Ellis Park area gets major cleanup ahead of Boks vs All Blacks match

The Ellis Park Stadium precinct has undergone a major sprucing up, with streetlights fixed and fitted with new bulbs while waste collectors have visited the area at least three times a week.

The usually filthy bridges and dark, dingy corners have been given a new spark ahead of the Boks' clash with the All Blacks on Saturday, and residents who live nearby are asking for more such events to ensure better service delivery. 

Bhekani Madela, a petrol attendant in the area, said his evening walks from the taxi rank to Joe Slovo Drive to do his nightshift have been less stressful in the past three weeks.

“They [the city] have only got serious about their cleaning now there is a rugby match happening at the weekend. Even crime levels have lessened because the streetlights are working," said Madela.

Sowetan drove around streets near the precinct and saw bags of rubbish packed away along the sidewalks. The litter was allegedly caused by homeless people, but municipal waste collectors had rounded it up and put it in bags for collection the next day. 

“They have fixed the streetlights and the level of crime has reduced. We are able to walk in the evening and see where we are going. Pikitup does come to our street to clean and we have never had a problem of living in a dirty place,” Regina Malatji of Bertrams told Sowetan.

Charity Mogotlane, who lives a few blocks away from the stadium, said until three weeks ago residents would organise themselves, collect money and buy equipment to clean their street because waste collectors were not coming to the area.

“We have never seen Pikitup workers in our street. We only see  workers who cut grass. It's great to see waste collectors coming and we want to more games so we can get services,” said Mogotlane.

Joburg mayor Dada Morero held a press conference this week and said the Bok game had given the city an opportunity to partner with the private sector to demonstrate the partnership between the private sector and provincial government will help reclaim the city.

“The city took an active part in ensuring the event becomes successful. There were immediate things that we had to do in preparing the entire precinct, and we have also taken serious decisions to revitalise the Ellis Park precinct and Standard Bank Arena. 

“We also see this game as an opportunity for us to revitalise the entire precinct and bring it back to its former glory. The game is an opportunity to implement our projects for the rejuvenation of the inner city,” said Morero.

He said the city fixed exposed wires, faulty streetlight poles and abandoned transformers and substations in the Bertrams area.

Morero said vandalism was the major driver of faulty streetlights 

"In the past few months we have been trying to address issues around streetlights and traffic lights. The challenge is also the fact that there's a huge level of vandalism of infrastructure. We are trying to find solutions to put up infrastructure that cannot be easily vandalised," said Morero.

Director of mayoral communications Mlimandlela Ndamase took to X to share picture of spotless inner-city streets and bridges, saying good service delivery should not be centred around big events and should be normalised. 

Ellis Park ward councillor Masindi Mmbengwa said heightened service delivery in the area was a coincidence and had nothing to do with the rugby match.

“What the Johannesburg Roads Agency, City Power and Joburg Water is doing was major maintenance and the match is a coincidence. The city did not have the budget and that’s why we had to borrow money and implement the plan they had to rejuvenate the inner city.

“We had a challenge in the previous year. We were going to clean the area. The agreement was getting everybody to visit the streets one by one and fix broken lights, clean the area and fix water pipes,” said Mmbengwa.

Founder of Local Abode and partner of the Jozi My Jozi initiative, Stephen du Preez, said the idea to save the Ellis Park precinct started last year when many property owners in area realised something needed to be done.

"We can all complain about service delivery or we can be part of the change, and that's when the idea of Jozi My Jozi came up." 

According to Du Preez, Jozi My Jozi is a movement aimed at igniting hope and instilling pride in the city.

About 62,000 people are expected to visit the stadium for the game on Saturday.

Nyaniso Sam, media and communications for Ellis Park Stadium, said: "Emirates Airlines Park together with our stakeholders, the police, Fidelity and other partners have worked to ensure the safety of spectators is of utmost importance. As with any major international event, the deployment of security personnel is key."

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