Champion for the young — Grant Ngcobo’s safe spaces make a huge difference for kids in Joburg

Meet Grant Ngcobo, tourism and youth leader and one of the champions of Jozi My Jozi’s new creative campaign, Babize Bonke, which means “let them all come” in isiZulu. The campaign invites people to experience the revival of the city through the eyes of its creative citizens.

Everyone knows Ponte, the iconic 54-storey tower block in Berea, next to Hillbrow and Yeoville, two of the city’s toughest hoods. Ponte’s turnaround is remarkable. In the late 1990s it was hijacked, filled with filth and had no lights or water. Now it has gone from being the biggest urban slum in the country to a well-run building that safely houses almost 2,000 residents. 

Also remarkable is the personal story of Ngcobo, who moved into Ponte as a teenager and has risen through the ranks of Dlala Nje, the nonprofit organisation that runs the community centre here, to become its CEO.

We meet at the bottom of Ponte, where the Dlala Nje centre is full of life, colour and happy noise. It’s a crèche, a foundation phase school and a youth centre, and it also offers walking tours and tours of Ponte itself. Mosaics decorate the outside walls and old tyres are used as planters for spinach, parsley and tomatoes.

“We provide a daily safe space for more than 200 kids in the area,” says Ngcobo.

We find a quiet place to talk at the adjacent sewing and art centre, which is next to a glass-walled room with great views that will be developed into a digital hub.

Ngcobo tells me that when he was 14, his family moved from a flat near Joubert Park to the 38th floor of Ponte. “We could see the rugby for free at Ellis Park from the 38th floor,” he laughs, “and once we saw Eminem playing live at Ellis Park, while we were on the couch at home.”

He was 14 when he met Nickolaus Bauer and Michal Luptak, who had founded Dlala Nje in 2012.

“Before they decided to focus mainly on children and youth, back then it was a more general community space with foosball [table soccer]. I remember playing that with my dad for the first time.”

Ngcobo became involved in Dlala Nje when the organisation started doing local walking and building tours. He had training and started working as a guide, and then developed the tours into a source of funding for the community programmes.

They have proved hugely popular, and since 2012 Dlala Nje has hosted more than 25,000 tour experiences. It won the Gold Responsible Tourism Award at the 2025 WTM Africa Awards for its immersive inner-city tours that empower local communities and challenge stereotypes. On Wednesday, 5 November, it won a Silver award at the Global Responsible Tourism Awards in London.

Read more: Legging it through Hillbrow, the chaotic heart of Joburg on a journey of renewal

“We have more than 20 people working and volunteering for Dlala Nje and the number of children who come here has doubled. We’ve got partners, funders, collaborators, skills programmes.”

We walk to the other side of the centre, which overlooks Donald Mackay Park. The park was once dangerous and derelict, and was recently rejuvenated by Jozi My Jozi, its partners and City Parks. The park is now a safe green space with lighting, a playground, soccer, basketball and a food garden.

“It’s made a big difference to the lives of the children and youth at Dlala Nje,” says Ngcobo. DM

Bridget Hilton-Barber is a freelance writer who writes for Jozi My Jozi.

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.