Page 1 - Dainfern Precinct Living Issue 7_2023

DAINFERN
FUTURE CITY CHILD EMIGRATES
WHEN YOUR
An Ambiguous Journey
FOURWAYS Thabo Mbeki Skills The Scrutiny of
Bernie van der
Vyver: Sculptor
'Gluten Free'
Centre launched
Food
Extraordinaire
Looki
ng early two years ago, a new
afer neighbourhood improvement initiative
was started for the Fourways area.
your NA voluntary, non-profit organisation,
Future City Fourways™, or FCF for short, has
been focussed on keeping the precinct clear of
neig litter, grime-free, and more secure.
We asked FCF’s chairperson, Advocate Jean
hbou Berdou to give us more insight into how FCF
works and their vision for the future.
rhoo Dainfern Precinct Living: There have been
City Improvement Districts established in some
d areas in the past. What has happened to them?
Advocate Jean Berdou: There were a
number of CIDs that were started and, in the
beginning, the municipalities took on the role of
collecting the contributions - which they made
compulsory - from the residents. They charged
an extra levy over and above each resident’s
normal rates and taxes. These levies were
paid over to the CIDs that had sub-contractors
and employees engaged to do supplementary
cleaning, maintenance and security duties. But
then a resident in one of the CID areas took
the municipality to court and the High Court
found that the compulsory levies were unlawful.
On appeal, the Supreme Court dismissed the
4 5
DPL
PRECINCT LIVING
LIVING
Advocate Jean Berdou
7 2023
Sleek
Minimalism
in the Garden
Cities’ Appeal and the City of Joburg and City
of Pretoria/Tshwane closed all compulsory
Improvement Districts.
DPL: What makes FCF different?
AdvJB: The FCF model is based on voluntary
contributions. It’s the only sensible alternative
to the former compulsory model. From
inception, the financial contributions have come
primarily from corporates and complexes in the
area. All contributors get a tax benefit, which
is a great incentive for those who participate.
To keep it simple, we resolved not to have
any permanent employees, so there’s no
chance of labour disputes and CCMA hearings.
Everything is done on a sub-contractor basis.
DPL: What progress have you made since first
establishing FCF?
AdvJB: We now have over 50 area cleaners
and we are in the process of launching an
area patrolling initiative to provide security in
identified hotspots such as some taxi ranks
and retail nodes. We have also run a few mass
clean-ups involving members of the community
and some businesses, in collaboration with the
municipality and the SAPS.
DPL: So is your relationship with the City of
Joburg amicable?
DPL