/ 2 June 2000

Advocates flee CBD

Glenda Daniels

The Johannesburg Bar, one of the city’s oldest institutions, is on the verge of moving its permanent headquarters to Sandton following a steady exodus of advocates from the city centre.

A circular drafted by the Bar council is doing the rounds asking advocates to indicate whether they’re staying or leaving, with most lawyers citing unacceptable crime and noise levels as the reason for their dissatisfaction with the CBD.

Nazeer Cassim, chair of the Bar council, said this week: “The government has made lots of promises to deliver, all talk and no action, but so far there has been no change in the regeneration of the city centre.

“The noise levels are so high that people can’t consult in chambers. The city is dirty, and clients don’t want to come in to town as they fear for their safety. Just the other day I walked to Juta’s and was attacked by four men,” says Cassim.

However, he personally wants to stay, having always been a “die-hard about remaining in the city”.

Two years ago about 40% of the Bar moved to fancier premises in Sandton, even though overheads and rentals are double that of chambers in Johannesburg.

The lease on the Johannesburg chambers opposite the high court expires in 2002. Cassim says he is trying to delay another move from the city. So far about half of the remaining advocates in the city centre want to move, he says.

A list of names of those advocates wishing to leave the city will be collected by June 2 and then there will be a meeting to discuss other possible premises.

Graham Reid, Johannesburg Metropolitan Council inner city manager, says the move is “disappointing” and “regrettable” but the Urban Renewal programme – an initiative to attract business back to the centre – would continue.

He says the council is aware of the noise levels and there have discussion with the Bar council about how to address this.

But Reid says there still is a lot of confidence in the city centre, if a recent World Bank survey is anything to go by – it showed that 85% of businesses in the city were happy there and wished to remain there.

There were 15 different businesses bidding for the right to open the Carlton Centre, indicating confidence in the city, he points out.

Neil Frazer, executive director of Central Johannesburg Partnerships (a company contracted to upgrade the city), said the Bar was meant to raise 50% of the funds for the high court precinct but did not do so.

The Bar also promised to investigate how to deal with the noise levels but this also did not happen.

“There is a racial component to people leaving town,” he said. Indications are that the majority of advocates wanting to leave are white, while those happy to stay are mainly black (African or Indian).

Frazer says there are plans to move the hawkers out of town, but “you can’t just wave a magic wand and get rid of 12 000 people – there is no appreciation of how difficult it is”. The moving of hawkers to markets should happen next year, he says.

Hendrik Kruger, an advocate who moved to Sandton, says his decision had nothing to do with any “nonsensical view about crime in the city”, which he was not affected by, but everything to do with the fact that he was losing clients, from being in town.

“My decision to move was a purely commercial one. My only regret is the terrible traffic in Sandton, It’s hell,” he says.