​​​​​​​​City of Joburg gives Vilakazi Street a fancy facelift 

By: Gugu Zwane​​

Imagine a Maboneng Precinct in Soweto… Guess what? Soon you won't have to imagine it because it is actually becoming a reality!

Vilakazi Street, which forms part of the proposed precinct, is one of the most vibrant streets in Soweto attracting tourists through its history and popular local restaurants. The City has embarked on a project to have a Vilakazi Precinct in the area to not only benefit the community of Orlando West but to cultivate on top of what has already been established.

A meeting inviting community members of Orlando West was held at the Orlando West High School recently where members of the community discussed what they would like to see incorporated as part of this development taking place in their area.

Issues around strengthening safety and security came up as well as locating a designated parking area for visitors as it is currently a major problem, especially for residents living in the area. Presently, along Vilakazi Street, visitors are forced to park outside people's homes, inconveniencing residents. Another valid point that came out of the meeting was the number of young drug users and the crime in the area. Residents wanted to know if the City has any plans to increase the police presence in the area and whether there are any plans for the rehabilitation of the youth involved with drugs as well as any employment opportunities to permanently keep them off the streets.

I realised that for people like myself who do not live in the proposed precinct area, this all sounds like a really cool idea but when you're a resident, this is quite concerning. New development does not only invite economic growth but it also invites crime and a number of varying disturbances for people who reside in the area. From where I'm sitting, it looks like residents of the proposed Vilakazi Precinct will eventually be forced to rent out their properties for business use or become business people themselves. For some of us this will be a cool place to hang out on the weekend but the people who actually live here, this is home and it starts becoming an issue of us invading their space.

Nonetheless, the City seems to be quite invested in educating the community about town planning and other City by-laws affecting the precinct development. The purpose is to reimagine the precinct for the future generation and to serve the immediate community within the area.

What I love about Vilakazi Street is that it has catered for both formal and informal business local enterprises. I'm looking forward to see what becomes of the development of the Vilakazi Precinct.

For more on this exciting urban development project #VilakaziPrecinctProject on Twitter.​