JMPD; Gautrain Citichat 6 July 2001

CITICHAT 26/2001 - 6 July 2001


JMPD Launch and Gautrain announced

No, I don't want to talk above our 'move' other than that at the end of five days we are only slightly more settled than we were when we started the week, and that isn't saying much! Maybe, just maybe, we will have returned to some degree of sanity/normalcy by the end of next week and maybe, just maybe, we'll have been able to get some work done by then. However we have managed to keep our sense of humour.! So a bit of pot pourri for this week's Citichat.

The launch of the Metropolitan Police Services some months ago was viewed by some with quiet optimism and not-so-quiet cynicism by others. It was suggested that the 'new' service was just the 'old in new uniforms' bringing with them a reputation for corruption and lack of will to enforce. I was optimistic (some will say "as usual") and prepared to wait and see what effect the new force was going to generate in the city. By the end of May, early June, I was becoming a bit despondent - my major problem was that I had hardly seen any presence of the new force let alone results arising from their establishment. Something clearly happened about that time, for, all of a sudden, there were groups of the new officers well in evidence in the city and patrol cars abounded both in the city and on the freeways (freeways which have hardly witnessed a municipal patrol car for years!) Twice this week, when I've escaped from the chaos of unpacking (and you can't unpack if your packed cartons haven't arrived!), I have driven through major roadblocks which were politely yet firmly managed. This morning I had a meeting with senior By-Law Enforcement officers and was delighted to hear that a dedicated task-force of some 78 officers started on informal trading enforcement this week. I do still have a concern at the apparent ratio of those in patrol cars to those on the ground. Some years ago I was fortunate to be able to hear a presentation by George Kelling who, with his wife, Catherine Coles, wrote the book " Fixing Broken Windows" (the theory was not developed by Mayor Guilliani nor by his police chief William Bratton but by a Stanford University psychologist Philip Zimbardo and then developed further by Kelling). Kelling suggested that enforcement in New York had been negatively and seriously affected by two issues. The first was the '999' emergency number that resulted in large numbers of police hanging about 'waiting for the phone to ring'! The second was the removal of the 'bobby-on-the-beat' when foot officers were redeployed into patrol cars. The result was to lose touch with the very community they were supposed to be protecting and the diminution of their visibility on the ground. We need to guard against that, certainly the success of Improvement Districts is the high visibility of security and the Metro Police Services could do well to follow that example. The other concern must be their reluctance to do anything about the constant parking violations on Gandhi Square many of which stem from various Council employees themselves.

From policing to trains! Some time ago Premier Mbazima Shilowa announced the proposed Rapid Rail Link between Johannesburg and Pretoria. The project has become one of the ten adopted by the Provincial Government's Blue I.Q. initiative. This aims to actively promote and invest in a whole range of strategic projects in order to maximise the competitive advantage of the province, or, in their words, "to optimise Gauteng's role as the 'smart' hub of Africa. Two of the other projects being supported by Blue I.Q. that will benefit the city are the Newtown redevelopment (including MetroMarket and Mary Fitzgerald Square) and Constitution Hill. The so-called Gautrain Rapid Rail Link is quite correctly being punted primarily as an economic development and only secondly as a transport initiative. Some years ago I attended an IDA Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina and traveled on their then recently established historic tram route. Very different obviously to what is in mind here, but the developers made no bones about the fact that this was an economic initiative and the new and refurbished developments along its route provided strong evidence of its success.

Our public transport system has always been pathetic and certainly rail has hardly played a role over many decades in serving the economic development of either Pretoria or Johannesburg. The system now under consideration is aimed at commercially active persons needing to commute between Johannesburg and Pretoria as well as the Johannesburg International Airport thus also servicing national and international tourists. I must say that for sheer convenience you can't beat rail travel that delivers you right into your airport having booked your luggage onto your flight at the railway station! Current planning provides for the main stations to be located in Johannesburg CBD, Rosebank, Sandton, Midrand, Centurion, Pretoria CBD, Hatfield and Kempton Park. The service will have 'predictable service levels and travelling times' with the 57 km section between Johannesburg and Pretoria being covered in below 38 minutes requiring maximum speeds of 160 to 200 km/hour. The project is being mooted as "an alternative, economically feasible and environment-friendly solution to the public transport and traffic congestion challenges for Gauteng."

The project is being approached on a 'Build-Operate-Transfer' basis, which means that the successful tenderer will be responsible for the infrastructure as well as the operation of the system. A conference detailing the requirements and procedures is to be held shortly. A Pre-Qualification and Tender Process will start this year with construction scheduled to start in the first half of 2003 and completion in 2006.

Food, glorious food! The Portugalia Restaurant at 62 Troye Street has recently refurbed and is great. It is run by Mozambican singer Rosalia Mbo'a and her husband and specialises in Mozambican cuisine. Matapa (crushed, boiled cassava leaves stewed in liquidised peanuts or coconut cooked with prawns, onions, tomato, ginger, garlic and peri-peri and served with rice or boiled green banana);cacana with prawns and other goodies; galinha a peri-peri (peri-peri chicken), camarao grelhado (grilled shrimp peri-peri). Very friendly - some of these dishes take a few hours to prepare so orders should be made in advance - great food - tel 083-466 6471.