camera_rwanda
Hillbrow, Johannesburg
Hillbrow is one of the toughest, most dangerous neighborhoods in Jo'burg.
Hillbrow, Johannesburg. South Afrika.
July, 2005.
www.joburg.org.za/jan_2002/hillbrow.stm
www.iss.co.za/pubs/ASR/6No6/Jenkins.html
pa.essortment.com/historyjohanne_rznr.htm
(TMAX film.)
January 24, 2002
By Lucille Davie
HILLBROW is being made more "feminine" - a place safe for women and children. At the moment it is a "masculine" place in that its parks are places where men play football and basketball, games that can be dangerous for young children.
Hillbrow is South Africa's most densely populated suburb, an area of dozens of high-rise blocks on the ridge above the city centre. It is predominantly a Manhattan-style residential area, with plenty of shops and an entertainment strip crammed with nightclubs. Berea, the suburb next-door, is very similar, but has fewer shops and more open spaces, schools and churches.
The Hillbrow/Berea Regeneration Initiative, launched in March 2001, aims to develop a sense of "community" as well as a vision and an action plan for the regeneration of Hillbrow and Berea. Funding is being supplied by the American aid organisation USAID.
Hillbrow could do with rejuvenation: a quick drive round the suburb reveals buildings with paint and plaster peeling, lots of barbed wire to improve security, hundreds of broken windows, bricked-up shop fronts to prevent squatting, washing drying on balconies and over railings, litter everywhere you look and unemployed residents milling around listlessly.
There are many buildings that look almost beyond repair. Around half a dozen of these have been identified by the city's Better Buildings Programme as worth saving and refurbishing. This Programme finds buyers for these buildings, contractors for the refurbishment, then helps set financial and management criteria for the continued upkeep of the buildings.
On the other hand, there are several well-managed buildings in Hillbrow, says Councillor for the Inner City, Sol Cowan. "In these buildings landlords and tenants have got together and agreed on rules and regulations by which the building is to operate."
Cowan says that it takes an attitude change from both parties to make a difference. The health department has issued warnings to landlords who have lost interest in their buildings and allowed them to become overcrowded.
"But ultimately the onus rests on the owners, who will have to get eviction orders to evict non-paying tenants, then get together with the tenants and develop a code of conduct, which should include minimum standards, and deposit and lease rules," adds Cowan.
Four parks and a waterfall
The suburb still retains some of the trees that were planted decades ago, and the parks are still there, but they are not happy places where you would want to spend time. Pullinger Kop, on the top of Nugget Street, is green and reasonably pleasant, but its fence has become a washing line. Its toilet has been vandalised and is now a squatter shack.
A waterfall down Nugget Hill that used to flow and provide a welcome respite for the overcrowded suburb, has been turned off as residents were using it to do their washing, and blocking the pump.
In 1946 the Johannesburg City Council removed building height restrictions in Hillbrow. For the next thirty years, the area saw an explosion of high-rise buildings, with little consideration to creating a people-friendly place.
Today, most of Hillbrow's population live in rented flats, or in several Hillbrow hotels, or in rooftop rooms, or on the streets.
In a June 2001 report entitled "Social capital and social exclusion in the City of Johannesburg", it was found that Hillbrow's population is relatively young - aged 15-39 - and that two-thirds of the population is male. The 1996 census recorded the population as 30 000. But since 1996 the suburb has seen a huge influx of illegal immigrants - it is believed that almost half the residents are foreigners.
"A survey conducted six months ago found that Hillbrow has approximately 100 000 people, a figure that doubles on the weekends as Hillbrow is considered to be a major centre of entertainment," says Dr Muzi Matse, environmental health co-ordinator of the Hillbrow Community Parnership, another group involved in Hillbrow's regeneration. "We found that there are cases where 7-12 people are living in a bachelor flat," he adds.
Vernon Openshaw, project co-ordinator of the Regeneration Initiative, says: "We are looking at parks which should be passive recreational areas - places where people come to relax. At the same time there is a need for young people to play sports. This means we have to have other places where sports can be played."
Previously, soccer and basketball used to be played at the adjoining Constitution Hill. But with construction of the Constitutional Court taking place on the site, these facilities have been taken up with the building operations. Fortunately, says Openshaw, local schools like the Barnato Park School in Berea have offered their facilities, an offer which has largely been taken up by the soccer teams.
