LIVING HISTORY
R375m makeover for Kliptown
Lucille Davie
27 June 2002
The Freedom Charter was signed on 26 June 1955 in dusty, windswept Kliptown Square, 40km south of Johannesburg. In a ceremony held on 26 June 2002, the winning design for the Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown was announced.
The crowded ceremony took place on the same dusty, windswept Square on which the Freedom Charter was signed 47 years ago. Tribute was paid to people who played a role in drafting the Charter but who have since died - Yusuf Dadoo, Albert Luthuli, Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, and Rusty Bernstein, who passed away only days before the ceremony.
The winning designer is Pierre Swanepoel of MAS Architects and Urban Designers. His design compriese a monument, museum, informal and formal retail activities and an open area for community gatherings.
The winning design for the Walter Sisulu Square in
Kliptown
Some 35 designs for the Square and monument were received, two of them from international architects. Two days of heated debate led to the selection of the winner, described by the judges as an "exemplary design on a bold scale, with the potential to change Soweto into a city".
Kliptown is a sprawling collection of settlements around 40 kilometres from the city centre, with a thriving informal business area, where the people of Soweto do their shopping. Some 85% of the township consists of informal settlements.
The Square has been declared a national monument and with its history, it is hoped it will become "a world-class tourist destination and heritage site offering local and international visitors a unique experience", according to Gauteng province's Blue IQ initiative, one of the developers of the site.
The Square and monument will form part of the Greater Kliptown Development Project, a massive effort to re-develop the area and make it
more habitable and conducive to business.
One of the oldest urban multiracial settlements in the Johannesburg area, established in 1912, Kliptown has long been neglected, and many of its old buildings are now dilapidated.
Some R375-million has been put aside for Kliptown's revival, R293-million from Blue IQ and R30-million from the City of Johannesburg. Areas to be upgraded are the Kliptown railway station, a new taxi rank, a market, the re-location of people in informal settlements, and the building of new houses.
The 50th anniversary of the signing of the Charter will be celebrated in three years' time when the monument is complete and formally opened. Construction of the Square and monument will start towards the end of the year.
A number of dignitaries spoke at the ceremony - Deputy President Jacob Zuma, Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Johannesburg Executive Mayor Amos Masondo, Acting Gauteng Premier Jabu Moleketi, Master of Ceremonies Ahmed
Kathrada and Beryl Sisulu, representing her father Walter Sisulu, who recently turned 90 and is in poor health.
Many of the people involved in drafting the Freedom Charter, including Walter Sisulu, were banned at the time and watched the 1955 proceedings from rooftops and over fences, always on the look-out for the security police.
At the ceremony, Beryl Sisulu passed on fond greetings from her father and mother, Albertina, and said: "Kliptown had a special place in my father's heart. At the time he had an underground office in the township. It is a privilege and honour for my father to have the Square named after him."
R86m cleanup for Klipspruit River
The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA), a city-owned company which oversees the renovation of the city and its surrounding areas, is devising a three-year, R86-million plan to rehabilitate the Klipspruit River which runs through Kliptown.
The river is polluted and overgrown
with reeds following years of neglect. The plan proposes to rehabilitate the sewer system in the area and to upgrade the infrastructure in and around the river.
Aubrey Manganyi, project manager of the JDA's Greater Kliptown Development Project, describes the sewer system as a major pollutant of the river. The JDA plans to upgrade the bulk sewer supply system which transports sewerage to the treatment plant, Manganyi explains.
The idea is to remove reeds from the river and develop adjacent open spaces into viable public parks with recreational facilities.
The JDA is in the process of appointing consultants to conduct environmental impact studies for the project, which is due to commence in August 2002.
Additional reporting by Thomas Thale.
Source: City of Johannesburg web site
| 
