Joburg Cares

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress, said Mahatma Gandhi, can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Joburg has a number of animal rescue organisations which have been working in the field for decades, helping creatures that cannot help themselves. They look after abandoned pets, heal sick animals in town, township and informal settlement, educate the youth, investigate reports of animal cruelty and help animals find new, loving homes. There are also organisations that rescue wildlife, including garden birds, heal and rehabilitate them and return them to t​he wild. 

Animal Anti-Cruelty League

The organisation – the second largest in the country, after the SPCA – has been caring for animals since 1956 and has facilities in major cities throughout the country. Its kennels in Johannesburg look after up to 300 lost, abandoned or stray dogs and cats every month and its adjoining animal hospital treats the animals of indigent owners – unemployed people, pensioners, and others who qualify as welfare beneficiaries. In addition, inspectors investigate cases of cruelty and mount rescue operations. They are on call 24 hours a day.  The AACL also runs educational programmes in schools, teaching more than 40 000 learners every year how to care for animals and the need to protect all species. And they run an annual artwork competition for learners, to raise awareness of animal welfare issues.

Regent’s Park Extension
Johannesburg​

Tel: 011 435 0672
Fax: 011 435 0693 
Email: aacljhb@iafrica.com
Website: www.aacl.org.za

Opening Hours: The adoption kennels are open Mondays to Thursdays from 8.30am to 4.30pm, on Fridays and Saturdays from 8.30am to 12pm. The kennels are however closed on Sundays and public holidays. The hospital is open Mondays to Thursdays from 1pm to 3.30pm, although on Wednesdays it stays open much later, closing only at 5pm. It is also open on Saturdays from 8.30am to 11am. ​

​The Department of Health contributes to the provision of primary healthcare to residents of the city. It also ensures the availability of safe, quality medication.The Department of Health and Social Development contributes to the provision of primary well-being of Joburg’s residents.

The health arm looks to the healthcare to residents and also ensures the availability of safe, quality medication. It runs local clinics, provides education programmes and workshops, supports other healthcare bodies and monitors residents’ health.

The social development side provides development and welfare services, including the expanded social package – Siyasizana – that provides support for the poorest residents as well as the Migrants’ Helpdesk to assist new arrivals to the city. 

Siyasizana is a City of Johannesburg programme to help indigent households, also called the Expanded Social Package, Siyasizana is a basket of benefits allocated to residents based on their level of poverty. It provides free basic services and poverty alleviation assistance.Questions and Answers        

1. What is Siyasizana (also known as the Expanded Social Package)?

The Siyasizana social package is a basket of benefits which the City allocates to citizens based on their level of poverty. It assists poor individuals and the households in which they live.

​2. How is this different from the old municipal subsidy system?

The Expanded Social Package is different in many ways (as these frequently asked questions explain), but probably the most important change is that you do not need to be an account holder to apply for subsidies. You just have to live somewhere that has an account with the City for water and/or electricity. You can also apply as a homeless person or as having no formal address (see question 15 below).

3. Who should register for Siyasizana?

Any person earning less than R3 366,00 a month residing – as owner, tenant or lodger – on a property falling within the boundaries of Johannesburg, should register. People with different levels of need  qualify for different levels of subsidy. This is done according to the City’s measure of poverty – the poverty index ( see question 22 below).​

4. What benefits does Siyasizana give me?

Each individual who qualifies is eligible for specific benefits – these include subsidies on water, electricity, transport and rental and, for property owners, subsidies on rates, sanitation and refuse removal charges.

Residents qualify for one of three different levels of benefits, depending on how high they score on the City’s poverty index (see question 5 below).

The subsidies for water, electricity, rates, sanitation and refuse removal that a person qualifies for will be applied through the City’s billing system based on the person’s declared home at the time of registration. Customers with prepaid meters will use a voucher system (see question 9 below).

The amount of subsidies a household gets will be based on the number of people that have declared the household’s account as their address when they register and their individual level of poverty (see question 5 on the three-band system).

The subsidies for everyone who qualifies in the household are added together and the total is taken off the household’s bill, up to a capped amount. The maximum amount of subsidy is higher for households whose members have very high scores on the City’s poverty index (see question 5 below).

Rental and transport subsidies will go directly to the individual (not through the City account).​

Who runs health services in Johannesburg?

The major public hospitals are run by the Gauteng Provincial Administration. The city is responsible for public health issues such as immunisation, maternal and child health, AIDS education and prevention, and inspecting premises such as restaurants for health hazards.

What is the city’s policy on health issues?

