Simbi Phiri
Our major milestone was designing the townships across Johannesburg at the time. We also formalised the informal settlements like Diepsloot, Mabopane, Tembisa and other areas all over Johannesburg. A lot of these areas lacked proper sewers, water systems, electricity and roads before we came along. We gave them the structure they needed and formalised them as official townships. All this planning and work was done in the 1990s when people were scared to go to the townships. We related with the people in the townships because we didn’t look down on them and that left a good impression on the people. Some people wondered how we made any money working in the townships but they have no idea how much work was put into the infrastructure. Our work helped give the local people that were living in informal settlements a semblance of dignity.
We have seen people improve their lives and move up in life from some of those townships thanks to the infrastructure we put up. Despite the problems and complaints that arise in South Africa, we must all admit that vast improvements have been made since the 1990s. The townships have better schools and sanitation with most of the improvements done by us. We also built electricity infrastructure and have ensured that people have access to water even within the small shacks. It is quite fulfilling to drive around Johannesburg and say we built that structure and that other structure.
