A number of initiatives are in process to provide opportunities for the development of
medium to high-density residential developments closer to the city centre (e.g. Baralink).
Programmes should be extended to include the environmental management perspective for
sustainability in the common issues like:
- housing
- income
- employment
- crime
- services and
- education (UNDP, 1997).
HOUSING
The delivery of subsidised serviced sites (i.e. semi-formal housing with basic
infrastructure) is being done closer to areas where job opportunities are available in
order to prevent illegal squatting ; to reduce high transport costs; to provide services
at levels which households can afford; to provide for low-income housing, and to implement
land tenure reform.
INCOME
Local Economic Development strategies are being initiated and implemented to help people
improve their potential income.
EMPLOYMENT
In order to reduce unemployment, the government provides access to training to enhance
access to jobs. The government has also embarked on projects to create entrepreneurial
opportunities for small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs). The creation of by-laws to
regulate the informal trade arena has also been initiated.
CRIME
The Johannesburg Central Police Station
launched its upgraded crime intelligence unit on Tuesday 25 January 2000. It hopes that
improved logistical equipment, including computers, would enable police in the inner city
to be pro-active rather than reactive (City Vision, 28/01/2000).
SERVICES
The Constitution makes provision in the Bill of Rights for an individual’s right to a
safe and healthy environment and sustainable development. The Constitution further
provides for local government to provide water and sanitation services (potable water and
disposal systems).
The consolidated municipal infrastructure
programme (CMIP), focuses on internal bulk and connector water, roads and stormwater
drainage, solid waste disposal and public lighting services. It provides grant funding for
new infrastructure, as well as for the upgrading and rehabilitation of existing internal
bulk and connector infrastructure, to urban as well as dense and dispersed rural areas.
The closer alignment of grant funding under
the CMIP will help municipalities to build and manage sustainable infrastructure systems.
The community water supply and sanitation
programme aims to ensure that all South Africans have access to an adequate water supply
and safe sanitation facilities.
EDUCATION
The government has initiated education
policies, to help improve the education levels of the people.
A report
on urban governance and poverty in GJ was done by the Metro Planning, Urbanisation and
Economic Development Cluster in 1999 .
The following table shows the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats of poverty in Greater Johannesburg (Walmsley, 1997).
STRENGTHS OF POVERTY |
WEAKNESSES OF
POVERTY STRICKEN AREAS |
|
|
- Air pollution due to coal and wood burning
- Surface soil pollution due to a lack of sanitation
- Water pollution due to run-off that is high in litter
content, untreated sewage and top soil
- Soil erosion due to the removal of vegetation and the
increase in impermeable surfaces caused by the high density of housing
- Trees and other vegetation are often rapidly depleted to
provide wood for fires and building materials
- Many informal settlements are situated within the 1:50 year
flood line
- Unsanitary living conditions and a lack of waste management
prevail in poverty stricken areas
- Poverty stricken areas are economically dysfunctional
- Impacts on health in such areas include outbreaks of
tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, fever and chronic diarrhoea. Flies, rats and mosquitoes
also have serious health impacts on the populations of poverty stricken areas.
|
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
POVERTY STRICKEN AREAS |
THREATS TO POVERTY
STRICKEN AREAS |
- Living conditions and the pollution problems, that result
from these conditions, may be improved through the provision of sanitation services and
electrification of poverty stricken areas
- Poverty stricken populations provide a relatively cheap
labour resource
- Education would empower poverty stricken people to
economically control their lives.
|
- Flooding is a threat because of the increase in surface
water flow. This is mainly due to the removal of vegetation and the increase in
impermeable surfaces. People living within the 1:50 year flood line are at most risk of
flooding.
- The degeneration of certain areas within the urban
environment will lead to further poverty in Greater Johannesburg.
|
REFERENCES
City Vision 28/01/2000: City centre's
crime fighters get new equipment.
UNDP 1997: Human Development Report. Oxford: New
York.
Walmsley Environmental Consultants 1997: GJTMC
Integrated Metropolitan Development Plan - Report No. W262. WEC: Rivonia. |
