Hillbrow is situated in the inner-city of
Johannesburg; in 2011 it had an approximate
population of 74 000 people and 25
000 households (Frith, 2011). The neighbourhood
is mostly characterised by high
density residential apartments, mixed-use
ground floor units and limited industrial
activity. Pre-1980s, Hillbrow was all-white
but became one of the first mixed-race areas
under Apartheid. Today, many residents are
migrant workers who come from across the
country, and Africa at-large.
Unfortunately, the area is now characterised
by organised crime syndicates. While, since
2011, the murder rate in the City of Joburg
has steadily increased to 32 murders per
100 000 people between 2019 and 2020,
rates in Hillbrow Precinct are significantly
higher: over 5% of murders in Joburg in
2013/2014 took place in the precinct. The
precinct also had the second highest number
of violent crime incidents between 2012
and 2014, at a rate of 2 786 violent crimes
per 100 000 people. Other social issues in
Hillbrow include hijacked buildings (linked
to gang activity and landlord exploitation)
or otherwise unsafe buildings, xenophobia,
overpopulation, unsafe sex work conditions,
drugs and unemployment.
Johannesburg’s inner-city has been undergoing
a rejuvenation process from the

public and private sector for over a decade.
City Improvement Districts across the space
have a core focus on ‘safe and clean’ public
urban management. The eKhaya Neighbourhood
Improvement District also focuses
on creating a strong residential community
in a poverty-stricken area. Since 2005, the
Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA),
on behalf of CoJ, has undertaken revitalising
actions in Hillbrow, aimed at creating
liveable and people-friendly public spaces
for human interaction.
Today, JDA is working with eKhaya Neighbourhood
in Hillbrow to develop a new
park. The El Kero Park site is a previously
neglected road reserve on the corner of
Pietersen and Claim Streets. Criminals have
been known to take advantage of the space,
so people avoid it. Construction has not yet
begun, but park management structures
are in place for when development happens.
The site is surrounded by two social
housing developments: El Kero House, run
by Madulammoho Development Agency,
and Sylvadale Mansions, run by the Johannesburg
Housing Company. The Hillbrow
Boxing Gym – a landmark in the community
– forms part of the southern boundary of the
site. Across Quartz Street, to the west of the
future park, is an extremely dangerous hijacked
building, called Vanin Court, and two
schools. To the east, across Claim Street,
the fenced-in and well-guarded eKhaya
Park offers space for mostly boys’ and men’s
sports. Many formal and informal businesses
also surround the El Kero site.

Three entities make up the City of Joburg’s
(CoJ) core team in the SPRINT Lab: the
Joburg City Safety Programme (JCSP), City
Transformation and Spatial Planning (CTSP),
and the Johannesburg Development Agency
(JDA). They have already established
a strong partnership with eKhaya
Neighbourhood Improvement District
(referred to hereafter as “eKhaya”).
Joburg’s most area coordination-enabling
policy is the Joburg City Safety Strategy
(JCSS), which mandates joint communityand-
CoJ ward-based safety planning (CoJ,
2015:58). Although safety planning has not
yet been rolled out, it is aimed towards both
evidence-based and ‘geographically-tailored’
solutions and the Inner City is meant to be
its pilot site. The JCSS also jumpstarts the
Joburg 10+ programme, providing more
Johannesburg Metro Police at ward-level.
Lastly, the strategy encourages meaningful,
long-term partnerships and digital tech
(CoJ, 2015:14, 58). A second enabling
policy is the Inner-City Safer Community
Parks Strategy. In addition to these policies,
municipal-community partnership will make
area coordination work at El Kero. The JDA
has been a long-term partner to eKhaya
and other Hillbrow organisations since 2008.