A common​ vision for the City of Johannesburg has been established – “One City One Health System”. The history of health care service delivery in Johannesburg has been characterised by fragmentation and poor quality care to communities. The emphasis is now on primary health care through the district health system with a strong focus on preventative health service delivery that is accessible and effective.
Poverty, unemployment, poor social conditions and physical conditions such as lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation and poor housing, as well as the rising HIV/AIDS epidemic, have a direct impact on the health status of communities around Johannesburg.

R178-million has been budgeted for health services, and this amount is to increase in the medium term, reflecting larger allocations to the HIV/AIDS programme.

The Johannesburg central Health Department has six units dealing with:

Primary health;
Communicable and non-communicable diseases;
HIV/AIDS;
Environmental health;
Pharmaceutical services;
Health Information System (HIS).

What health services are available in Johannesburg?

Community health centres serve a population of up to 300 000, operating as referral centres and providing:

Curative care
Maternal and child health (including maternity)
Immunisation
Health promotion activities
Community outreach
Minor surgical theatre
24-hour service

Primary health clinics serve upwards of 100 000 people and provide the following services:

Curative care
Maternal and child health
Health promotion activities
Community outreach
Daily service of eight to 10 hours

Satellite clinics provide the same services as primary health clinics but only on certain days of the week.

Specially fitted vehicles function as mobile clinics that provide health care to informal settlements and under-populated areas on an infrequent basis.

Community clinics 
ALSO: 
Major private hospitals and clinics 
Major public hospitals and clinics

Who is responsible for health services in Johannesburg?

Both the Gauteng provincial health department and the local authority provide similar services to the same target population but their responsibility and accountability is separate.

Johannesburg’s health department is responsible for providing a comprehensive primary health service throughout the city that is accessible, equitable, effective and efficient. At present, there is a central policy health unit as well as 125 health facilities and 10 environmental health units throughout the 7 regions.

What effect is the HIV/AIDS epidemic having on the city?

At Johannesburg Hospital about 30% of pregnant mothers tested are HIV-positive. Of children tested on admission to the paediatric wards, 40% are HIV-positive, and 75% of paediatric deaths – mostly children under the age of two – are AIDS related. The overall infection rate for Johannesburg of 26% is greater than the average for Gauteng, which stands at 23.9%. 
The City of Johannesburg is home to a population of 2 883 226 people in some 791 367 households. The population is projected to rise to 2 986 228 in mid-2005 and 3 103 182 in mid-2010. The average rate of population growth for the City of Johannesburg between 2000 and 2010 is projected to be 0.9% per annum. The HIV/AIDS epidemic is largely responsible for this low rate of growth, along with a low fertility rate in Johannesburg.

The total number of AIDS orphans will increase from 76 623 in 2000 to a cumulative total of 139 419 in 2010.

What is the city doing about HIV/AIDS?

The​ city recognises the importance of tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic and has set aside a substantial part of its health budget to this end. The health department aims to increase understanding of HIV/AIDS, distribute condoms to high-risk groups, and focus targeted safe-sex messages at high-risk groups and the general population.

The HIV/AIDS strategy has two focus areas:

HIV/AIDS in the workplace: The city aims to create awareness and therefore behavioural change among all council employees; and to offer medical and pension fund benefits to all staff.

HIV/AIDS in the community: An awareness campaign will target the youth and prevent new infections. The city undertakes to support community based initiatives.

The situation was grim for residents of Sandringham in 1995. Crime in this middle-class suburb was out of control. “We had two choices,” says Lionel Stein, who has lived there all his life: “join up with the police or become vigilantes.”​

As residents became more and more desperate, police offered a reservists’ course. Stein and 150 other residents signed up for it. “I had intended to drop out,” he says. “I had never even held a gun. But then came a lecture on community policing, and it changed my perceptions.”

Community policing is what makes a police service different from a police force. “As it is today,” he says, “police work with the community – we would rather solve the problem than arrest the person.”

It is a partnership between the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the community, two entities with a single aim: to rid the area of crime. “In terms of any partnership, both sides see that each is working honourably. That’s the spirit of community policing forums.”

Stein is the board chair of the Johannesburg area CPF, working with the forums attached to 21 police stations, including Sandton and Alexandra but not Soweto, which is defined as a separate area with a separate board

CPFs are statutory bodies, given strong powers in the 1993 interim constitution – including monitoring the effectiveness and efficiency of the SAPS, advising police on priorities in the neighbourhood and promoting the accountability of the SAPS to local communities.

