Wake up to the wake-up calls

Johannesburg – once an economically thriving, clean city, with a well-maintained world-class infrastructure – has become the microcosm of most South African metropolitan cities, plagued by filth, decay and dysfunction.

Flat blocks turning into slums, litter, potholes, unmaintained roads, damaged robots and rampant crime have all become too familiar in downtown Johannesburg, mirroring most urban settings in the country.

Desperate to find shelter and any opportunity to make a living, people – mostly economic migrants from neighbouring African countries – settle in Jozi at great risk to their lives and their families.

Prepared to take a huge risk by living in hazardous conditions in abandoned buildings – dilapidated apartments, partitioned with wood and iron and resembling shacks – some illegal foreign nationals have been paying rent to slum lords.

Last August’s inferno, which killed 77 people and left scores injured when the Usindiso building in Marshalltown went up in flames is still vivid in our memories.

ALSO READ: Joburg fire: Building was ‘bound to end in flames’

And what has become clear is that living in such conditions, make it easy for a fire to spread.

This week, we woke up to the news of yet another Johannesburg fire, which has killed two people, with four others injured.

Still fresh in our memories is another disaster to hit the city: last July’s “gas explosion” in Lilian Ngoyi, formerly Bree, Rissik and Joubert streets of the central business district, leaving a trail of destruction.

A massive fissure overturned vehicles.

The explosion near the busy Bree taxi rank claimed the life of one person, injuring 48.

ALSO READ: Woman arrested after fatal fire engulfs hijacked building in Joburg CBD

Civil engineer and city consultant Johan la Grange said the explosion was fuelled by methane gas that infiltrated a tunnel under the road.

The problem in getting things restored – from closing potholes to fixing underground cables – is that a tender should first be sought, usually benefitting the politically well-connected.

Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda said the city was expected to spend R173 million to reconstruct Lilian Ngoyi Street.

How he arrived at the figure is what the public does not know, with the city already having spent about R4 million on procuring technology – drones, services of experts and providing temporary relief services, including water tankers and ablution facilities.

I bring up these incidents to illustrate what is at the core of our challenge: lack of leadership, from local to national level.

ALSO READ: PioTrans relaunches amid legal turmoil

While we witness decay setting in, there is no sense of urgency to fix what is wrong and choosing the right people to lead.

What we need are technocrats who know what they are talking about, including engineers who have been replaced by deployed cadres.

A commission of inquiry, hearing evidence on what led to the fire at the Usindiso building, is important, but what we urgently need is a plan to restore Johannesburg to its glory days.

Shortly after the Usindiso fire, President Cyril Ramaphosa described it as a “wake-up call” for South Africa, hoping that the City of Joburg would get to grips with housing and services issues in Jozi.

How many “wake-up calls” have we gone through?

ALSO READ: ‘PioTrans was reduced to nothing by evil people’, says Kunene as Rea Vaya gets new buses

There could still be more in the future.

Pushing out the slum lords from the city, restoring law and order, should be among several elements of a plan to be undertaken.

We may also need to tighten our border and immigration controls, with only legal foreign nationals permitted to live in South Africa – curbing the desperation and urge of some people to make slums their homes.