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“Seeing that most of the issues raised fell outside their (the City’s) authority, no promises could have been made,” Joburg Mayor Herman Mashaba said, when various officials visited Ward 58.

The mayor also said that sections of the community were to blame for delays in upgrading the park and surrounding precinct because they had objected to Task Academy’s winning the right to repurpose the former Bowling Park.

The community’s objections had also resulted in delays in dealing with the drugs and prostitution in the park, said Mashaba’s office.

“As a result of the objection to council, plans for progress with regard to maximising the usage of the space are suspended as a council resolution hasn’t been made. Despite this challenge, the City hasn’t abandoned the community. The city manager’s office is working to resolve the matter as speedily as possible,” said Mashaba’s office.

Due to Johannesburg representing a place of opportunities for many communities across the continent, the inner city is challenged by rising urban migration which presently stands in excess of 3,000 people on a monthly basis.

The City simply doesn’t have the capacity to address this without the assistance of the Department of Home Affairs to assist with providing legal documentation for non-South African dwellers.

There is a total lack of compliance of city by-laws and other legislation by the majority of residents. These include non-compliance with building regulations, zoning, conversion of residential homes to hotels, student accommodations or even shops without undertaking proper rezoning process which we found when we took over this ward in 2016.

The damage to the city’s infrastructure was on a large scale – some of which has not been attended to in 15 years. There are a growing number of vagrants moving into the area, attracted or encouraged by an ample provision of food by the Muslim community.

This ward also has a huge number of vacant land/stands that are being used for illegal dumping/dumping stations. This has also led to the mushrooming of informal settlements that end up connecting illegally to the City’s servitudes.

There are illegal structures erected without prior building control, town planning, fire safety and environmental health approval.

The urban development framework is one that has been contested (especially by the Mayfair community) due to varying interests of residents who want to bar the operation of small businesses in the neighbourhood. These disagreements are being managed by the city.

The issue of homelessness is one that Mayor Mashaba has already identified as a challenge that needs to be addressed urgently. However, there have been no promises made on what measures to implement in order to address the challenge.

It is for this reason that Mayor Mashaba took a resolution at the recent Inner City Partnership Forum that a Homelessness Summit led by the Department of Health and Social Development would determine interventions in this regard. DM