The area is characterised by great
civil society capacity and a true spirit of local
partnership. Additionally, CoJ leadership from
CTSP, JDA and JCSP have written to endorse
collaboration through the SPRINT Lab.
The skilled municipal champions on the
core team have embraced transversal
integration for the Lab. The JDA team
includes individuals with extensive innercity
knowledge and familiarity with El Kero;
CTSP can support with design, precinct
management plan development and the

upcoming inner city interactive model; and
Joburg City Safety has access to key safety
stakeholders. However, the core team is
less involved on the ground; in part, this is
because JDA is short-staffed and dependent
upon a few individuals in Hillbrow. Uniquely,
the eKhaya Neighbourhood Coordinator
would be the Area Coordination Champion,
with experience building long-standing,
diverse relationships and motivating
impactful projects. As a ‘one-person-show,’
their capacity is stretched unsustainably,
yet the eKhaya Board has been unable to
hire more staff. However, passionate local
champions from all corners of Hillbrow are
eager to assist. These groups have strong
communication strategies, mainly over
WhatsApp.
Unlike other SPRINT Lab sites, El Kero Park
site has one clear project upon which to layer
mentorship and CDF support. Through JDA’s
Our City Our Block (OCOB) programme,
eKhaya and partners submitted a proposal
to the JDA to upgrade the park and a design
was developed through a co-production
workshop. JDA will continue to support
the partners through funding allocation
and construction, while they will commit to
activating, maintaining and protecting the
park. Like all JDA programmes, OCOB only
funds the built environment intervention;
operational budget will not be available
through the programme (Loots, 2018:20).
JDA must still appoint a Community
Participation Consultant for the project.
The top three risks to area coordination
and area-based management at El Kero
include the hijacked Vanin Court building;
insufficient operations, maintenance and
management funding; and the lack of time
available to JDA staff to support (despite
their deep desire to do so). Funding has not
been made available for social interventions
and activation of El Kero Park.

The eKhaya Neighbourhood Improvement
District (hereafter, “eKhaya”) started in 2004
in the former Special Ratings Area called
eKhaya in Hillbrow, to develop conventional
CID management and work towards
social cohesion and trust in response to
fear and criminal behaviour. Central to
the vision of eKhaya is a regeneration of
the neighbourhood by shifting property
owners’ traditional perspective of urban
management to a bottom-up and
socially inclusive approach to community
mobilisation.
The organisation operates through the
efforts and relationships of the only
staff member of the organization, the
Neighbourhood Coordinator, who oversees
many partnerships and structures. They
work with several board members who
provide support in decision-making and
organisational policy development; but
most of the financial and operations
management, budgeting and planning is led
by the Coordinator. They are mentored by
the founder of the organisation. Oversight
will be provided by the non-profit Urban
Space Management (USM). Although the
Coordinator is a highly capable community
leader, they require additional manpower on
the ground; however, the eKhaya Board has
not yet found additional human resources.
eKhaya’s success lies in the buy-in and
financial contribution of local businesses,
property owners and housing companies.
eKhaya offers a holistic approach, as it
acknowledges the impact of gender, local
community dynamics, education, and crime.
Further, it has linked its urban management
strategy to livelihoods support and
rehabilitation, through the MES Programme.

eKhaya has established unique linkages
throughout the neighbourhood. Based on
the relationships of the Coordinator, an informal
network of NGOs, civil society stakeholders
and local institutions are intensely
engaged. These networks ensure the needs
of residents are identified and remain central
to eKhaya’s efforts. eKhaya addresses issues
of safety, security and cleanliness throughout
the area, coordinting communication
between Bad Boyz/Nemisis Security, the
MES cleaning rogramme, Hope Fountain
School and other schools, local businesses,
Outreach Foundation, Hillbrow Theatre for
Youth, police, property owners and housing
managers. Thanks to the efforts of eKhaya,
social housing agencies and other affordable
housing developments in the neighbourhood
work together and share ideas at all levels.
eKhaya has managed to establish a strong
organisational culture within the network
through partnership, ownership, relationship-
building, conflict management and high
levels of commitment.
Due to the Neighbourhood Coordinator’s
relationship with the community, they
are ready to lead the development of El
Kero Park. In 2020, VPUU observed that
eKhaya is a self-reliant and innovative
organisation with a history of work within
a CoJ partnership. For partnership around
El Kero Park to work, eKhaya requires more
human resources to manage the financial
and project oversight of the CDF.