Kensington

I was a young Joebug joller. I was thinking about what club am I going to go to tonight in Hillbrow and girlfriends and stuff. And here were these people my age, and they were prepared to die. And for the first time, it dawned on me I'm living in a society that I know virtually nothing about. Sure. I mean, you probably in those days either would have had to phone in your copy or go.

News story. So we'll welcome a sponsor so that we can do a second season of The Hope Dealers. But for this last episode, I've visited Makers Valley. And if you haven't heard of Makers Valley, maybe you've heard of Victoria Yards. And Makers Valley is the creative heartbeat of Joberg. It stretches across the eastern inner city. So it spans neighborhoods like Lawrenceville and Troyville and Bertrams. And it's a dynamic grassroots movement. It's a creative ecosystem where social enterprise.

Really have an appetite for good news stories. So we welcome a sponsor so that we can do a second season of The Hope Dealers. But for this last episode, I've visited Makers Valley. And if you haven't heard of Makers Valley, maybe you've heard of Victoria Yards. And Makers Valley is the creative heartbeat of Joberg. It stretches across the eastern inner city. So it spans neighborhoods like Lawrenceville and Troyville and Bertrams. And it's a dynamic grassroots movie.

First, on the issue of the GBV, very important talk. I just wanted to say about two years ago, my car was broken into. I went to the police station to go report it, specifically Day Bellevue Police Station. And sitting there in the GBV desk was a lady reporting something to the police officer. The police station was dead quiet, so everybody could hear a conversation. And it just struck me that why is the GBV desk in

The Daily Maverick, we asked a city of Johannesburg spokesperson to maybe just give us his sense of what they believe is happening around the city of Johannesburg's Kensington and Malvern area. The City of Johannesburg spokesperson, Tatisi Modingwana, thank you so much for making time for us. Good evening and welcome. Thank you very much for the opportunity to make. Let me say quickly to the next level. What do you know about what is actually happening around Kensington, Malvern area?

We are currently located. We are located in Bruma, 39 Ernest Oppenheimer Avenue. So it's around Johannesburg, just near Bedford View. Yeah. But it's like opposite Eastgate and McDonald's, right above that area. All right. What difference do you think this makes being recognized like this as Houting's greatest kids' party place? It's great. I think the coffee shop owner or person here did mention that sometimes you don't even pay attention to all these nominations and whatever the case is. We just focus.

Neglected properties and concerns that some are hijacked. The operation took place earlier today and targeted buildings in areas including Marshalltown, Berea, Jebbystown, Yeovil, Hillbrow, and the inner city, forming part of a wider City Power campaign targeting 108 buildings it has identified as problematic across Johannesburg. City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena says the intervention is about recovering debt and

Of Johannesburg, Hillborough, Berea, Yeovil, where you would know the irony, where the square meter price of what people are paying per square meter is more than here in Santon because people are given toilets to sleep in and people are taking rent from families who are desperate. Somebody knows what's going on. Absolutely. And

Real kind of imagination of development where hey, this is Chobek, this is Eku Rulen. But what is the conversation between the mayor of Ecuador and the mayor of Chobek? I mean, you can't even take Togozani from Malvern with a metro bus to Ottambuk because jurisdiction does not allow you. So there's much more that we need to talk about. And I think we need to think about these corridors that are boundaries and borders of different municipalities. I mean, maybe let me ask you, Togozani, what would you like to see happen immediately from a mayor, for instance?

Campaign, a beyond the pothole campaign. Because once you go beyond the pothole in Malvern, it's more than a pothole that you have to resolve. It's easy to scare people with, oh, you'll continue to have potholes after elections. If you don't elect me as mayor, your streetlight will not work. I mean, I'm sure people in Wazani's community are worried about more significant things than just potholes. In some instances, the roads are no longer there. The roads have collapsed and it's strips of, you know, tar and gravel and so on. And people

One, that's Naledi Mashishi, who's a journalist at Daily Maverick, following up on the story of residents in Kensington, around Kensington area, Malvern area, complaining about abandoned buildings and hijacked buildings. And we will also follow up on this when we speak to the city of Johannesburg. What exactly their plan is. They speak of multidisciplinary departments trying to help them in curbing whatever is happening there. But I'm not sure that we're getting that kind of response from.

Hannesburg mayoral candidate Lukona Mguni. That's going to be our guest this evening. We'll also be speaking to Elijah Mlanger, who is a hoting government spokesperson. They've got a plan for GBV. I'm sure you want to hear all about that. A plan presented by the Premier a couple of days ago over the weekend, in fact. And so we'll take a deep dive into all of that. If you are a resident in Malvern, Kensington area, please let me know how serious is the issue.