The Rosebank Management District (RMD) recently hosted the Rosebank Transport Indaba at Southern Sun hotel in Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank.
The indaba was aimed at bringing City officials, business owners and key stakeholders together around transport-related themes affecting the area.
In addressing the delegates present, RMD’s Andile Skosana and CEO of CityCon Africa, said the event was an opportunity to meet people of different persuasions around the issue of transport. “The Rosebank Management District came together in 1998 as a community of private owners. Today’s event is a collective vision of many, and is not about any individual players,” he said.
Another speaker, Marion Stewart said as a Rosebank resident and board member of the Lower Rosebank Management District, she believed that Rosebank could be a shining star in Johannesburg, as a blueprint for how government and private sector partnerships could create an area inclusive of all aspects of livelihood.
“We want people coming into the area. We cannot isolate the city, and for this reason focus on transport systems is essential. Furthermore, we as officials cannot work in isolation,” she said.
Lerato Khiba, precinct manager of RMD, said Rosebank was not an island and that the aim of the indaba was to find solutions to real transport problems, among these, those related to taxis and the aging infrastructure. A further aim was to create a place where officials could network and see how they could best partner with one another.
Thapelo Amad, MMC of Development and Planning in the City of Johannesburg, gave a moving account of how injustices in society had impacted on practical transport concerns, saying there were people who had to catch two taxis to be in a meeting in the Rosebank area, and that a solution to transport needed to take every person into account.
“Such a person might have to leave home from Soweto at 6am to arrive in Rosebank at 9am. As a result of transport problems, they might not be heard at the meeting, arriving frustrated and possibly late.”
Skosana concluded, “This Rosebank Transport Indaba is about hearing the many voices of Rosebank. I live in the area. I love Rosebank. I believe great cities are built by people, specifically people talking… people from different backgrounds.”
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