The Growth and Development Summit was a success, and proved that "the City was on the right track".

JOHANNESBURG'S long-term vision is a lot closer to being approved by the City council, after garnering much public support at the City's first ever Growth and Development Summit.

Held at the Nasrec expo centre on Friday, 12 May, the summit - the first of its kind in the country - was attended by City officials and administrators, representatives of business, labour and community organisations, as well as individual residents with a keen interest in Joburg's future direction.

Opening the function, the city manager, Mavela Dlamini, expressed pleasure at the high attendance. More than 1 600 people were seated in Hall 10 by the start of proceedings, with many more gathered outside.

"The City sees it [the summit] as something necessary for its development," he said.

Executive Mayor Amos Masondo remarked that it was fitting for the summit to coincide with the 10th anniversary celebrations of the adoption of the South African Constitution earlier in the week.

"Today's summit is an endeavour to address the Constitutional obligation of local government to provide democratic and accountable government to local communities, ensure delivery of services in a sustainable manner, address social and economic development, ensure the participation of communities in matters of local government as well as to promote a safe and healthy environment," Masondo said.

Prior to the local government elections in March, President Thabo Mbeki announced that similar summits should be held in all metropolitan and district municipalities throughout the country, within one year of the elections.

"As a city on the move, Johannesburg needs a long-term strategy to enable us to define the complex trends and dynamics that are shaping the City's future and to enable us to negotiate the challenges and position ourselves to grasp the emerging opportunities," Masondo explained.

During the first five years of Masondo's term of office, the City formulated a number of citywide programmes - outlined in the Joburg 2030 strategy. Related plans and policies included the City Safety Strategy, the Inner City Development Strategy, the Human Development Strategy, the Informal Trading Development Programme and the Spatial Development Framework.

The Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) encompasses ideas expressed in all of these documents, but also takes into account the province's GDS, the National Spatial Development Perspective, the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (Asgisa) and the strategies of surrounding municipalities, particularly Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.

To ensure the process is as participatory as possible, the GDS was discussed at ward level and at sectoral workshops convened by mayoral committee members with community and non-governmental organisations, organised labour and representatives of business.

Various challenges were identified. Despite steady progress, the City still has to grapple with issues of poverty, eradicating social inequality, ensuring quality service delivery and the need for early childhood development programmes.

There is also much work still to dismantle the segregated settlements created by apartheid-era planners and to transform dormitory townships into viable areas in which to live and work.

Other challenges include infrastructure backlogs, creating employment opportunities, reducing the high cost of doing business, reducing transportation costs and combating crime and grime.

 The Development Paradigm and proposals
"Democracy is not just about the right to vote," Masondo said. "It is having accountable elected representatives who listen to the voice of the people and having administrative structures to support them in their jobs."

Describing the City as a developmental form of local government, he said it should be prepared to intervene to deal with neglected issues, promote active participation of local communities, have a balanced approach between economic, social and environmental development and strive to redress the legacies of apartheid.

The mayor then referred to six principles that constitute the City's Development Paradigm, which underpins its Growth and Development Strategy:

• The City must find solutions to enable the pro-active absorption of the poor, both from inside South Africa and beyond, as it has become a magnet for the poor seeking a better life;
• It must ensure balanced and shared growth and break down the divide between the "first" and "second" economies;
• It must facilitate social mobility and equality and meet its obligations to serve the poor better;
• Since the City has been transformed in institutional terms over the past 10 years, it is now time to accelerate its transformation in spatial terms;
• It must ensure it becomes a more sustainable city by anticipating and managing the effects of environmental change; and
• The City recognises that it cannot deal with the challenges it faces alone and it needs to find new ways of working across the traditional public-private divide and across boundaries that separate it from its neighbours.

Discussions informing the GDS were held for nine sectors: economic development; community development; housing; infrastructure and services; environment; development planning and urban management; transport; and health and safety. Each of these sectors has a member of the mayoral committee and City department dedicated to dealing with the concerns and challenges it faces.

As such, Masondo said the GDS proposed the following for the City, as it moved forward in its quest to become a world-class African city:

• Economic development: the City envisages an economy that plays a role as the key economic hub on the continent and a national economic growth leader;
• Housing: a city with sustainable human settlements where residents have access to a wide range of accommodation options that are affordable, of good quality and located close to economic opportunities;
• Infrastructure and basic services: are key elements of the city strategy, and for many people constitute the essence of what they expect from a local authority. It is usually the most obvious way to measure the success or failure of a city government;
• Community development: a vision where community development, personal growth and social mobility are enhanced so challenges of poverty, vulnerability, inequality and social exclusion are dealt with;
• Environment: service delivery cannot be separated from environmental sustainability. This will be an important focus area for the City as it works towards lessening the effect of urban processes and the built environment;
• Development planning and urban management: the City has a vision of a spatial urban form that embraces the principles of sustainability and inclusivity and should progressively increase opportunities and quality of life for all communities and residents;
• Health: a City with an efficient, accessible and equitable health system with sufficient capacity to meet its changing healthcare challenges; and
• Transport: a city with a safe and efficient transport system and infrastructure that is able to connect businesses, people and places in a sustainable and cost-effective manner. This will not only improve the quality of life of residents but also stimulate growth of the local economy.

