After being plunged into darkness for more than a week, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for Johannesburg's inner- city residents.
Damage of about R46-million caused by the theft of copper cables on September 2 has shone a spotlight on the crime problem that has for years plagued the area, and on the city's renewed efforts to stamp it out.
So far a staggering 520 "hijacked" building have been identified by city officials. The plan is to renovate them and identify residents who qualify for low-cost housing. What has not been finalised is where to move all those residents who do not qualify.In addition, 1500 metro police officers have been appointed to boost visible policing in the inner city, 25 new surveillance cameras have been installed since July, and refuse collection has increased to three times a day. It is a start on mayor Herman Mashaba's key election promise to clean up the inner city. But for many residents, there has been no change.
Emmanuel Awiah, who owns a leather workshop in Pritchard Street, said he had not noticed any improvements in the inner city since he started his business four years ago.
"It is still dirty and crime is rife, hence we were worried about our safety when there was no electricity," he said.
"In a day I make anything from R3,000 to R7,000, so I've lost close to R30,000 because of these outages. The government must just try to put a strategy in place to avoid this happening again."
Nonso Felix, who owns an electronics business in Kerk Street, pleaded for the municipality to speed up the rehabilitation of the CBD...