Izwi - Cato Manor Community Newspaper

Scene around Cato Manor

Students who study development come flocking to Cato Manor to learn lessons.	The Mayville Police made a donation of books and toys to Cato Crest Primary.
American students visited the Wiggins-Umkhumbane library.	The theft of electricity is still continuing at Cato Crest. Mayville Police detectives pictured inside a shack that had illegally connected a TV, a radio and a refrigerator.
Members of the Chesterville Residents Association with some of the goods belonging to Ukukhanya Kwelanga Primary that were recovered from thieves.	Community health workers ran for their lives when they stumbled across these legs which belonged to a mannequin. Perhaps it was buried during the 1949 upheavals. Who knows for sure?
Above: Participants at the first Tourism Cato Manor workshop took time to pose for the roving IZWI camera!

The CMDA after 2003

Most of our readers may have heard through the grapevine that the CMDA is leaving Cato Manor after March 2003. The question that comes to mind is: what will then become of the unfinished projects such as the upgrading of Cato Crest and Dunbar Road.

IZWI spoke to CMDA’s Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Willies Mchunu, to put the rumour into perspective. The following are extracts from our conversation:
“If one has to put this rumour to rest one needs to trace the origins of the CMDA in the early 1990s. Its mandate was to investigate how to best develop an integrated development plan that will redress the imbalances created by the apartheid regime.

The process of developing Cato Manor then began in stages with infrastructure and the provision of decent housing opportunities for the many thousands who had repatriated to Cato Manor. Community development became necessary as a result of these achievements. Residents have received numerous training skills directed at empowering and preparing them to become responsible citizens. It later became apparent to include economic development so that previously disadvantaged groups could enjoy the fruits of what was being achieved through the introduction of various opportunities such as the Informal Market in Bellair Road, the Container Park in Cato Crest, the Shopping Centre along Bellair Road and the many others that are to follow.

The first stage of the integrated development plan is nearing completion. Most of the infrastructural services are now in place with a few exceptions. The housing programme is also at an advanced stage. The two remaining areas namely Cato Crest and Dunbar are being tackled. In Cato Crest we have just received approval of subsidy allocations while in Dunbar we are relocating people into other housing projects so that space is created for the construction of houses.

In the interest of rationalisation, the CMDA and Metro Housing are in the process of discussing how to jointly develop Cato Crest. Metro Housing has since become a fully fledged housing component within the eThekwini Municipality and it can now absorb some of the housing projects. The CMDA is exploring how Metro Housing can absorb all the housing programmes from us. In this way we will ensure that the development of houses will continue at another level.

We want to strengthen this partnership with the Metro precisely because the CMDA has developed the skills and the capacity - therefore experiences can be shared. They have something to learn from us when it comes to in-situ development. This partnership is important for replication purposes.

The amalgamation of the various municipalities into a single entity makes the eThekwini Municipality to be fully functional. In this regard we are able to transfer some of our responsibilities to them such as sports and communications. If they take them, they must take them as a package i.e skills and resources.

Willies Mchunu, Chairman of the CMDA Board of Directors, has given assurances that development will continue after March 2003.

However, programmes that are likely to be unaffected are the community development and the economic development components. That area of work is seen as a permanent feature. They are trendsetters for other areas that are at the threshold of development. They need constant monitoring. In order to pursue these two, resources and skills are needed.

The experiences and the skills of the CMDA will be useful tools for this venture. For this a structure similar to the CMDA will be needed. Whether or not you retain the name remains to be seen but one school of thought says CMDA has a reputation that has been built over the years. There will have to be a strong argument for the name to be changed.

Based on the above, the rumour that the CMDA is folding its operations is not totally accurate. Suffice it to say that some functions performed by the CMDA will be absorbed by the eThekwini Municipality while other functions continue but are run by a structure still to be decided by the present Board of directors.

The needs of Cato Manor residents will determine the format of the structure to drive further development. This will obviously affect both staffing and political issues.

The government’s urban renewal strategy will be tested in Cato Manor. The project must not be seen as an independent project. It is the area based management development approach that the Metro is now exploring to utilise in the development of other communities within the Metro, for instance the Inanda Ntuzuma KwaMashu Urban Renewal project will be run on the basis of the Cato Manor experience.

We should salute those who, in the first place, conceived the Cato Manor Development Project as well as those who have turned it into a success story that it has now become. In this we include the governance structures such as the national, provincial and the local governments. Much credit must also go to the European Union for the generous contributions it has made to change the face of Cato Manor and put its people on the map of South Africa.

For now the challenge facing us is to ensure that the lives of our neighbours in Manor Gardens and Westville are not different in terms of economic and social viability. This will need innovative thinking. Investors need to be invited into the area. The kind of investors that will commit themselves to uplifting our citizens’ level of business acumen.