"We have set ourselves very comprehensive and ambitious targets. But we did so with the confidence that we have at our disposal a very dedicated team of elected representatives and officials that can really move Johannesburg over the next two or three decades," Masondo said.

Before starting the breakaway sessions, he lit a candle in memory of all those who had died of Aids-related causes. The candle was a gift from the mayor of the West Rand District Municipality.

Breakaway sessions were held at various halls around the expo centre according to specific sectors, with organisations and residents given more than two hours to voice their views on the strategy.

Reporting on community feedback
Following the sectoral sessions and a break for lunch, members of the mayoral committee pointed out some of the concerns and comments of residents regarding the Growth and Development Strategy. Ruby Mathang, the mayoral committee member for development planning and urban management, said issues raised included further debate on the City's urban boundary, strengthening the Southern Corridor (Soweto), intervening in areas of decline, continuing work in the inner city and better enforcement.

"There were also concerns about better preservation of open spaces and heritage sites," he said.

With the City expected to experience further growth, residents were especially concerned about issues of public lighting, universal prepaid metering, stormwater management and disposal of solid waste, said the member for infrastructure and services, Ros Greeff.

Rehana Moosajee, the member for transport, said a major concern was that rapid economic development in Soweto was leading to increased congestion on the township's roads. There was also a need to develop multi-modal transport, give more attention to the needs of pedestrians and provide transport for the disabled.

Turning to housing, mayoral committee member Strike Ralegoma said prevalent views were for the People's Housing Process to be boosted, for Reconstruction and Development Programme houses be better designed, for more information to be available on housing at People's Centres and for secure housing to be provided for child-headed households.

There were also calls for an Independent Complaints Office to be created to deal with issues concerning council-owned flats.

"In general there has been great enthusiasm from community-based and non-governmental organisations to assist us in our mandate, and we appreciate that," said Prema Naidoo, the member for environmental planning and management.

Residents raised concerns about the need for more effective community education, management, monitoring and enforcement, and suggested a "name and shame" approach to serious polluters.

Thomas Phakati, the mayoral committee member for safety, said four prominent concerns were raised by residents at his breakaway session, namely, creating a safe and secure urban environment, having a city free of crime and violence, regulating road traffic and promoting road safety, and creating a proactive and effective emergency response and disaster management capacity.

"The issue of immigrants was also raised, and we have to find ways to better deal with the situation. There is no way in which we can simply wish them away," he said.

Phakati urged community members to be vigilant and to report the abuse or improper personal use of official vehicles.

The City also had to do more in the area of community development, especially in creating support programmes to assist the elderly, commissioning more research into child-headed households and looking into the scourge of drugs.

"Most importantly, we need to ensure communities have a sense of ownership of the projects and programmes taking place around them," said the member responsible for community development, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza.

Residents at the breakaway session called on the City to work with the province to deal with issues of long delays in getting access to social grants and food parcels, while also assisting the youth with further education and training.

"As it is International Nurses' Day, let me first recognise and appreciate the good work being done by our health workers," said the member for health, Matshidiso Mfikoe.

She said common concerns included queues at City clinics, the need for better access to healthcare facilities, access to HIV/Aids treatment, and the need to deal better with mental health problems and drug abuse.

Johannesburg Executive Mayor Amos Masondo lights a candle in memory of all those who died of Aids-related causes
(Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)

"We especially see the need for youth-friendly services dealing with issues of reproductive health, while also looking into how health students can undergo training at the City's health facilities," Mfikoe said.

The final mayoral committee member to report back on his breakaway session was Parks Tau, who is responsible for finance and economic development. He said there was general agreement on the sectoral plan, but that there was a need for clearer deliverables with which they could go back to the community.

"Issues raised included the need for economic diversification to ensure global competitiveness in niche areas, the need to support small businesses starting out in previously disadvantaged communities and to ensure that huge shopping centres being developed in Soweto do not displace existing spaza and tuck shops," he said.

The way forward
Masondo said he way truly humbled by the support for the Growth and Development Summit and hoped all who attended would be inspired to work hard to turn those plans into reality.

"Learning is a two-way process and we have learned a lot from you. We are more sensitised to the concerns of the residents than before the summit, but the general message is that we are on the right track," he said.

Masondo said this would not be the last meeting to be held on the Growth and Development Strategy, although there would be no further summits or conferences of similar magnitude during the current term of office.

Further discussion of the strategy would take the form of "roving mayoral committee member meetings", where members would continue to discuss issues raised according to sector.

Closing the summit, Dlamini thanked the mayor and his team for ensuring Joburg was the first to hold a growth and development summit, shortly after local government elections.

"The GDS is not about the municipality, but [about] every person whose life is touched by the City of Johannesburg. The product we forward to council has to be a representation of the views of the residents of Joburg.

"We want to deliver a service that enhances the value of life of the residents of Johannesburg," Dlamini concluded.