Joburg’s CBD is not often compared to New York, but these days the spotless streets of Marshalltown feel like a more peaceful version of the Big Apple. From her office in the Art Deco building that was once the headquarters of Anglo American, Bea Swanepoel talks about how Jozi My Jozi is helping to bring about this transformation.
“We started with just four blocks of Marshalltown, then every succeeding month expanded by another block. You can’t go shotgun approach and try to fix everything at once. If you start small and keep growing, that’s when you see the impact.
“The same is now evident in Ellis Park, Jewel City, Braamfontein … there are pockets of excellence everywhere and we are starting to connect them. This year we are tackling Hillbrow, the health precinct and the Absa precinct. One day you’ll wake up and the whole of Joburg will be sorted out.”
Swanepoel grew up in Joburg, then married a mining engineer and lived all over South Africa, getting to understand many different communities. “All your experiences make you ready for where you need to be at a specific time,” she says.
After moving back to the city, she worked for Anglo as a project manager and was assigned to manage the company’s move to the northern suburbs, specifically regarding what to do with the premises that would be left vacant in the CBD.
Jozi My Jozi was the love child of two legends: Anglo American and Nando’s founder Robbie Brozin, who met Swanepoel when she and her colleagues approached Wits to see if the university could use the precinct.
“Robbie said he had an idea for how we could leave a proper legacy for the people of this city where Anglo has so much history, so that’s how we started. When the CEO opportunity presented itself, my hand was in the air first. Very few people have a job where you see the impact of what you’re doing every single day. My passion and my purpose connected, and I get paid for it. What more can you ask for?”
Jozi My Jozi is in many ways the middleman between the private and public sectors, working closely with businesses big and small as well as with the national, provincial and municipal authorities — and the UN, the World Bank, the AU and foreign embassies — to visibly and sustainably improve safety, security, the environment, social engagement, education, public transit, sport, art, culture, tourism and commercial opportunities in the city.
None of these operate in isolation, says Swanepoel. Safety, security and the environment are the foundation stones upon which everything else rests.
My passion and my purpose connected, and I get paid for it. What more can you ask for?
— Bea Swanepoel
To date, Jozi My Jozi has installed more than 2,200 solar streetlights, funded by companies including Absa, FNB and Standard Bank. Many of the new lights are equipped with cameras connected to control rooms. Manpower is supplied by the Security Mastery Academy, run by the Maharishi Invincibility Institute in an adjacent building.
“The academy turns young people desperate for employment into super-duper security personnel, trained in everything from jujitsu, intelligence, tourism, counselling … you name it, they can do it. About 500 students are doing their practical training on the streets with us. Their visible presence immediately makes people feel more comfortable.”
There’s a lot more. Jozi My Jozi conducted a survey among homeless people and is now implementing practical solutions based on the data collected. In education, it has helped over 100 inner-city early childhood development centres (ECDs) to register with the department of basic education and meet the requirements to receive state funding.
“Once you register, you’re on bronze level. If you meet certain minimum criteria you can be on silver level, which unlocks funding from the national government to keep the centre sustainable and enable the children to be fed as well. We have to get as many of our ECDs as possible to silver level, and that requires some investment, because not everybody has the required infrastructure. Now that we understand the checklist of what is needed, it’s easy to cost that and then go out and raise the funds to start changing early childhood development. It’s amazing — spending R100,000 can unlock R800,000 in terms of support.”
Swanepoel is just as enthusiastic about after-school centres, sporting facilities, commercial initiatives to create employment, support for the arts and tourism, and a massive project with the taxi industry to change the face of public transport in Joburg.
“When we started Jozi My Jozi, we wanted to create a model that works in the most difficult spot, because if you can turn this city around, you can turn the country around. Our purpose is to connect and empower those who want to inspire sustainable solutions for the inner city, creating a ripple effect of positive change in Joburg.”
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