MyJHB

Stuff from Johannesburg

SIU Intervention Urged in City of Johannesburg

Advertorial:
SIU Intervention Urged in City of Johannesburg:

Dear Editor

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg is deeply disturbed that the current administration is seemingly bent on running Johannesburg into the ground at the expense of residents.

The latest scandal to hit the City is that a R200 million tender to repair the Liliyan Ngoyi street explosion site, was awarded to a company already on trial for defrauding City Power of R94 million. Evidently it was not enough to preside over R94 million worth of fraud, the administration believes that another R200 million will do the trick.

We are now, more so than ever before, taking the new Executive Mayor Dada Morero’s word – we should not expect any major change under his leadership. Whilst the mayor should be ensuring residents of stability in his administration, he is instead promising a public park where the Lilian Ngoyi explosion took place. On the back of this, Morero is looking for R2 billion to ensure service delivery in the city. The same executive who squandered hundreds of millions, wants R2 billion more.

Whilst we are relieved that the City terminated the contract for the Lilian Ngoyi Street repairs, without suitable consequence management this means nothing.

It is for these reasons that the DA has written to the city manager requesting the following:

  • A comprehensive list of all projects that the accused company is working on in the City;
  • Which of those projects were completed;
  • Who the directors are for that company;
  • Who the officials are that sat on the Bid Adjudication Committee and awarded this tender;
  • What the consequences will be for those guilty of this gross financial mismanagement;
  • A request to write to Treasury to have this company blacklisted from doing any business with government across the country;
  • A comprehensive list of all projects that the accused company is working on in the city including the names it was previously trading under ;
  • Who the directors are and whether same directors are listed under other companies doing work for the city;
  • Reasons for treasury not being informed to blacklist the company whose directors are on trial for fraud & get the directors declared delinquent.

In addition, the DA has also written to the Special Investigation Unit requesting that all government contracts this company has entered into across the country be investigated. Our request includes the investigation of the directors. We included this specific request because there exists a pattern where the same directors are shifted around, and company names are changed in order to facilitate their looting of state coffers. The result being the same people in charge of millions of rands with a history of uncompleted projects under the belt.

While the City of Cape Town rehabilitates Tafelberg Road to 85% completion within 6 months, the City of Johannesburg awards a road rehabilitation tender to a company on trial for defrauding them. Our city is clearly being sold to the highest bidder.

We repeat, the only solution to Johannesburg’s crisis is the dissolution of council. It is evident that these antics will not stop until the residents of Johannesburg provide us with a new mandate. We will continue to be a thorn in the side of the CoJ’s executive – they continue to prove that without effective and strenuous oversight, the City will collapse.

Regards

Cllr Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku
DA Johannesburg Caucus Leader

– MyZA

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The Oriental Plaza: A Phoenix in Fordsburg

If Johannesburg is a city of forced displacements, the Oriental Plaza is its most resilient response. While the Rand Club was built for the elite and Ponte for the “jet-set,” the Oriental Plaza was born from the trauma of the Group Areas Act—a piece of Apartheid legislation designed to geographically separate the races. Yet, in true Johannesburg fashion, what was intended as a tool of containment and financial ruin for the Indian community transformed into one of the most vibrant, independent commercial powerhouses in the country.

The story of the Plaza begins with the destruction of Pageview, affectionately known as Fietas. In the mid-20th century, Fietas was a legendary multicultural hub, centered around the bustling 14th Street. It was the city’s premier destination for textiles, clothing, and spices, where shoppers of all races would rub shoulders in a “jazzy, soulful” atmosphere. However, because Fietas was located so close to the white-only city center, the Apartheid government declared it a “white area” in 1962. The community fought back for decades, but by the 1970s, the bulldozers arrived. Homes were leveled, and the thriving traders of 14th Street were forcibly relocated to a purpose-built, modernist complex a kilometer away in Fordsburg: the Oriental Plaza.

The government’s intent was cynical: by moving the traders into a controlled environment with high state-mandated rents and strict rules on what could be sold, they hoped to break the back of Indian commercial dominance. The early years were devastating; many businesses folded, and the “Grand Bazaar” felt like a sterile warehouse compared to the street-level energy of Fietas. However, the traders refused to vanish. They eventually won the right to purchase their own shops, making the Oriental Plaza unique among South African malls because it is owned by the shopkeepers themselves rather than a corporate landlord. This ownership model changed everything. Without the burden of massive monthly mall rentals, the 360+ independent stores can offer prices that national retailers cannot touch, turning the Plaza into a “bargain-hunter’s paradise” that draws millions of visitors a year.