Winner — Investing in the Future Enterprise Development Award: Johannesburg Roads Agency
On June 16 1976 high school students in Soweto protested against their poor education. The date became engraved in South Africa’s struggle history and will be remembered as one of the turning points in the country’s history.
When the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) decided to commemorate the day through a new “June 16 Trail”, it also created a new legacy for communities inside Soweto that led to job creation and enterprise development and added to the sense of pride about the community’s heritage.
The idea behind the trail is to create a new tourist route in Soweto to show visitors what happened on that fateful day. The agency’s June 16 Trail is this year’s winner of the Investing in the Future Enterprise Development Award. The judges commented that this is a road infrastructure project with strong skills development and heritage elements.
“A substantial budget has been allocated by the organisation for the past two years, making it sustainable to date,” they said. “There are tourism possibilities linking the work to the core business, truly a worthy entry to transport across the country. Every township should be involved in this project and it should be rolled out throughout South Africa.” The judges concluded that the project had great potential.
The idea of the June 16 Trail project was born during the preparation for the celebration of 10 years of democracy in South Africa, with a view to preserving the knowledge and history of June 16 1976, while developing skills and creating jobs for community members, managing director of JRA Duduzile Maseko, said.
“This came as a contribution from the JRA to mark this significant period, which became part of the broader programme of the City of Johannesburg,” she said. “The concept of the June 16 Trail project also encompassed extensive community participation by using road infrastructure development within the JRA.”
Maseko said the end goal is to enable people to walk the trail and commemorate this significant time. It will create jobs through comprehensive packages developed during the construction of the trail, as well developing sustainable tourism products.
To date about R3,5-million has been invested in the project, but the agency plans to invest another R15-million this financial year.
JRA sponsors and manages the daily activities falling within the project and, in addition, provides training to the graduates through its own college. Community members selected to work on the project received training in the construction of pre-cast kerbs and concrete channels on road works constructions sites, in the preparation and laying of pre-cast paving blocks and mixing concrete.
They were trained to use and maintain equipment on a construction site, as well as business management. They were taught how to implement roadside safety procedures.
Maseko said the long-term sustainability for the project lies in the fact that, once constructed, the trail will form part of the road infrastructure assets that the JRA has the responsibility of maintaining.
“With the value that it will accrue to the community, there will be additional effort to preserve their new asset,” she said.
Other benefits the trial will offer are tourism spin-offs. It will also add to preserving and honouring the heritage of the country, Maseko said.
The agency regularly monitors the progress of the project through quarterly visits from Johannesburg’s executive mayor and the project steering committee. There are monthly visits by JRA management, weekly visits by councillors and focus group discussions.
Enterprise development inside the project was boosted further when members of the project helped to register close corporations, while they were also considered for business on level one road maintenance at the agency.
“The project has successfully created a meaningful relationship between what is supposed to be an ordinary function of the JRA, namely the maintenance of road infrastructure, and the achievement of critical national objectives and priorities, such as creating sustainable jobs and growing the economy and preserving South Africa’s heritage,” said Maseko.