Up close with Lornette – First woman to chair Ilka

Some will remember her as a founding member of Woodmere Residents Association while others will remember her as the first woman to head up the I Love Kensington Association (Ilka); Mrs Lornette Joseph has a special place in her heart for her community.

While she is no longer the chairperson of Ilka she still sits on boards of various charity organisations.

It all started several years ago when an increase in crime led Woodmere residents in Primrose to take a stance.

Lornette was elected as the first chairperson for the area’s residents’ association.

“We had lots of burglaries and robberies. A neighbour was shot dead during a robbery. The neighbourhood had two streets in and out of the suburb and we wanted to close one and have the other boomed,” she said.

She said at the time it was easy to close a street.

Lornette’s committee was made up of key roleplayers with experience in the security industry, some even from outside South Africa.

She also served on a ward committee in charge of safety and security and youth.

Lornette said her family moved to Kensington eight years ago when her daughter was accepted at Jeppe High School for Girls.

Among other things she started attending the regular Ilka meetings.

She said she used to sit quietly in the meetings. Her voice was heard by many for the first time when she responded to a complaint about a restaurant that was being frequented by youth on Queen Street in Kensington.

The matter was later published in the EXPRESS.

“A resident was complaining about the restaurant. At the time EXPRESS used to have an SMS line. As readers we could send an SMS and it would be published and my response was published,” she said.

In her response she questioned the fairness of the resident’s complaint about the restaurant.

“I was looking at different points of the complaint. Though it was making a lot of noise I would never have heard it. I looked at the work that had already been done to the building. Also that there were two sex shops on the same road and there was no complaint about them. I was questioning the rationale behind that,” Mrs Joseph said.

She said the building was left vacant following the complaint.

“Now it can be hijacked by unwanted elements. If we had dealt with it in a different way maybe some people would still be employed,” she said.

She served on the Ilka committee and later was approached by the then chairperson.

Lornette said she had to consult her family before she could agree to take over the responsibilities.

She said the number of residents she would be in charge of would be increased drastically.

“I would be overseeing approximately 5 000 houses, and dealing with bylaws. I get myself into projects, I am not the one who just puts a signature and poses for pictures. It would mean that I would have to be away from home more,” she said.

Her family gave her nod.

Lornette said she protected her committee members during her term of office.

“I publicly said several times that you can attack me but not my team. My team is led by me and I would take the responsibility. As head of the team I have to. Also, my team and I were not getting special treatment wherever we went but we were seen and attacked on Facebook, verbally attacked and in the media.

“I remember I was once attacked for not fixing a pothole that I did not know anything about. Because the pothole had been there for two weeks I was sent private messages on Facebook,” she said.

Lornette said lasting relationships were also built during this time.

“I met wonderful people, people who are like family to me now,” she said.

She said her greatest achievement as an Ilka chairperson was getting rid of an invisible line between the Jeppe and Cleveland Police Station precincts.

She said at the time residents who were living on the boarder of these precincts would not be helped because they called the wrong station.

“If you called Jeppe you would be told, ‘no, you fall under Cleveland’ and same thing when they called Cleveland. Nobody would help. Residents were frustrated and angry about it,” she said.

She said though she was staying in the middle of the Jeppe SAPS precinct she would be told she had to call Cleveland SAPS or Yeoville SAPS.

“These stations were not talking. You could steal a car in Bedfordview, rob a house in Cleveland and drive two blocks and drop off the same car in the Jeppe SAPS precinct. Jeppe SAPS would have this abandoned stolen car from Bedfordview, Cleveland would have a house breaking but nobody would share information.

“My hope was to erase that invisible line. I wanted police to come and help and tell a complainant that the case would be transferred to the correct station if a resident called Jeppe SAPS to say she was hijacked, even if she was in the Cleveland SAPS precinct,” Lornette said.

She said residents now have both stations’ leadership on social networks.

Lornette is still involved with some charities in the area.

She said she and her team submitted all the documents of Ilka to the new committee when they left, to help with continuity.

“We made good strides that might be useful to the new team going forward,” she said.

She said she will continue to work with the charity organisation.

Being part of charities makes her human, which everybody needs.

“We not human when we swear at an old woman for crossing the road slowly, when we teach our children that it is alright to bribe a policeman or that it’s fine to smack somebody because we got smacked.

“Once we start doing one act of kindness, everything starts to change. It’s different … it’s not about religion or race, it’s about that one act of kindness. An act that can change a life of another person. The change that money can not buy,” she said.

Lornette said she could not cope without her family.

She said her family had to learn and understand that she could not attend some family meetings and gatherings and that sometimes her children could not see her enough.

She said she still get calls from the residents who need help.

“I normally give them the new committee members but where I can, I help,” she said.

Lornette said a “thank you” from the residents was most fulfilling for her.

She said she might move to politics this year.