Craig Bishop
Beyond the flea markets and street vendors, the Sandton cities and the hypermarket, a new breed of “shopping centre” is taking shape: multipurpose community centres – “one-stop development shopping malls” – promise to provide information-starved communities with free access to a wide range of services. In the heart of Alexandra, at Alexsan Resource Centre, that vision is being realised.
Alexsan director, Holly Lutton-Nel, is the force behind the success, but the community was involved from the outset. The centre, which has seen no money from the government, has become a symbol of pride, endeavour and self-reliance to locals.
It houses the only career-guidance office in the area, boasts a satellite clinic with fully trained medical staff, pension collection points, an Eskom paypoint and a computer training centre. Alexsan also houses the best-stocked library in Alexandra, with over 10 000 books in the reference and fiction sections, 6 000 children’s books, seven computers, a Braille section and an adult literacy training arm.
The centre is also home to the popular community radio station Alex FM, which reaches the whole community in Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho and English.
Alexsan provides a model for the community centre concept. Support for similar projects is growing, but Alexsan’s success has not yet been replicated.
Lutton-Nel points to the serious lack of consultation and awareness in government departments, making Alexsan’s survival precarious.
Five minutes down the road from Alexsan, R16-million is being poured into the construction of a new three-storey clinic and crisis centre that will provide numerous counselling offices and fire- fighting facilities.
While locals agree on the need for fire- fighting facilities, many are dismayed at so much money going to a new site when the money could be used to upgrade and sustain Alexsan.
“We would all rather see this Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) money being ploughed back into the community. There is no discussion about what is going on. Local government could channel some of that money to us who are desperate for funding,” says Lutton-Nel.
She argues that the Eastern Metropolitan Sub Structure (EMSS) should pay for the basic maintenance costs of the centre, including staff salaries, library costs, as well as sports and recreation. Last financial year, Alexsan received R450 000 as grant-in-aid from the council. Now there are fears the money will not be forthcoming this year.
“I want to see a partnership between the government and the community as they have promised. If local government covers the basic costs, I can go out there and raise funding and donors. If we do not get this year’s grant, we are in serious trouble.”
With the EMSS budget estimated at R401- million for the 1997/98 financial year, there should not be a funding problem. But while government has agreed in principle to fund the centre – at least in the initial stages – there is disagreement over ownership and control.
Highlighting this dilemma, EMSS Councillor, Judy Stockhill, says that Lutton-Nel’s fears about continued government funding are justified, pointing to certain African National Congress ward councillors on the EMSS who continue to dig in their heels over funding.
The crisis over funding reflects the situation at large. The lack of capacity and co-operation between different departments leads to competition for resources, protection of vested interests and emphasis on control rather that co- ordination.
Hundreds of fledgling community centres were initiated in the 1980s and 1990s, but the lack of a coherent national development plan and the lack of co-operation between stakeholders is causing obstacles.
Al Karaki, director of Bridges, an information network that provides community centres, NGOs and government with cost- effective development information, is working with many of South Africa’s information service providers to establish a National Information Clearing House, which should be running later this year.
“We need to create an information society, with a new mind-set about sharing information. South Africa is hanging on an edge and we must hurry.
“If we don’t get this information flowing, we are not going to make it. It is the balance between the stages of policy and delivery. Careful planning and policies are important but the longer we debate about the process, the less delivery on the ground – concepts will never be translated into reality.”
Karaki points to a R2,2-billion allocation to government departments for development. They have until the end of September to spend the money but Karaki stresses that this could lead to mismanagement and, in the worst scenario, “panic spending” that could result in “thousands of white elephants”.
Karaki says several different government departments could club together to supply funds for initial, essential services in the centres.
“At the end of the day though, the vision is to see these centres self-sustaining. Small micro-enterprise housed under the roofs of multipurpose community centres will be the sector that sustains the centres. Growth in the entrepreneurial sector has enormous potential.”