Mayor Mashaba’s dream meets with discontent from residents

City of Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba‘s dream of turning the inner city into a construction site was met with discontent from occupants of two of the three properties identified for development on 24 January.

Mashaba accompanied by MMCs for Economic Development Leah Knott, Development Planning Reuben Masango, City manager Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni and stakeholders visited Vannin Court on Kotze Street, Beaconsfield in Hillbrow at Quartz Street and Newton property and Gwigwi Mwrebi Street with appointed companies to unveil the dream that will replace the overcrowded and hijacked buildings into decent and affordable accommodation.

However, occupants of Vannin Court and Beaconsfield were baffled and displeased by the visit. Johanna Sithole said she has been living in the Beaconsfield building for 26 years. She and other occupants were unhappy about the development that they were not informed about.

“We are surprised and concerned about what is happening,” said Sithole. “We have not been informed about any developments that would take place. What will happen to us?”

The three properties are part of 84 that belong to the City and had been hijacked which has led to overcrowding, dilapidation and loss of revenue for the City. Managing director of City of Joburg Property Company Helen Botes said the City was embarking on the audit of residents and would provide temporary accommodation during the construction of the properties. “The City will be going through the process according to the law. An intensive consultation process will also be conducted.

“We are still in the negotiation process and signing of the agreement with the developer.”

Vannin Court and Beaconsfield were awarded to a family business EGC Properties and the one in Newton was awarded to Johannesburg Housing Company.

Mashaba said the event was an official set-off on the journey of rejuvenating the inner-city through the provision of quality low-cost accommodation for residents, which is a long-standing quest there to help us address a housing list backlog that easily exceeds 300 000 units.

“Since coming into office, the multi-party coalition government has made tackling the City’s housing crisis one of its top priorities for bringing change to the City of Johannesburg.

“It has always been the current administration’s belief that key to bringing about this change to the City is unlocking the massive potential of the inner-city – not only for the purpose of meeting our housing challenges head-on but for the purpose of creating jobs as well.”

Mashaba added that the developers have committed a proposed total investment of just over R204 million with the potential to create about 900 jobs during the construction phase.

What is your view about the construction project for the inner city?

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