An old apartheid jail on a hill where Nelson Mandela was once held is at the heart of an ambitious project to blow new life into Johannesburg’s sprawling city centre, hit by disinvestment and decay.
Since the mid-1990s, downtown Jo’burg had become a place to avoid, especially after dark, with muggers and hijackers roaming the streets as apartheid drew to an end in 1994 and business fleeing to more affluent areas perceived to be safer.
Many companies closed their doors to move to the upmarket Sandton business district, about 15 kilometres to the north.
By 1999, the inner city — once the hub of life and business — had become a virtual ghost town at the end of each day, its grimy streets filled with waste, blowing forlornly in the wind.
Occupancy rates dropped as low as 15% and ”Space to Rent” signs replaced the names of famous institutions, including the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
But all this was set to change: Three years ago, city fathers and developers put their heads together and the result was a 30-year plan, set to give the city of more than three million people a facelift and entice business and tourism back to the heart
of the ”city of gold”.
Called ”Joburg 2030”, an urban renewal project of some one-billion rand ($125-million), it aimed at creating what Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo’s office calls ”a world class city”.
Constitution Hill and the Old Fort, just north of the city centre, are central to the plan.
The hill forms part of the Braamfontein corridor — a series of upgraded areas with humanity-based themes, linked by the spectacular new 284 metre-long Nelson Mandela cable-suspension bridge.
The hill, with the Old Fort as one of its focal points, is to become the city’s ”human rights precinct”, housing the highest law-making body in the country, the Constitutional Court, as well as various organisations and commissions involved in human rights work.
A few kilometres to the west, linked by the bridge, is the Newtown ”cultural precinct” which houses museums, theatres and art centres.
The paradox of a democratic South Africa having its human rights headquarters at the site of a former notorious prison is not lost on the developers.
”There is definitely a certain irony to it,” said Brian Orlin, project manager at Constitution Hill. ”This site was specifically chosen because of its past.”
Central to Constitution Hill is the Old Fort, with its forbidding walls and claustrophobic cells, which once held political prisoners like Mandela, Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and an array of notorious criminals.
In 1983 it closed its doors and the structure lay dormant, vandalised by vagrants, and it became a symbol of decay.
In September 2000, the city was struck another blow as the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, located downtown since its founding in 1887, moved north to Sandton.
But the signs of renewal are there: In April 2000, a closed-circuit television system was introduced which resulted in a 48% drop in crime, according to statistics supplied by the city council.
By next year, a total of 240 new cameras are expected to be installed with hopes of another 25% reduction in crime.
Said Neville Huxham, a representative for the company that runs the system: ”We are currently at the point where big business is returning to the CBD (central business district). Occupancy rates are already back up to about 55%.”
Orlin added that he believed the new projects, including the one at the Old Fort, would bring businesses back to the city.
”Projects like these will not only bring people back to the inner city and create revenue. They will also encourage those already here to upgrade their businesses and building structures.” – Sapa-AFP