CPFs were left out of the final constitution in 1996 but the 1995 Police Service Act refers back to the interim constitution, noting that the role of a CPF “may” include the functions listed therein. A new set of regulations in terms of the Act, which deals with powers and responsibilities for all CPFs, is currently under review. Its preamble notes that the SAPS is accountable to the communities it serves; it adds that the Act provides for CPFs to promote communication and co-operation between the SAPS and communities and “to improve transparency and service delivery” in the SAPS. It also refers to “the partnership and joint problem-solving between communities and the SAPS”.

In theory, CPF jobs dovetail neatly with police work, as forum members see where the gaps are and try to make themselves useful. Not allowed to arrest, for example, or to write down statements, they can still take on a range of activities that will make policing more effective. CPFs can raise donations or solicit for equipment, like cars or cellphones – and many have done so.

“Communication and co-operation between the SAPS and communities” could well refer to a crucial CPF task: notifying police of trouble spots, say dangerous corners where illegal drugs are regularly sold, or houses where stolen goods are believed to be stored, or teenage gang hideouts – so that police can move in and stop crimes before they’re committed.

At the same time, the forums should – under the original charter – make sure the police are also doing their job. The draft regulations, too, refer to their involvement in “improv[ing] transparency and service delivery in the SAPS”. This role does not make CPFs popular with a number of old-fashioned, old-style police officers.

In practice, the powers and effectiveness of each CPF depend upon the police. “At station level,” says Stein, “you need a station commissioner who is favourable towards the partnership. If that doesn’t work, but you’ve got an area commissioner who is favourable towards it, it will work.

“It is also important that the provincial commissioner is supportive. Luckily in Gauteng both the Johannesburg area commissioner and the provincial police commissioner are pro-CPFs.”

Johannesburg Area Commissioner OD Reddy is indeed supportive of CPFs, which he characterises as “the voice of the people”. They are, he says, “vital in crime prevention and crime reduction”. Their roles include “monitoring of police actions to ensure transparency and accountability; mobilising community support in crime detection; improving relationship with the community; engaging in social crime prevention initiatives, eg adopt-a-cop” and preventive actions taken towards drugs and child abuse.

The Gauteng MEC for Safety and Security has appointed extra staff to work with area CPFs; from an original seven, there are now 21 people working with CPFs and other community-based organisations, according to a spokesman, “assisting in the development and implementation of social crime prevention projects” – so there is political support. And the community weighs in.

A typical CPF, says Stein, has 20 to 30 active members. Some CPFs have sub-forums: special committees involving and dealing with taxis, hawkers, schools. Some have legal forums, or drug forums, which bring together experts and interact with area schools.

Sector policing – a national policy set by the SAPS – also comes into the picture. “The purpose is to involve the community in the role of policing,” Stein says. “It’s a combination of blockwatch and neighbourhood watch, but the police come into the equation. “Each sector must be managed by a policeman – ideally, a full-time policeman, but in Sandringham reservists do that job, because this is a small station.

“But the idea is that the station commissioner will appoint sector managers, and people must know to phone the guy in charge of their sector when they see something suspicious. What generally happens after a hijacking or a rape is that somebody will say ‘I saw a car and it looked suspicious’. That information must pass up the line” – hopefully before an incide​nt happens.”When sector policing works, it works very well. We have had some great successes in two sectors.”

A sector is a team: “A manager who has to be a police official – then up to the police officer to start it up as a team, as he sees fit. At Sandringham, it’s a police officer and the CPF and reservists. At others, it’s also members of the community who are not involved in the CPF. In Yeoville and Alex, street committees are involved – [although] it is important to lock the street committees into sector policing so they don’t get carried away and think they’re vigilantes.”

Many police stations also include a Victim Empowerment or Victim Support component – a programme begun by Business Against Crime and in many places closely linked to the CPF as well as to the SAPS. With CPFs at nearly every police station in the country, the SAPS is studying 10 percent of them to find examples of best practice. The Sandringham CPF is among those under examination.

Stein is happy with the CPFs, by and large, under his considerable umbrella – but he does have one problem: representativity. “It is the biggest problem in Joburg CPFs,” he says – “the lack of proper representativity.” Most members are white. “In certain areas, this is not the case – in Alexandra, Yeoville, Brixton, Cleveland, Sophiatown. And in Sandringham, there are black and white members.” But these forums are the exception, not the rule.

At area level, although the problem is not as extreme, still it persists. “I would like to hand over to a black chairperson,” he says. “We haven’t got there yet – but we will.