. I'm particularly enthusiastic about one of the technology projects which is aimed at raising the level of computer literacy in Gauteng's public schools by ensuring that every one of our 1.5 million pupils has free access to the internet and a personal e-mail address, and every school equipped with at least 25 computers. That's a great investment for the future.

Lows were obviously the four deaths in the fire in the Drill Hall but also some of the media reporting on the Premier's meeting. "Province, city and business agree to revamp Joburg inner city" is the headline in the Star. Whoever writes these headlines does huge damage to the credibility of those who have been committed to and working on the revamp for years. "What again?" Must have been the general re-action to the headline! "After all we've read that same headline half a dozen times in as many years!" Yawn. "More hype and spin!" The headline probably killed off any interest in reading the article which provided a somewhat more accurate report of the proceedings and outcome.

Province, city and business agreed to revamp the city years ago and have steadily been working towards that target. Here are just ten highlights in that process:

• 1995 The establishment of the Johannesburg Inner City Business Coalition to represent Business’ interests in the revitalisation process.

• 1996.The establishment of the Johannesburg Inner City Development Forum (JICDF) with five sectoral partners, Council, Provincial Government, Business, Community and Labour the main objective of which was to develop the city’s first legitimate Vision for its future.

• 1997. A Strategic Plan and Urban Renewal Strategy for the city is crafted out of the Vision and agreed between the sectoral partners.

• 1997. The Vision and Urban Renewal Strategy is announced by then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki.

• 1998. The Forum (JICDF) is superceded by an inner City Council Committee with the same sectoral partners to oversee the implementation of the Strategic Plan

• 1998 The Inner City Office is established and an Inner City Manager appointed to co-ordinate and spearhead Council’s role in the process.

• 1999. A Spatial and Economic Framework for the city is adopted.

• 1999. The Vision leads to new policies for inner city housing, informal trading, taxis, etc.

• 2000. A Strategic Development Plan for the city is established

• 2001. The newly elected Executive Mayor identifies the Inner City as one of six priorities in the metro area and appoints a councillor to his 'Cabinet' with specific responsibility for the Inner City.

Everything that is happening, and there is a lot right now, comes out of the above.

It's an ongoing integrated process, dammit, and the outcomes are visibly emerging from the base that has been created over the past five/six years. A process that has been continuously reported on by the media which appears to have no-one interested enough to try to understand it. Now, because the Premier holds a meeting, it’s an "agreement to revamp the city". If I only had some hair left I would tear it out in frustration!