The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) inaugurated the first Halala Awards in 2008. Halala means ‘congratulations’ and the awards celebrate a wide range of achievements within the inner city and honour those responsible.

When I first wrote about the awards (Citichat 23/2008) I quoted the ubiquitous Wikipedia’s definition of an award as “something given to a person or a group of people to recognize excellence in a certain field”  and its additional qualification that “awards can be given by any person or institution, although the prestige of an award usually depends on the status of the awarder.”

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As the successful agency of the Johannesburg Metro Council responsible for stimulating and supporting area based economic development initiatives, with a history now of nearly ten years, there can be no doubt as to the status of the awarder. Halala awards have come to be a coveted recognition of all sorts of achievements over a wide range of categories. The JDA has held a prestigious awards dinner for the previous two years but, this year, decided that the format should be of far greater benefit to the city and its stakeholders. The 2010 awards were thus in the format of a day long seminar held on Wednesday last week which acted as not just a showcase of some of the tremendous initiatives that have taken place in the inner city over the past year, but an opportunity for the people behind the projects to tell their stories. And what great stories we were to hear!

The morning session was by way of a number of inputs ranging from the impact that the JDA itself has had on private sector investments; to a series of presentations and reflections.  There was a presentation of regeneration highlights over the past decade; reflections on the Inner City Regeneration processes - (I was honoured to do this presentation and suggested to those present that you really know when you are being ‘let out to pasture’ when you are asked to “reflect” on what has gone before!); reflections on the impact of commercial and residential investments in the inner city by three inner city developers and three perspectives on catalysing investment in the inner city.

Lunch was then followed by the afternoon session where shortlisted finalists were able to explain their projects and the value and impact they were having on the inner city followed by the Awards themselves.

The guiding philosophy for the awards rests in three tenets:

The recognition of efforts that have broken new  ground in urban regeneration, advancing sustainable economic growth, community wellbeing and the quality of life of all residents of the Inner City (encouraging extraordinary effort).
The recognition of pioneering programmes and innovative projects initiated by audacious thinkers whose passion has opened new horizons in decaying areas (fostering originality)
The recognition of commitment and dedication to fostering partnerships, initiating joint programmes and catalyzing sustainable developments that promote social harmony (encouraging participation, equality and inclusivity)

The categories that were contested this year were:
‘Living Joburg’
‘Caring Joburg’
‘Relaxing and Playing Joburg’
‘Sustaining Joburg’
‘Working and Buying Joburg’
‘Conserving Joburg’ which receives  “The Colosseum Award”.and
‘Believing in Joburg’ - The Stan Nkosi Achievement Award -

AND THE WINNERS Were!!!!!

‘Living Joburg’ – recognizing residential projects that provide innovative, progressive and inclusive housing that addresses inner city residents’ needs and supports developing the community”

There were two sub-sectors to this award – ‘Individual Investor’ (finalists being 9 Saratoga/Harmony Galz and Ekuphumuleni Village) and ‘Corporate Investor’ (both finalists being Afhco projects, Greatermans and Cavendish Chambers).

All four finalists at some stage of their more recent lives have been builduings that have been illegally invaded and have really been “Phoenixes arising from the ashes”.

