The Gauteng MEC for infrastructure development
It is a challenge faced by millions of Gauteng residents. A man takes a taxi from his township home and heads to the railway station 5km away. He then hops onto a train to travel to town 40km away to sort out some important matters with his insurance company. After the 45-minute ride he walks 3km to the company’s offices and waits in a queue for over half-an-hour.
When his turn to be served finally arrives, he is told he needs to provide proof of residence and a certified copy of his identity document. That means another taxi ride and long wait in the queue at the municipal offices to sort out his proof of residence documents.
Then after shuffling through different office blocks looking for a place to make copies of his identity document, he jumps into another taxi and heads to the police station to get the documents certified.
By the time he returns to the insurance company offices four or so hours later, he finds the queue has grown longer and has to endure another long, punishing wait. When his turn finally comes to be attended to, it’s almost closing time and he still has not performed other chores such as renewing his vehicle licence disc. And still the long train ride and taxi trip home awaits.
The above is an example of the challenge faced by many Gauteng residents, the result of many years of apartheid’s spatial planning which promoted the separation of amenities on a racial basis. This meant residential areas for blacks, Indian and coloured people were located far from the city where service delivery hubs such as home affairs, clinics and other government offices are located. Even these amenities were built far away from each other, making access difficult. This remains true to date, as noted in the State of South African Cities Report 2016 by the South African Cities Network, which is “an established network of South African cities and partners that encourages the exchange of information, experience and best practices on urban development and city management”.
The network noted in its report: “Spatial transformation is critical for cities to become more productive, inclusive and sustainable. South African cities are inefficient as a result of the combination of the apartheid legacy, which spatially displaced the black population and neglected public transport, and post-1994 developments that continued to locate subsidised housing and poorer populations in peripheral areas.
“This affects productivity, results in long and expensive commutes for poor urban residents, and perpetuates neighbourhoods that are separated by race and class. Issues of settlement (land access and housing) and mobility (transport) require short and long-term strategies to address spatial inefficiency and exclusion.”
The Gauteng department of infrastructure development (GDID) is determined to change this situation through The Precinct Project, an ambitious new development strategy aimed at producing an integrated form of development for convenient economic, residential and public service hubs.
Provincial MEC Jacob Mamabolo told the Mail & Guardian that through The Precinct Project, the GDID aims to turn existing government-owned multiple-storey buildings into one-stop hubs where citizens can access healthcare, government administrative services, insurance, banking, schooling and public transport in reasonably close proximity.
Mamabolo said they would invite the private sector, in the form of banks, insurance companies and other businesses, to become part of the new journey to right the wrongs of the past.
He said this could be just the right catalyst needed to rejuvenate township economies, as private sector investment in the townships is often frustrated by security concerns. In a cluster environment as envisaged in The Precinct Project, this could become a thing of the past.
“I want to argue that since 1994 we have not changed the look and feel of our townships. Soweto looks different with roads infrastructure. But the overall space remains that of the trajectory of the past. We have built RDP houses but still in the old township way,” he said.
“While there are more malls now in the townships than there were 20 years ago, the general development model remains largely unchanged.”
In his State of the Province speech in February, Gauteng premier David Makhura emphasised the importance of infrastructure development to revitalise the economy.
“To cope with rapid urbanisation, persistent unemployment, poverty and inequality, we have to work doubly hard and do things differently in Gauteng with regard to the economy, infrastructure development and service delivery,” said Makhura.
“Provincial economic interventions should seek to achieve, among others, the transformation of the apartheid spatial economy and human settlement patterns, in order to integrate economic opportunities, transport corridors and human settlements and ensure significant investment in infrastructure as the key stimulator for inclusive growth and economic development.”
Already, the GDID is pressing ahead with the R8-billion Kopanong Gauteng Government Precinct project, the flagship of The Precinct Project launched in July last year. As part of the project, the GDID has identified 21 buildings in the Johannesburg CBD. These will be rehabilitated and developed over a three- to five-year period. Innovative construction models aimed at introducing a new era of development will include skywalks between the structures and the use of green technologies. These will include the erection of solar panels and rooftop gardens with the aim of not only reducing maintenance costs but also the carbon footprint.
“Government must take the lead,” said Mamabolo, explaining that for the private sector to participate in the eradication of the legacy of apartheid’s spatial planning it is government that must show the way. And he is itching to lead the GDID into this promising future.