Berea, Gauteng

Berea is a suburb of Johannesburg, in the South African province of Gauteng. It is east and adjacent to the Johannesburg CBD. It is located in Region F.HistoryThe suburb is situated on part of an old Witwatersrand farm called Doornfontein. It was established in 1893 and is named after Berea, Durban.RedevelopmentA small central section of Berea is Johannesburg's first residential city improvement district . It has a whole new identity - it is safe, clean and a pleasant place to live.The CID has been driven by developer Brian Miller of Ithemba Property Trust. He has been working in Berea, to the east of the city centre, since November 2005 but in the broader area for 15 years.Miller says he is driven by a desire to make a difference. "I only have one shot at the title," he says.Since mid-2006 crime in Berea has dropped between 70 and 80 percent, he confirms. Berea's CID is called "Legae la rona", which means "our homeplace", and Miller has certainly made residents in Berea feel it is "their place".