The winner of the Individual Investment Category was Josephine Tshaboeng the owner of 9 Saratoga Avenue, Doornfontein and what a story she told. In her own words: “In the year 2000 on my way to work, I met an old lady at the bus stop and we started chatting. She asked me where I worked and what I did. I told her I was a maid, a domestic worker, a nanny and a housekeeper but was resigning on that very same day. She asked for my details and we got into separate buses and I never saw her again for three weeks. Then she came to my flat and asked me to go somewhere with her. She took me to a building in Doornfontein. When we got there she asked if I would be able to fill it up with people to rent. I said ‘yes’ but I knew very well I didn’t know what I was talking about, I had never done it before. But because I needed an income I just agreed. She asked me to go around the building and count the rooms and work out the rentals. I remembered the words my madam used to say to me “if I tell myself that I can, then I’m able” I took a pen and paper and went upstairs and started working by counting the rooms. In the afternoon the owners of the building came around and asked what we were doing there, we said we were looking after their place. To cut a long story short, I became a caretaker there for five years until they wanted to get rid of the building, but they wanted to sell it only to me. The purchase price they gave me was R450 000-00 and TUHF (Trust for Urban Housing Finance) financed me with one million rand for refurbishment, but the costs were higher than that. This meant that I had to find additional funding which was a very difficult task, but over time my commitment to the project proved to TUHF that I was serious and they agreed that full funding would come from them based on a bursary payment scheme. The tenants refused to move out of the building because they didn’t believe I had bought it. It took me to 2006 to get a court order to have them vacate the building. In November they were out and the building started getting renovated on the 13th July 2009 and we started registering students. If it wasn’t for TUHF and my perserverance I would not be where I am today. I’m now the proud owner of the building I fought so hard for”

What a story and told with great sincerity, honesty and humility! Josephine converted the building, originally an old age home, to female student accommodation with 90% of the rentals being paid over through the bursary payments of the student residents. The building is secure, clean, well equipped, well maintained and at an affordable and reasonable rent.   There are 83 rooms in the building with bathrooms, kitchens, study and laundry rooms communal to each floor’s’ residents. All rooms are curtained and furnished with desks, chairs and single beds. There is strict security

The ‘Corporate Investor category was won by Afhco’s Cavendish Chambers. It was also previously a hijacked building situated on Jeppe and Kruis Streets and had been methodically stripped of every bit of material of value right down to door and window frames. Afhco completely refurbished the building converting it into 187 residential rental units with a target market of people earning between R3 500-00 and R10 000-00 per month. The ultra modern units are complete with open-plan kitchens, ceramic tiles, VOiP telephones, 24 hour security, fingerprint access, internet and DSTV connection. Street patrollers and an Afhco shuttle service into the CBD are also provided.

‘Caring Joburg’ – recognizing selfless and community-minded individuals, volunteer groups and organizations that create the ‘caring heart’ of the city. This category also acknowledges individuals who deliver support services focused on community development.

This category attracted some amazing entrants all of whose stories need to be told and I will attempt to do that in future issues of Citichat.  In the end, three finalists were identified being “The Missionaries of Charity, Mother Theresa Home, Johannesburg; the Inner City Ambassadors Football Club and the Siyakhana Permaculture Food Garden. The winner, who also received a donation of R10 000-00 was “The Missionaries of Charity, Mother Theresa Home, Johannesburg;. The Home is situated in Yeoville and is a home for the vulnerable, the destitute and the sick. Each and every person, whether abandoned babies or terminally ill adults, or a teenager with severe cerebral palsy, is treated with dignity, humility and deep care. Avistors to the home are surprised at the sounds rising out of the home: laughter, children’s chattering and young girls whose dream is to go back to school despite their illnesses – sounds of hope in the future and for the future. On a weekly basis, the 9 sisters and 23 staff and volunteers support 100 sick and dying in their hospice; 50 abandoned babies and toddlers in their childrens’ home and food on a daily basis for 250 to 300 people.  They also visit all local hospices; provide homeless people with a place of care, ablution facilities and clothes and food; visit many homes, pay for school fees and skills training programmes, provide a haven for street children and provide weekly support to Soweto and Alex.

In the words of Mother Theresa; ”There is much suffering in the world – physical, material, mental. The suffering of some can be blamed on the greed of others. The material and physical suffering is suffering from hunger, from homelessness, from all kinds of diseases. But the greatest suffering is being lonely, feeling unloved, having no one. I have come more and more to realize that it is being unwanted that is the worst disease that any human being can experience. Open your eyes and see. There is not just hunger for bread; there is a hunger for understanding and love, for the Word of God. Nakedness is not only for a piece of cloth, but nakedness is a loss of dignity, human dignity; the loss for what is beautiful, what is pure, what is chaste, what is virgin. Loss. Homelessness is not only for a house made of bricks – homelessness is when people are completely forgotten, rejected, left alone, as if they are nobody to nobody”

‘Relaxing and Playing Joburg’ – recognizing creativity and innovation with regard to the built environment to provide daring use of new and old buildings and exciting use of space to create unique recreational experiences thereby creating a unique recreation destination.

