Halfway House Development Forum (HHDF) co-founder Rob Fowler believes the efforts to improve the image of the city for the G20 gathering had a positive impact on Midrand.

Fowler said it was great. That the focused energy, effort, and commitment from all city agencies was greatly appreciated, but that it needs to continue going forward with even greater vigour.

He said 2025 has been a good year for the HHDF, but there is still much work to be done in 2026 to make Midrand great again. “As far as the HHDF is concerned, I believe that the biggest benefit is the awareness that Halfway House and the Boulders/Midrand taxi rank area is a really valuable part of the larger Midrand area.

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“It is not like some other parts of Midrand, where developers are able to secure their precincts and create their own security and development bubbles, and off their own bat secure and enforce compliance with the municipal by-laws.”

He said Halfway House CBD has none of these protections, having to rely almost entirely on Johannesburg Road Agency, Johannesburg Water, City Power, Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo, the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD), the SAPS, and many other agencies to work together to maintain law and order.

Fowler said, secondly, the entities and authorities had to ensure that the area develops in a sensible and logical manner, in line with the rest of the city.

“We have had wonderful inputs from municipal officials and local property owners, but they cannot do it alone. Their efforts have helped improve the overall environment in Halfway House, for business and for the thousands of commuters who use the taxi rank every day.

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The efforts by these officials to try to form an ongoing working relationship with all the municipal agencies has not been without its own problems, but it has led to a more focused and successful approach.”

He described the lack of real involvement by more rate-paying property owners in uplifting their own business neighbourhood as unfortunate.

“We need for the City of Johannesburg to fully realise that Midrand and Halfway House are really important parts of the larger city, and that they need every resource that can be mustered to ensure that it continually improves, as a business and high density neighbourhood, and does not slide back into decay and criminality.”

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