Johannesburg has now seen a gas explosion and two residential building fires, one of which killed more than 75 people – all in the course of just one month.
Last week’s devastating midnight fire happened in a hijacked building in the heart of the city and walking distance from the location of the gas explosion that tore up part of Lilian Ngoyi (formerly Bree) Street.
In July, a different gas explosion, linked to illegal mining, killed 17 and injured 10 people on the West Rand.
These areas are well known to me, as I they used to be my stomping ground as a young adult trying to find my feet in the City of Gold. Then already, Joburg was showing signs of rapid decay and a lack of visionary management.
Big companies were all fleeing to the north, mostly Sandton. Iconic venues in the CBD, like the Carlton Hotel and the surrounding pedestrian mall precinct were slowly losing their lustre and becoming no-go areas.
I lived in a flat on downtown Bree Street at the time, walking distance from Hillbrow and the Park Station areas, both of which are now crime hotspots.
This was 30 years ago and then already, you took your life into your own hands when entering certain buildings in the CBD.
And because there were hundreds of shady buildings across the metro, it was clear that there was no consistent plan to make sure every one of them was being operated within the confines of the law.
Don’t get me wrong, Joburg still has a lot going for it. It’s a hustling, bustling metropolis that proudly displays its diversity and offers ambitious young people a lot of promise.
But it is an enormous assault on the senses and can be unmanageably overwhelming. In that way, it is more an African city than any other in the country.
Every time I go there, it strikes me how the sprawling CBD has been left to rot by a political leadership that can’t find consensus on anything.
Managing Africa’s economic hub requires a consistently tenacious and visionary approach, something which has been sorely lacking in Joburg.
There are still many hijacked and dangerous buildings that resemble informal settlements on the inside. And while politicians fight over who gets to be the boss, many more will develop, resulting in disasters that will make these three pale in comparison.
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