Part of this regeneration approach is to change the names of the four parks in Hillbrow and Berea - Alec Gorschel Park, Donald Mackay Park, JL de Villiers Park and Mitchell Park. "We hope that a name change will help people to identify with new names and take pride in the parks," adds Openshaw.
Rebuilding community
A recently approved budget of R3.3-million will pay for high-mask lighting in the parks. "Although not very friendly to local residents, the lighting will make the parks safer places."
Another plan is to take a square of land just west of Windybrow - the Victorian mansion built in 1896, now a national monument and a theatre - which at present is paved and blocked off, and grass it to make it a tranquil spot in the heart of this land of high-rise living.
The Initiative has started putting its plans in place: it has run a series of workshops and obtained a "fairly good idea of problems - and is now working towards producing solutions".
"We are using interactive murals and developing characters who will say something about rubbish, for instance, and that it should be put into bins, or encourage hawkers to clean up after themselves," says Openshaw.
Other themes will be: mugging, how children in day-care centres are cared for, littering, parks, sex work, and homelessness.
Public performances in the form of a 'forum theatre' are held, mostly at Highpoint. This involves residents on the streets exploring various issues as well as sharing solutions to challenges facing them as a community.
Another plan is to open up several of the alleyways behind blocks of flats, to allow children, especially young children who can't cross roads without adults, to play safely in them.
Openshaw feels the Hillbrow community is keen to see the suburb become a clean, safe area, especially as there are numerous families living in the area.
The area is a mix of nationalities - South Africans, Zimbabweans, Nigerians and Mozambicans. This makes decision-making and community involvement more difficult, particularly as one of the principal aims of the Initiative is to strengthen local democracy.
"But in view of the struggle for survival for a lot of people in the area, we can't expect too much in the way of community involvement. We don't consider it undemocratic to improve things without them," says Openshaw.
First National Bank has just taken offices in Highpoint, which means there are now five banks in the centre, says Openshaw. With this, it is hoped that CCTV will be installed to secure the area. The Metro Police have indicated that they can staff a surveillance centre nearby.
The Metro Police are beginning to make their presence felt - in half an hour five of their vehicles were spotted in Hillbrow. Cowan is hoping that their presence will "bring back a sense of order and people will start respecting rules". This initiative by the City Council will, it is hoped, help change people's attitudes, says Cowan.
CCTV cameras in the city centre have reduced crime there by 48%. Cameras in Hillbrow are also in the pipeline. R1.7-million has been made available to install these cameras in the suburb.
Back in time
This is not the first time Hillbrow has been the focus of people's energy in an effort to clean up and beautify the area. The Hillbrow Greening Committee, formed in 1976, was run by the group of volunteer women and men, headed by Lilian le Roith.
Le Roith says with enthusiasm: "I started the Committee after standing at Golden Oaks, a building designed by my husband in Clarendon Place on the edge of Hillbrow, and looked over at Hillbrow with its high-rises, and wondered whether I could introduce plants to green the area."
"Le Roith came up with the container concept, and the City Council supplied 100 large square concrete containers," says Alan Buff, Committee member and now senior manager: technical support and training at Johannesburg City Parks.
Trees were planted in the containers and shop owners were asked to take responsibility for each planted container outside their premises. Street benches and lamps were put in place to make Hillbrow more people-friendly.
The Committee then looked upward to the blocks of flats and focused on balconies and rooftops. They actively encouraged tenants to green their balconies by getting window boxes, soil and plants at wholesale prices for them.
The Committee encouraged tenants further by holding garden competitions (Le Roith has seven handsome silver trophies in her office), tree planting ceremonies, and holding plant sales which encouraged councillors to come and meet their constituents.
"I remember spending all day judging competitions," says Buff. This co-operation between the City Council and the Hillbrow Greening Committee worked well. "We got fine support from the Johannesburg City Council in all these efforts," says Le Roith.
The Committee closed its doors in mid-1980 when it was felt that Hillbrow had become an unsafe place.
A suburb bordering Hillbrow and closer to town, Joubert Park, also has people putting in time and energy to tackle the Park and its regeneration, in the form of The GreenHouse Project, the Child and Family Resource Service, Lapeng, and the Art Gallery.
