A grassroots movement is connecting neighbourhoods, community organisations, and businesses big and small to revitalise Johannesburg’s inner city. We meet the women involved in some of the projects.
Come see how Jozi does it,’ says Bea Swanepoel, CEO of Jozi My Jozi (JMJ), the urban revitalisation organisation that’s leading the charge. ‘Come witness a city in transformation. This is our call to action, encouraging people to reimagine our beautiful city.’
JMJ is a non-profit that works with individuals, the private sector and civil society, as well as the city, province and national government, Bea says. It’s a coalition of the willing. ‘We have more than 140 partners. We act as a connector. That’s our superpower – we can get the right people around a table and hammer out the way forward in practical, sustainable terms.’
Bea is a powerhouse. Her day can involve anything from high-level meetings with corporate partners and talking waste management with the city to inspecting infrastructure projects and addressing creative summits. JMJ works across various sectors, like arts, culture, tourism, education and the environment, but also tackles tougher stuff such as security, safety and transport, including plans for an integrated transport system in the city.
Last year, JMJ rolled out more than 1 000 solar streetlights along pedestrian routes, helped more than 100 inner-city early-learning centres register for safety and compliance, and mobilised more than 200 volunteers to conduct the city’s first point-in-time count of people who are experiencing homelessness. ‘When we work together,’ Bea says, ‘magic happens.’
JMJ’s HQ is the famous Anglo Art Deco building at 44 Main Street in Marshalltown, a clean, safe precinct with pedestrian walkways, coffee shops and fountains. Once the mining and financial heart of Johannesburg, Marshalltown is set to become the continent’s most powerful education cluster in the next decade – with the Maharishi Invincibility Institute (a skills-to-work university) and the Wits Business School attracting more than 100 000 students living within a 5 km radius of Marshalltown. Education is the new gold.
Babize Bonke
‘A major objective is to get people back into the inner city,’ says Dawn Robertson, creative catalyst at JMJ. ‘Our Babize Bonke Campaign – meaning “Let them all come” – invites people to do exactly that. Come and meet Johannesburg’s vibrant people, see their resilience and creativity, and the collective spirit that drives the city’s renewal.’
Dawn and her team have designed a menu of tours and walking tours that immerse visitors in the city’s people and stories. Visitors can take in the Literary District, for example, which showcases 70 underground booksellers in the inner city; explore Victoria Yards, Jozi’s most iconic creative hub, with makers, artists and growers all flourishing in a funky post-industrial space; or visit the inner-city studios of artists and creatives. There are food tours, history tours, even tours to Hillbrow and the top of the 54-storey Ponte City – the famous cylindrical building with a hollow centre and a dark past, now safe and well-run. Architecture tours reveal the continent's most diverse architecture: Victorian, colonial, Art Deco, Brutalist, and modern. And did you know that Jozi is one of the most sought-after destinations in the world for mural art and graffiti? The city’s creative economy is rising.
Mothership calling home
Nandi Dlepu is one of many young creatives who are calling the inner city home. She’s easy to spot with her signature voluminous hairstyle – she calls it ‘proudly African’. Nandi is the owner and founder of Mamakashaka & Friends, an agency and cultural studio in Braamfontein.
It’s a gorgeous studio space and outdoor area, decorated in neutral tones and organic lines, that can be dressed to become a themed venue, a film or music studio, a workshop space, a dance floor, or a chill-out lounge. Here, Mamakashaka & Friends have created several groundbreaking brands – like Pantone Sundays, a colour-themed fashion experience; Bloom, talks and workshops on the stories of creative women; and the Feel Good Series, which showcases emerging South African hip-hop, soul and jazz artists.
‘Braamfontein is practical,’ Nandi says. ‘It’s a bridge between north and south, and it’s also nostalgic because I studied and partied here. I want to be part of its restoration. And I live a song away.’
Block by block
Another song away is Hillbrow, the city’s toughest hood, where nearly 100 000 people live in high-rise buildings within one square kilometre. It’s a high-density, low-income area notorious for crime and unemployment – but since eKhaya Neighbourhood, an urban improvement project, started here in 2004, working block by block to uplift the area, pockets of liveable buildings and safe spaces are increasing.