There were three finalists in this category – all deserving to be declared winner although all being vastly different. They were the ‘SAB World of Beer’, ‘Arts on Main’ and Sci Bono.

The winner was declared as ‘Arts on Main’ the visionary brainchild of entrepreneur Jonathan Liebmann that I’ve covered on a number of occasions in previous Citichats. I remember telling Lael Bethlehem about the project when I had visited it whilst in an early stage of development. I was telling her of the olive and lemon trees being planted in the Mediterranean courtyard, this on the distinctly gritty eastern side of the inner city. I think I saw her eyes roll in disbelief yet here we are today celebrating what has been a unique creative project that is now the catalyst for more mind-stretching developments in this area, named the Maboneng precinct by Jonathan (Maboneng is a Sotho word meaning “place of light”).  The list of occupier owners and tenants is a formidable list of the country’s who’s who in art and culture. including William Kentridge, and galleries such as the Seippel and Goodman, bookstores and the home of Bailey’s African History Archives which hold 40 years of material from Drum Magazine and various sister publications.

‘Sustaining Joburg’ – recognizing projects and individuals with innovative environmentally sound and sensitive approaches to the built environment. They also have to use and maintain to build environmental investment, regeneration and development in the inner city.

There were no awards made in this category. Although a number of nominations had been received, it was felt that none fully met the parameters of the award.  This is a worrying situation given the acknowledged importance of environmental soundness and sustainability. It is to be hoped that it doesn’t reflect a disinterest or lack of progress in what is a most important aspect of modern cities.

‘Working and Buying Joburg’ – recognizing innovative, exciting and striking commercial and retail developments that attract people to the city

There were three finalists in this category.

The Zurich Building developed by the Johannesburg Land Company
The NUMSA Head Office and Conference Centre and
Arts on Main.

The winner was the Zurich Building the first private sector developed commercial space to be built in Johannesburg in possibly 20 years or more. It is built on the corner of Marshall and Miriam Makeba Streets in Ferreirasdorp which is an area of the inner city marked by years of decay and neglect. The building is the first of what will ultimately be a number of buildings set in a landscaped area that will transform this south western section of the inner city.

The building itself is a six storey office building of twelve-and-a-half thousand square metres which has an elliptical shaped core attached to a solid block giving the western façade the appearance of a ships prow. The core is separated from the main office component by a huge multi volume atrium encased in glass curtain walling and is accessible visa bridges and stairways connecting it to the open plan office floors. The main façade is of sandstone and glass.

For me, the atrium is quite spectacular, beautifully detailed and finished and providing wonderful views of the city the higher one progresses. On the ground floor is a large photographic reproduction of Ferreira’s Camp which would have been just adjacent to the site of the building. The building contains some magnificent and varied African art.. A very worthy winner.

‘Conserving Joburg’ - “The Colosseum Award”

This category recognises work done in conserving heritage buildings that meet certain renovation criteria as required in the national and provincial heritage policies. The Colosseum Award came about in 1982 during the struggle to save the Colosseum building from demolition. During the ‘demolish/conserve’ argument, well-known heritage consultant Herbert Prins was defamed by the property developers. When he sued, an out of court settlement was reached.  Since Mr Prins had no wish to benefit from the loss of this fine building, he donated the money to the Witwatersrand Heritage Trust (WHT) for a conservation project.

It was decided that the money be used to fund a floating trophy made by Cecil Skotnes for a “Colosseum Award for Conservation”.  The WHT is no longer functioning and the Johannesburg Heritage Trust administers the award but requested the JDA to utilize the Award as part of its Halala celebrations rather than duplicate efforts in this aspect.

