Gauteng Business 2017-18 edition

Unlocking the door for inner-city
investment in Johannesburg
High-rise, low-cost accommodation could be transformative.
Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. Government-led
at times, on other occasions initiated
by private investors. That’s the story
of the regeneration of Johannesburg’s
inner city. It is a story that has had notable successes
along the way, but progress has been sporadic and
efforts have mostly been concentrated on quite
small parts of the city.
The Newtown urban renewal project included
a focus on the arts at Mary Fitzgerald Square; the
building of the Nelson Mandela Bridge in 2003 improved
linkages and gave the city a cool symbol;
the Johannesburg Development Agency installed
156 public art works, cleaned up squares and installed
street furniture. More recently, the Maboneng
Precinct on the eastern edge of the CBD has become
a busy mixed-use zone with a focus on the arts,
design and entertainment.
Now there is a drive to transform the central business
district (CBD) in a concerted and coordinated
way. The city’s new mayor, Herman Mashaba, said
of Johannesburg in his “100 Days” address that, “It
can become a model for a modern, post-apartheid,
South African city. It has the ability to produce a
vibrant socio-economic mix of high-rise, low-cost
and affordable housing for our people.”
Mashaba represents the Democratic Alliance
which has been running Johannesburg as the leader
of a coalition of parties since local government
elections in 2016. A notable entrepreneur himself,
Mashaba strongly believes that private businesses
and developers are ready and willing to invest in
downtown Johannesburg. “These are the people
with the balance sheets that can turn this city into
a construction site within a matter of months,”
says Mashaba.
The Premier of the Gauteng Province, David
Makhura, is a member of the African National
Congress which continues to be the majority party
at provincial and national level. In his State of the
Province address, Makhura said, “We are in agreement
with Executive Mayor Herman Mashaba that
the renewal of the Johannesburg inner city has to
be undertaken urgently in partnership with the
province, the city and the private sector.”
Political agreement of this sort is rare, so the chances
of success for Johannesburg are better than they
would be in a fractious political climate.
GAUTENG BUSINESS 2017/18
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