What public participation?

Jeanrique Snyman

nmt@caxton.co.za

BY accepting the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, residents who live in the suburbs along the route have unwittingly thrust greatness upon themselves.

Residents, residents' associations and interest groups showed up in full force at a participatory planning session for mayor Parks Tau's Corridors of Freedom on Tuesday 26 November at Marks Park.

By constructively engaging with city officials, keeping the meeting cordial and holding back neither concerns nor suggestions, they will shape the future of Johannesburg irrevocably as the city sheds its apartheid urban landscape in the decades to come.

Even though they seem to have little choice in the matter.

“I registered as an interested and affected party and attended every meeting since the planning phase of the Rea Vaya project,” Auckland Park resident Pierre Roestoff protested.

“No mention of this development corridor was made at those meetings. This plan seems to have slipped through the back door.”

The Rea Vaya Development Corridor, referred to as the Corridor of Freedom, forms part of the City of Johannesburg's growth and development strategy. At its roots, the project is aimed at turning Johannesburg into a transport-centric city to put it on par with other major cities across the globe. It represents a significant turning point in the urban management of Johannesburg, still criticised for being an apartheid city in the way its citizens make use of its urban infrastructure. The Corridors of Freedom are supposed to change all that in the next 20 to 40 years.

It therefore made little sense that the public participation phase of the project only lasts until 29 November. Residents committed to participate, but made it clear to city officials that three weeks would simply not be enough time. One Melville resident observed that the project appears to be a fait accompli, but that it would be a pie in the sky until critical details were hammered out.

“Where are the studies which prove that it is feasible to build high-density residential housing as far from the corridor as Melville Koppies? Did someone just take a coloured pen and apply zoning by numbers?” the resident asked.

The overwhelming response put city officials on the back foot, who committed to revise the consultative process, much to the relief of Ward 69 councillor Katja Naumann, whose ward includes many of the suburbs which will be affected directly by the development corridor.

She has been informed by every residents' association in her ward that they oppose the project in its current form.

“Johannesburg's need to densify is understandable as one of Africa's foremost cities,” she told NMT. “I would like to commend all the residents who attended this meeting as it displayed their commitment to their homes as well as their social responsibility.”

“I do, however, hope that more concrete details regarding the plans are made available so that we can find middle ground before any rash decisions are made.”