Partnership formed to clean up Umbilo

AS a result of reorganisation within the South Durban Basin (SDB) Area Based Management, the Umbilo Business Forum (UBF) has been allocated an area zone support officer who will be working with the UBF  on issues involving the eThekwini Municipality.

The support officer, Thabile Khumalo, along with Eurakha Singh, eThekwini area manager for the SDB Area Based Management, met with Ian Campbell-Gillies and Sikho Msomi from the UBF last week. At the meeting, Campbell-Gillies introduced the UBF to the two officers and said the UBF looked forward to working with them and seeing how their plans for the area fitted into what the UBF was planning and currently working on.

Campbell-Gillies said the UBF had undergone a growth programme aiming to increase membership by 20 businesses per month, with the aim of having 500 members during the course of next year.
“Our mandate is to recover business vibrancy and property values in the area and use new business practices to include the social repair of economic damage caused by apartheid. This has not been treated and social displacement and crime has resulted. We are engaging in nodal growth projects working with Jennifer Rampersad from Parks in the rescue and revival of Congella Park and aim to integrate park inhabitants into a work project. We are also preparing for the opening of a house in Davenport Avenue to deal with social and economic problems,” he said.

The UBF is also working on contributing to issues of safety and security and was involved in a joint project with Blue Security to improve visibility and reduce crime on Williams Road, Gale Street and Sydney Road.
“We are in consultation with Monique Marks to look into how we can repair the area in relation to issues such as whoonga and prostitution. We are concerned people looking to make a partnership with public and private people,” he said.

Singh said it was evident that the SDB and UBF had the same vision and that the SDB had a mandate from local government to form partnerships. “We need to work together, we can’t make a change alone,” she said.
Singh said Area Based Management was a concept piloted in the City five years ago, funded by the EU, where a small team provided facilitation and co-ordination to municipal departments.
“We run forums, do site inspections and walks in the area, bringing people together to identify issues. Over the past couple of months there has been a rethink about the way work can be restrategised, which has led to the precinct model approach. The municipality has tapped into the national skills fund and more staff has been deployed, which has given zone supports more capacity to work. We’re working proactively, we are not waiting for complaints,” she said.

She said the Area Based Management department’s main focus was service delivery co-ordination and municipal service delivery, however they were aware of social and economic development built into the programme.
“We’re happy to support any project in the area, and are here to support the UBF,” she said.