‘You can’t build a sense of community if people don’t know one another,’ says Bafikile Mkhize, community coordinator at eKhaya. The project is a collaboration between property owners, building managers, tenants and the city to ‘make a neighbourhood in Hillbrow’.
It began many years ago when two property companies, Johannesburg Housing Company and Trafalgar, reclaimed two hijacked buildings – ‘bad buildings’, as they’re called around here. They were fixed up, housing managers were appointed, and tenants were encouraged to get to know one another. ‘That was our approach: Get to know your neighbour and their neighbour. Break anonymity, build community, block by block,’ Bafikile says.
From just two buildings, eKhaya now manages more than 84 properties in Hillbrow and Berea. ‘When you see the changes, you get encouraged,’ she says. ‘The success of eKhaya has been based on responsible property owners entering into partnerships with community improvement districts, local community policing forums, schools, churches, inner-city improvement groups such as Jozi My Jozi, ward councillors, the city and NGOs.’
Such collaborations have seen the upgrade of Donald Mackay Park in Berea, beneath Ponte City. Once dangerous and derelict, the park is now a safe green space for surrounding communities and has a playground, basketball and soccer courts, and a food garden that’s been flourishing for the past year.
Greening neighbourhoods
‘It makes such a difference seeing beauty,’ says Mama Yumna Beukes, guerrilla gardener and community activist in Bertrams. One fearsome auntie, Yumna has turned 32 illegal dumping spots in her neighbourhood into pavement gardens.
Bertrams is a small suburb on the eastern edge of Johannesburg’s CBD, between New Doornfontein, Lorentzville, Bez Valley, Judith’s Paarl and Troyeville. Historically a Jewish working-class neighbourhood, it’s now home to South Africans, Congolese, Mozambicans and Zimbabweans – and Ellis Park stadium, which was spruced up by JMJ and partners a few years ago.
‘Locals were dumping here, so I turned this corner into a garden,’ Yumna says. ‘Then they started dumping across the road, so I turned that into a garden too. Same thing with a guy just up the road. He was so arrogant and just dumped rubbish outside his house. So we fixed that.’
Yumna has rallied locals, young and old, to help her dig, clean and greenify. People are starting to take pride in these pavement gardens, she says, and are adopting them and maintaining them, although water supply remains a huge challenge.
Transforming rubbish-filled ‘hotspot’ pavements into gardens is just one part of Yumna’s work. Her main game is food security – she started a series of food gardens in the area that supply food to soup kitchens, the elderly and schools. She’s partnered with local community groups to use food waste to make compost, and last year even donated corn to the animals at Joburg Zoo.
‘Garden education needs to start at the schools,’ she says. ‘Once you teach a child to do something, you teach the nation.’
Connecting the townships
The inner city remains a primary focus, but JMJ has also extended its reach into Soweto, with plans to expand into Alexandra soon. JMJ Soweto works across the same pillars of education, arts, security and the environment, and tourism is proving to be a powerful tool in social development.
‘There are so many challenges in Soweto,’ says Maria Westlund-Malepa of JMJ Soweto. ‘We have social ills, we have unemployment, we have illegal dumping, we have a lack of infrastructure…’
Maria runs Lebo’s Soweto Backpackers in Orlando West, a hugely popular overnight spot and tourism hub that offers tours, tuk-tuk adventures, storytelling and immersive township experiences. Tourism can create jobs and boost the economy, she says. It can support the creation of small businesses, preserve cultural heritage, promote a clean environment and foster social connections.
‘JMJ Soweto is also creating diverse new tourism products,’ Maria says, ‘like the new Soweto Art Route and Soweto Art Mile, which showcase the creative talent here and offer a deeper dive into experiencing Soweto.’
Another positive initiative is Keep Kasi Clean, which is tackling illegal dumping and waste management. ‘We have had such a positive response from the community. When people keep their communities clean, it attracts visitors – and that in turn restores hope and dignity.’
For more information or to find out how to get involved, check out jozimyjozi.com
