The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Municipal Reporter
TO many the term gentrification might seem alien as they would not be able to identify with this process. Some will be quick to grab their dictionary or click the synonyms option on their computers.
However, as one gets a deeper understanding of this term, it gets clearer that this is a process that has been happening all around us with most municipalities in the world now working towards the modification of their towns and cities.
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, gentrification is; “the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents.”
Municipalities however, set aside this definition, instead sticking to one where they justify this process by claiming that it is merely a process of modifying dilapidated places within their areas of jurisdiction to meet a certain standard which is in line with the “modern city”.
Nevertheless this process has attracted a lot of criticism with the majority seeing it as a means of displacing the poor by refurbishing the suburbs then increasing rentals which naturally chases away the poor inhabitants who would have been staying within those suburbs.
The city of Johannesburg presents a classic case of gentrification where flat owners within the city’s Central Business District “modify” the flats, increase the rentals thereby chasing away the lower classes by charging high rentals and indirectly reserving these flats for the middle class.
In Zimbabwe, this might seem like a foreign project but it is surely happening right under the noses of everyone, with local authorities using various terms to describe the phenomenon. In the country’s second largest city, Bulawayo, the city council recently announced plans to “rehabilitate and expand” the city’s oldest suburb, Makokoba.
Over the years, infrastructure in the suburb has experienced a sharp decline in standards with reports that two or more families are sharing a single room, hence the suggested rehabilitation project by the municipality.
The local authority even termed this project the Makokoba local priority plan.
“Town planning wants to prioritise Makokoba suburb for a local plan with intentions for densification and accommodating more people. The proximity of Makokoba to the CBD has some inherent advantages for the local population such as minimal transport costs and access to high order services, however the age and condition of infrastructure has limited its contribution to the fiscal wealth of the city.
“A variety of funding options are to be explored including partnerships and Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangements with both local and foreign developers, redevelopment and densification are the key to the project. It should also be noted that the aspect of shared infrastructure is critical in the proposal,” reads part of a council report defending this new project.
Currently BCC is in the process of marketing the redevelopment to investors and engaging developers interested in the project. However, a lot of questions are being raised, which the local authority is rather silent about. Some of these questions include; What will happen to the current residents of the suburb who are low income earners? Will they be relocated? If council enters into a BOT won’t the people be affected by a sudden increase in rentals making it expensive for the largely poor community to afford?
These questions are similar to question raised by many anti-gentrification activists. While the move to rehabilitate the suburb is a noble one, one cannot help but side with these anti-gentrification activists as there is no clear answer on the pricing structure which the local authority will adopt after investors put in their funds to modify the suburb turning it into a modern city suburb.
Commenting on the matter, BCC spokesperson, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said the city was indeed embarking on a number of projects targeted at urban regeneration and renewal. She said they were in the process of looking for investors to work with so as to give the city a new look.
“A lot of activities are being done by the City of Bulawayo for urban regeneration and renewal. We wrote to building owners to renew their buildings. The City of Bulawayo has made concerted efforts towards urban renewal through the Expression of Interest calling for investors and the ease of doing business which creates an enabling environment for investments.
“The City of Bulawayo has an operative master plan which is a broad policy statement setting the direction of the city. Among other things, the master plan guides the setting up of district commercial centres in various parts of the city and provides plans and strategies. Examples of such shopping malls in Bulawayo that are not in the Central Business include vibrant Zonk’izizwe (Bradfield), Ascot, Parklands Shopping Mall, Entumbane Complex , Nkulumane Complex,” said Mrs Mpofu.
She revealed that as a city they did not believe in urban sprawl where they invade nearby farming land to expand the city but were encouraging a compact city.
“We deliberately adopted densification through revisiting areas which were previously difficult to develop and encouraging upward growth,” she said.
A South African based legal expert and executive director for the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI), Mr Stuart Wilson noted that while the modification of the city was a noble idea there was a need for local authorities to address the issue of rendering the poor within our communities destitute.
Mr Wilson has for a number of years been in the forefront of fighting against gentrification, many-a-times saving people from being evicted from buildings that have been earmarked for modification.
He noted that the authorities had to realise that the so-called middle class which they were targeting were very minimal in society such that instead of addressing the issue modification they were instead increasing the number of people without any accommodation hence eating into their human rights.
For Mr Wilson, the responsible authorities have been unable to ensure that people coming into the city get places to stay legally. He notes that councils have not constructed suitable housing accommodation and released sufficient land, as a result substantial informal settlements have appeared.
“Councils run the risk of rushing to modify suburbs, raising rentals with the hope of attracting the middle class- who honestly are not much- therefore creating ghost towns and suburbs while the housing backlog balloons to unprecedented levels.
“I believe there is a need for council right now to focus on providing land within their areas of jurisdiction before they tackle this controversial issue of gentrification. What we have right now is a lot of concentration on the market and no concentration on state subsidies or the provision of public housing,” said Mr Wilson.
Dr Ngaka Mosiane an academic who has also spoke and done a number of researches on the pros and cons of gentrification said it had to be noted that in Africa urbanism could not be just implemented without considering a number of factors, chief among them being the basic set up of a proper African suburb.
He said in some countries in the region there have been formalization of the illegal, inclusive of slum formation, which he noted was the main reason the local authorities had to be careful when pushing for these modification projects considering the high populations within these cities.
“When these councils sell gentrification to us it always has seductive charm: representations of good life, status and wealth but it hides some aspects about it which impact on the lives of the lower classes in society,” said Dr Mosiane.
So as we conclude one thing is that gentrification is not a purposefully malicious act, but its effects are extremely damaging.
Many lower-income residents are unable to afford home ownership, so when neighborhoods begin gentrifying, their rent prices skyrocket almost immediately. Landlords increase rent, driving people out of their homes, and this clears the way for those same landlords to rent those same apartments for a lot more money.
One unfortunate fact is that gentrification is a big problem but it is not going away any time soon.
