Wonder Hlongwa
The Yeoville Community Development Forum has a dream: it wants to see the streets of greater Yeoville cleared of crime and grime. It wants to create an environment that encourages economic, social and cultural development in the cosmopolitan community in eastern Johannesburg.
The forum unveiled its dream at a brain- storming workshop this week, aimed at identifying and providing solutions for problems such as littering, street urinating, “inappropriate” street traders and crime.
“Noise pollution from music that blares from all directions adds frustration, tension and anger to the people of Yeoville,” says Morris Smithers, the forum’s chair.
Some shops and restaurants – including the popular Iyavaya, Tel-Aviv and Mama’s – have closed their doors, and more are threatening to do so.
The forum is a revival of the former Yeoville Community Forum, set up in the 1970s to address issues such as crime, drugs and untidy streets. It collapsed last year after some members left the area and others became disillusioned with it.
After Smithers resigned from the Department of Land Affairs and Agriculture in Pretoria earlier this year, he set himself the goal of reviving the cultural and creative spirit of Yeoville.
His first step was to launch the Yeoville Community Development Forum in June. His next step is to clean up the streets of the suburb.
“Yeoville is not a hell-hole,” he says. “Some people create the impression that if you go to Yeoville, you carry your life in your hands. I have lived here for 14 years, but I have had only one burglary.”
The forum is working in conjunction with the Johannesburg Inner City Community Forum.
The Johannesburg forum claims that because of its effectiveness, the vacancy rate of buildings in greater Johannesburg has dropped by 12% while property rates have gone up 6%.
In Yeoville, the Eastern Metropolitan Council has already begun resettling street traders and providing them with stands.
“The council has begun implementing its by- laws, which include putting restrictions on street traders,” says Sisa Njikelana, African National Congress councillor in Yeoville.
Janell Farris from New York’s Time Square Business District Forum in the United States, which has faced similar problems to those in Yeoville, attended the workshop.
She suggested the business sector should sponsor the provision of garbage cans in greater Yeoville.
“Greater Yeoville has 90% more pedestrians now than it had 10 years ago. That’s why there is this littering,” she said. “There should be more garbage cans – at least three in every block – and they must be emptied regularly.”
Another concern is that Yeoville has become a “gangster’s paradise”.
“Last month three girls were abducted in Rockey Street and taken to Soweto, where they were raped. That is not acceptable,” says Smithers.
Members of the Community Policing Forum present at the workshop suggested that the gangs’ escape routes, especially Cavendish and Raleigh streets, should be the barricaded.
Residents called for more visible policing, including the reinstatement of “surprise roadblocks” and of public safety officers.
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