And still others are greening the city centre
Hillbrow, Johannesburg
Hillbrow is one of the toughest, most dangerous neighborhoods in Jo'burg.
Hillbrow, Johannesburg. South Afrika.
July, 2005.
www.joburg.org.za/jan_2002/hillbrow.stm
www.iss.co.za/pubs/ASR/6No6/Jenkins.html
pa.essortment.com/historyjohanne_rznr.htm
(TMAX film.)
January 24, 2002
By Lucille Davie
HILLBROW is being made more "feminine" - a place safe for women and children. At the moment it is a "masculine" place in that its parks are places where men play football and basketball, games that can be dangerous for young children.
Hillbrow is South Africa's most densely populated suburb, an area of dozens of high-rise blocks on the ridge above the city centre. It is predominantly a Manhattan-style residential area, with plenty of shops and an entertainment strip crammed with nightclubs. Berea, the suburb next-door, is very similar, but has fewer shops and more open spaces, schools and churches.
The Hillbrow/Berea Regeneration Initiative, launched in March 2001, aims to develop a sense of "community" as well as a vision and an action plan for the regeneration of Hillbrow and Berea. Funding is being supplied by the American aid organisation USAID.
Hillbrow could do with rejuvenation: a quick drive round the suburb reveals buildings with paint and plaster peeling, lots of barbed wire to improve security, hundreds of broken windows, bricked-up shop fronts to prevent squatting, washing drying on balconies and over railings, litter everywhere you look and unemployed residents milling around listlessly.
There are many buildings that look almost beyond repair. Around half a dozen of these have been identified by the city's Better Buildings Programme as worth saving and refurbishing. This Programme finds buyers for these buildings, contractors for the refurbishment, then helps set financial and management criteria for the continued upkeep of the buildings.
On the other hand, there are several well-managed buildings in Hillbrow, says Councillor for the Inner City, Sol Cowan. "In these buildings landlords and tenants have got together and agreed on rules and regulations by which the building is to operate."
Cowan says that it takes an attitude change from both parties to make a difference. The health department has issued warnings to landlords who have lost interest in their buildings and allowed them to become overcrowded.
"But ultimately the onus rests on the owners, who will have to get eviction orders to evict non-paying tenants, then get together with the tenants and develop a code of conduct, which should include minimum standards, and deposit and lease rules," adds Cowan.
Four parks and a waterfall
The suburb still retains some of the trees that were planted decades ago, and the parks are still there, but they are not happy places where you would want to spend time. Pullinger Kop, on the top of Nugget Street, is green and reasonably pleasant, but its fence has become a washing line. Its toilet has been vandalised and is now a squatter shack.
A waterfall down Nugget Hill that used to flow and provide a welcome respite for the overcrowded suburb, has been turned off as residents were using it to do their washing, and blocking the pump.
In 1946 the Johannesburg City Council removed building height restrictions in Hillbrow. For the next thirty years, the area saw an explosion of high-rise buildings, with little consideration to creating a people-friendly place.
Today, most of Hillbrow's population live in rented flats, or in several Hillbrow hotels, or in rooftop rooms, or on the streets.
In a June 2001 report entitled "Social capital and social exclusion in the City of Johannesburg", it was found that Hillbrow's population is relatively young - aged 15-39 - and that two-thirds of the population is male. The 1996 census recorded the population as 30 000. But since 1996 the suburb has seen a huge influx of illegal immigrants - it is believed that almost half the residents are foreigners.
"A survey conducted six months ago found that Hillbrow has approximately 100 000 people, a figure that doubles on the weekends as Hillbrow is considered to be a major centre of entertainment," says Dr Muzi Matse, environmental health co-ordinator of the Hillbrow Community Parnership, another group involved in Hillbrow's regeneration. "We found that there are cases where 7-12 people are living in a bachelor flat," he adds.
Vernon Openshaw, project co-ordinator of the Regeneration Initiative, says: "We are looking at parks which should be passive recreational areas - places where people come to relax. At the same time there is a need for young people to play sports. This means we have to have other places where sports can be played."
Previously, soccer and basketball used to be played at the adjoining Constitution Hill. But with construction of the Constitutional Court taking place on the site, these facilities have been taken up with the building operations. Fortunately, says Openshaw, local schools like the Barnato Park School in Berea have offered their facilities, an offer which has largely been taken up by the soccer teams.