It was first awarded to BHP Billiton for the outstanding project where their heritage office block was merged with their new extensions. Last year the winner was Turbine Square. A number of wonderful submissions were made and the following received nominations met the technical and timeframe criteria:

There were two finalists this year; The Numsa Head Office and Conference Centre and Arts on Main. The Award was made to the NUMSA Head Office and Conference Centre – I covered the building some time ago in Citichats 18 & 19/2008 so won’t repeat it here but what a wonderful initiative of a Trade Union to preserve and conserve some of the built history of this great city.

‘Believing in Joburg’ - The Stan Nkosi Achievement Award

Joburg is the home of innovators, investors and implementers – nothing describes the role of those who have consciously remained, sustained or reinvented the life of the Inner City as well as those who have stood the test of time, maintaining a belief in the life of the city when no one else did.

Nine people were shortlisted for this premier award, every one part of a select group of people who have had a major impact on the revitalisation of the inner city over the past twenty years. The deserved winner was Ishmael Mkhabela, better known to many of us as ‘Ish’.

Ish is a freelance community development facilitator, a community conflict resolution mediator as well as a leading professional community organizer. He is the founder and was Chief Executive Officer of Interfaith Community Development Association (ICDA) an agency that has, since 1991, pioneered and promoted broad-based relational community organizing and community conflict resolution in South Africa. ICDA trained literally hundreds of professional community organisers, promoted civic education and leadership development programmes and facilitated inner city renewal programmes and coordinated key multi-stakeholder participation in locality renewal and development projects. Ish’s CV reveals a huge breadth of involvement in establishing and leading organisations ranging from AZAPO in 1978 to the Witwatersrand Network for the Homeless in 1987, chairing numerous trusts and companies and, in fact, reads like a wonderful story of nation building.
His other nation building activities include numerous roles in national service agencies, women, youth, workers, civic and community based organizations and faith based institutions. Through all this Ish has remained a quiet, modest, reserved, warm hearted and passionate gentleman. Ish is one of the many unsung heroes of the “Inner City Struggle”

Hami Khensela,Buti Ish!

Special Recognition

The CEO of the JDA, Lael Bethlehem, who leaves the JDA shortly to take up a position in the private sector, received a standing ovation when she was presented by Councillor Ros Greeff, the member of the Mayoral Committee responsible for the cluster under which the JDA falls, with an Honourary Halala Award - which incidentally this year was a wood carving of the city skyline. A wonderful surprise for Lael for an outstanding  contribution to the regeneration of the inner city particularly over her 5 year term of office  Well done, Lael and sala kahle!  

The Financial Mail (April 23) reported on three new hotels for the inner city – a 120-room four star hotel in Marshall Street, near Rissik Street, opening in May; a 50-room five-star hotel near AAC headquarters and the Standard Bank superblock, which will follow later; and then, next year, a 150-room hotel situated in the same vicinity. These are to be branded as ‘Reef Hotels’ developed by Isaac Chalumbira and hotelier Gustav Krampe. Chalumbira has been active in property development in the inner city for some time. I hear that funding for the first of these hotels, the R70 million Reef Hotels Gold, is from IDC and the ubiquitous TUHF (Trust for Urban Housing Finance). For some years now TUHF have been providing critical financing of urban revitalization projects in the inner city as well as promoting BEE ownership (Citichat 37.2005).

Read more: Hip, hip hotels!

Spent some time during the past couple of weeks with a variety of stakeholders in Braamfontein both west and east of Bertha Street. Also had an opportunity to walk a major part of the area. Still a lot of investment over the macro precinct. It will undoubtedly change even more with the completion of the two transport initiatives currently under construction. The Gautrain Station is being built at a reported cost of R100 million and BRT is also planned for this area. Both are part of larger multi billion rand transportation projects and should have a major impact on Braamies. Already there is talk of linking Wits University, to the north-west, with the Gautrain Station to the south-east.

Read more: Braamies grows…..and it’s not the big things that make a city great!