Strength in numbers as residents join up to take their streets back

United we stand, divided we fall.

That's the call by residents of one of Johannesburg's oldest, most densely populated regions, who say they have been forgotten, neglected and abandoned by city authorities.

Sick of illegal dumping, unplanned densification, illegal housing and many other issues, residents of Region F are fighting back in a bid to clean up their streets. The region includes Malvern, Kensington, Bez Valley, Bertrams, Troyeville, Observatory, Yeoville, Jeppestown and Berea to the east, and Pageview and Fordsburg to the west.

Angry and frustrated residents — after years of trying to find small, localised solutions within their own communities — are now uniting under a new body, Communities Uniting to Fix Region F. They will hold a public meeting on May 17 to discuss the way forward.

Organiser Ravin Singh said this was not a political group but was being formed to find solutions to the problems in these inner city areas; to get communities and other civic bodies together to fight to regain control; and to get the City of Johannesburg to carry out maintenance and deliver services.

“We are the forgotten suburbs,” Singh said.

“The biggest problem is the total disregard of bylaws and the lack of bylaw enforcement. Officials ignore our pleas, we are dependent on their goodwill for everything. They ignore illegal buildings going up, do nothing about illegal dumping, drinking on the streets and illegal shebeens and spaza shops. Potholes are not repaired, with many roads now dangerous and unpassable.

“We are not uniting to fight city officials. It's  a call to action by community groups to get together and develop a formal relationship with the city to clean up and restore these suburbs together. We are here, ready, willing and able to assist and to co-operate with the city but we need buy-in and commitment from them.”

Unplanned densification, illegal land use and lack of bylaw enforcement

Collapsing infrastructure in water, electricity, roads and sanitation

Chronic service delivery failures

Illegal dumping

Crime 

Illegal backyard dwellings 

Continuous granting of liquor licences without consultation with residents 

Proliferation of places of worship, lodges and guest houses without proper zoning applications

—  Issues plaguing Region F

Singh said the situation had reached a point where properties were being devalued because of service delivery issues. “We are not opposed to densification but it must be done legally because it strains the water and electricity infrastructure, and is leading to constant water and power cuts.

“It also causes other problems, such as owners not being able to get additional bins, which leads to illegal dumping and littering. Most residents are decent people seeking better lives for themselves and their families.”

Nomsa Mbatha of the Yeoville Bellevue Civic Association said most of Region F was “a dump”. She said: “These areas are being ignored. There is no political will and the feeling of the community is that officials in Region F believe it is already ‘finished’, so why bother.

“We have numerous daily problems of electricity and water outages, huge potholes, illegal dumping, illegal businesses and hijacked buildings... Corruption is rife and we as a community believe most city contractors deliberately don’t repair things properly so they can get more work.”

Included in the meeting will be residents, ratepayers, civic and faith-based organisations, sport and cultural groups, cultural, community policing forums, school governing bodies, trade unions and business groups.

Mbatha said a focus of the meeting would be to find solutions and help the municipality get things working. “We are willing to assist. Officials sit in their offices not knowing the true situation. We are the ones who live with these problems,” she said.

Navin Bachu, who runs Keep It Clean — a cleanup campaign in the Kensington, Bez Valley and Bertrams areas — and who has established good relations with many entities, is joining in. “We have shown how we can co-operate with utilities like Pikitup, who are a great help keeping our suburbs clean.”

However, water, electricity and dumping problems persist.

“We have water and power cuts daily, some lasting over a month. These areas are feeling marginalised and residents feel that more affluent areas are prioritised,” said Bachu.

Ward councillors claim they have little power to rectify the situation.

Carlo da Rochas, councillor for Kensington/Bellevue, said the city was facing “tough” conditions, which put a huge strain on councillors. “Councillors have now become the city’s call centre for service-related complaints. But unfortunately we cannot instruct officials to act, so we rely on their goodwill to help us,” he said.

Malvern councillor Neuren Pietersen agreed. “There is very little we can do as contractors and officials do not take instructions from us.”

Officials ignore illegal buildings, do nothing about dumping, drinking on the streets and illegal shebeens and spaza shops. Potholes are not repaired.

—  Ravin Singh, Communities Uniting to Fix Region F

He blames the city’s budget allocations, calling them unfair. Region F is considered to be established and, therefore, does not need additional budget. “On paper, it has the largest budget in the city but Region F is divided into two — Region F1 and F2, which are east and south of the CBD. So, in fact, it is not a lot of money. considering it makes the highest contribution to the city in terms of rates.

“More budget should be allocated for maintenance. The city is approving big, new densification developments, which we welcome, yet they ignore the informal densification happening on normal residential properties Also, because the illegal buildings are not registered and do not appear on city records, planning is skewed, not taking into account the real picture.

“A further problem is that building regulations are onerous and expensive and put people off applying for permission.”

Yeoville councillor David Modupi said unemployment was the biggest underlying problem in the suburb. “This leads to people not able to afford to pay for services, so they connect illegally. People occupy abandoned buildings and have no services so they dump their refuse (anywhere.”

The City of Johannesburg did not reply to a request for comment.