With just over 1 300 days to the World Cup kick-off, there are no signs of development in Bertrams, the run-down suburb adjoining the Ellis Park Stadium that hosts the opening event for 2010.
Dilapidated and broken buildings house unemployed South Africans, refugees and illegal immigrants who pay between R200 and R1 000 rent per month, while the street corners are teeming with drug dealers who have been chased from the CBD.
Many plots are vacant while the ownership of some properties is understood to be in dispute after the owners walked away from their investments. Many houses are beyond repair while few are maintained.
Squatters live in derelict buildings, some of which look as though they could be used as background for a film set in World War II.
Investors can purchase houses in Bertrams for between R100 000 and R500 000 — a mansion previously owned by a Randlord sold last year for just R250 000 — but estate agents report that there are very few investors taking advantage of the market because it is seen as a risky investment.
While many homes in Johannesburg suburbs are being renovated as part of the property boom, which has seen house prices double in three years, there are no signs of such renovation in Bertrams.
One resident who agreed to talk to the Mail & Guardian on condition of anonymity said that homeless people were squatting in the derelict buildings.
He described the neighbourhood as a no-go zone at night and said even taxi drivers would not give him a lift from Hillbrow to Bertrams in the early hours of the morning.
“On every street corner you can buy any drug you want,” he said, puffing away on a rather large joint.
During a visit to Bertrams this week, the M&G could find no homeowners in the area, just tenants, some for whom rent from slumlords who rent from the owner of the property.
The greater Ellis Park precinct has been identified by the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) for a R2-billion upgrade ahead of the 2010 World Cup, which will impact upon Bertrams, Doornfontein, Bezuidenhout Valley, Troyeville, Judith’s Paarl and Lorentzville.
Plans focusing on precincts for education, manufacturing and sports have already been approved by the city council.
Abandoned or underused office buildings will be converted into affordable accommodation, while Derby Road will be turned into a high street providing retail, commercial and entertainment venues and the Terrace Road Mansions will be converted into medium density low-cost housing.
JDA CEO Lael Bethlehem says the agency has been looking at Bertrams for quite a while and believes it has huge potential for middle to low income housing because of its positioning. She says the 2010 Soccer World Cup is just the catalyst needed to get things moving.
“2010 is a key moment and Bertrams must be ready by then. We don’t want the area to look like it does now,” says Bethlehem. “We would like to see quite an ambitious redevelopment of Bertrams.”
Bethlehem says there are a lot of challenges that need to be sorted out, such as organising alternative accommodation for the current residents and working around the buildings that are protected under heritage legislation.
Real estate agents are forecasting that investors stand to make tidy profits from property that can be bought at rock-bottom prices where there are still no signs of development.
Ben Phiri says he has been renting in Bertrams for three years and he likes it because it is near his place of work. He admits that there is a lot of drug dealing and bag snatching that goes on in the neighbourhood.
Eunice Malounda says she has been renting in Bertrams for six months and is very happy. She says she would consider buying a house in the suburb if she was in the position to do so.
Ismail Farouk, an artist and social development consultant, says Bertrams is a poor neighbourhood with many social problems such as high unemployment, substance abuse and xenophobia.
Farouk says that because property prices are expected to rise in the build-up to the World Cup, landlords who had previously lost control of their buildings are returning and evicting residents who have been staying there so that they can upgrade the buildings.
“Bertrams is set to change, in fact the inner city is about to change,” says Farouk. “The ordered chaos that we all know and love is under threat.”
Farouk warns that just evicting people and not dealing with the social problems of the suburb will mean that once again the problems are just pushed under the carpet.
“They are only interested in attracting new investment and have no interest in looking after the existing residents,” says Farouk.
He says property in Bertrams is still very cheap and says a grand old mansion in the area, which was one of the oldest houses in Johannesburg, sold last year for R250 000.
Werner Lilleike, the manager of Hall Real Estate’s Killarney office, says Bertrams is definitely a good investment and the suburb has a positive future ahead.
“A lot of people are saying I will buy there and sort the place out,” says Lilleike. “Government has started to sort the area out. The Red Ants have been in there taking out illegal immigrants, but there is still a lot of work to be done.”
Aida’s regional manager for Gauteng, Nadia Vermeulen, says she expects a lot of investment in the area, but says the secret is to invest now.
Aida’s Killarney branch manager Robert Brooks says in the past there had been very little demand for Bertrams, but says there is a view that the area is going to pick up.
Brooks says he currently has a three-bedroom house on sale with a garden cottage for R550 000 in Bertrams.
He says the tax breaks that investors can get under the Urban Development Tax Incentive for the Johannesburg inner city would also help encourage people to invest.
Developers who construct new buildings in these areas will receive a 2% tax write-off in the first year, followed by a 5% annual write-off over 16 years.
However, not all real estate agents are convinced that there will be a boom in Bertrams. Safura Dangor of Dangor Property Services predicts that after the 2010 World Cup, things will go back to normal in Bertrams.