A new precinct is planned around the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) in yet another bid to fix the decayed CBD, and lure lawyers back from Sandton and Rosebank.

In a Financial Mail report, Roland Sutherland, the Deputy Judge President of the Gauteng division, said new Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse deserved credit for the operation.

‘She came to see us, which is very rare, and a couple of MMCs have come to inspect. So this is something with legs at last.’

Crime, litter, squalor and traffic congestion have become the daily reality in the area surrounding the High Court, one of the busiest in SA. It’s part of the wider decay in the inner city, and a central reason why so many large companies, including law firms, have fled for the safer climes of Sandton and Rosebank.

The exodus of the past 20 years has resulted in an estimated 150 advocates in the city centre, while there are now 1 000 at the Bar in Sandton.

Nkuli Mbundu, the city’s MMC for economic development, describes a plan that includes safety, cleanliness, management of informal traders, economic development and good governance.

Mbundu says that over and above the 1 800 metro police officers deployed in the city this year by the Department of Safety & Security, his department has also financed the deployment of additional officers to focus on enforcing bylaws.

The plan for the clean-up encompasses a number of blocks and includes walkways, green areas and mechanisms for restricting and diverting traffic.

Transport links are key to the proposal: taxis, city buses, Gautrain buses and tuk-tuk taxis will connect the High Court precinct hub to the Gautrain, the metro railway station and taxi ranks, the Financial Mail report notes.

There are many courts and legal offices that need to be connected – including the High Court, Constitutional Court, the Magistrate’s Court, and the Deeds Office.

A rapid transport system will connect them, and also the Civic Centre in Braamfontein and the Gauteng legislature in the old city hall.

Full Financial Mail report