Part of this regeneration approach is to change the names of the four parks in Hillbrow and Berea - Alec Gorschel Park, Donald Mackay Park, JL de Villiers Park and Mitchell Park. "We hope that a name change will help people to identify with new names and take pride in the parks," adds Openshaw.
Rebuilding community
A recently approved budget of R3.3-million will pay for high-mask lighting in the parks. "Although not very friendly to local residents, the lighting will make the parks safer places."
Another plan is to take a square of land just west of Windybrow - the Victorian mansion built in 1896, now a national monument and a theatre - which at present is paved and blocked off, and grass it to make it a tranquil spot in the heart of this land of high-rise living.
The Initiative has started putting its plans in place: it has run a series of workshops and obtained a "fairly good idea of problems - and is now working towards producing solutions".
"We are using interactive murals and developing characters who will say something about rubbish, for instance, and that it should be put into bins, or encourage hawkers to clean up after themselves," says Openshaw.
Other themes will be: mugging, how children in day-care centres are cared for, littering, parks, sex work, and homelessness.
Public performances in the form of a 'forum theatre' are held, mostly at Highpoint. This involves residents on the streets exploring various issues as well as sharing solutions to challenges facing them as a community.
Another plan is to open up several of the alleyways behind blocks of flats, to allow children, especially young children who can't cross roads without adults, to play safely in them.
Openshaw feels the Hillbrow community is keen to see the suburb become a clean, safe area, especially as there are numerous families living in the area.
The area is a mix of nationalities - South Africans, Zimbabweans, Nigerians and Mozambicans. This makes decision-making and community involvement more difficult, particularly as one of the principal aims of the Initiative is to strengthen local democracy.
"But in view of the struggle for survival for a lot of people in the area, we can't expect too much in the way of community involvement. We don't consider it undemocratic to improve things without them," says Openshaw.
First National Bank has just taken offices in Highpoint, which means there are now five banks in the centre, says Openshaw. With this, it is hoped that CCTV will be installed to secure the area. The Metro Police have indicated that they can staff a surveillance centre nearby.
The Metro Police are beginning to make their presence felt - in half an hour five of their vehicles were spotted in Hillbrow. Cowan is hoping that their presence will "bring back a sense of order and people will start respecting rules". This initiative by the City Council will, it is hoped, help change people's attitudes, says Cowan.
CCTV cameras in the city centre have reduced crime there by 48%. Cameras in Hillbrow are also in the pipeline. R1.7-million has been made available to install these cameras in the suburb.
Back in time
This is not the first time Hillbrow has been the focus of people's energy in an effort to clean up and beautify the area. The Hillbrow Greening Committee, formed in 1976, was run by the group of volunteer women and men, headed by Lilian le Roith.
Le Roith says with enthusiasm: "I started the Committee after standing at Golden Oaks, a building designed by my husband in Clarendon Place on the edge of Hillbrow, and looked over at Hillbrow with its high-rises, and wondered whether I could introduce plants to green the area."
"Le Roith came up with the container concept, and the City Council supplied 100 large square concrete containers," says Alan Buff, Committee member and now senior manager: technical support and training at Johannesburg City Parks.
Trees were planted in the containers and shop owners were asked to take responsibility for each planted container outside their premises. Street benches and lamps were put in place to make Hillbrow more people-friendly.
The Committee then looked upward to the blocks of flats and focused on balconies and rooftops. They actively encouraged tenants to green their balconies by getting window boxes, soil and plants at wholesale prices for them.
The Committee encouraged tenants further by holding garden competitions (Le Roith has seven handsome silver trophies in her office), tree planting ceremonies, and holding plant sales which encouraged councillors to come and meet their constituents.
"I remember spending all day judging competitions," says Buff. This co-operation between the City Council and the Hillbrow Greening Committee worked well. "We got fine support from the Johannesburg City Council in all these efforts," says Le Roith.
The Committee closed its doors in mid-1980 when it was felt that Hillbrow had become an unsafe place.
A suburb bordering Hillbrow and closer to town, Joubert Park, also has people putting in time and energy to tackle the Park and its regeneration, in the form of The GreenHouse Project, the Child and Family Resource Service, Lapeng, and the Art Gallery.
And still others are greening the city centre