Alexandra, Gauteng

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Alexandra (sometimes nicknamed "Alex") is a township located in Gauteng province, South Africa. It is situated on the outskirts of Johannesburg, close to the wealthy suburb of Sandton and is bounded by Wynberg on the west, Marlboro and Kelvin on the north, and Kew, Lombardy West and Lombardy East on the south. In contrast, Alexandra is one of the poorest urban areas in the country.

Alexandra is situated on the banks of the Jukskei River. The township covers an area of more than 8 km² and has an estimated population of 470,000 people. In addition to its original, reasonably well-built houses, it also has a large number (estimated at more than 20,000) of informal dwellings or "shacks".

[edit] History

Alexandra was established in 1912, on land originally owned by a farmer, a Mr. Papenfus, who tried to establish a white residential township there, naming it after his wife, Alexandra. However, due to the fact that it was (at the time) a considerable distance from the center of Johannesburg, this was not a great success.

Consequently, in 1912, Alexandra was proclaimed as a so-called "native township". Because the township was proclaimed prior to the South African 1913 Land Act, it was one of the few urban areas in the country where black people could own land under a freehold title.

By 1916, the population of Alexandra had grown to 30,000 people and thus the Alexandra Health Committee was established to manage the township. However, the Committee was not allowed to collect local taxes, nor was the Johannesburg City Council willing to take responsibility for an area that it claimed fell outside its jurisdiction, leading to a lack of resources and proper management.

When the National Party came into power in 1948 and started to implement its policy of apartheid, Alexandra was put under the direct control of the then Department of Native Affairs. The government's main aims for "dealing with" Alexandra were the reduction of the population, the control of movement into the area and the expropriation of freehold property. However, unlike many black freehold areas such as Sophiatown, it was never the intention of the government to remove blacks from Alexandra entirely, as it was too valuable as a labour pool to serve Johannesburg. Despite this, about 50,000 people were forcibly moved to Tembisa and Soweto.

In the early 1960s, the government decided to demolish all family accommodation in Alexandra and replace them with single-sex hostels, which led to widespread resistance and protest. However, due to the high costs, lack of alternative housing for the persons that would have to have been removed and the escalating opposition led by the Rev Sam Buti's Save Alexandra Party, only two hostels were actually completed, and so the scheme was cancelled in 1979.

The riots that started in Soweto in June 1976 quickly spread to other areas such as Alexandra, where 19 people were killed. As a consequence of these riots, the government modified their strategy somewhat. Evictions, forced removals expropriation of black properties were stopped; urban blacks were no longer regarded as temporary residents and their permanent status was recognised.

Finally, in 1982, Alexandria was given the official status of a residential area and the then Alexandra liaison committee, led by Rev Buti, was instituted to run the township.

In 1980 a "Master Plan" for Alexandra was introduced, which aim was to transform Alexandra into a "Garden City" with a completely new layout. However, only a small part of this plan was actually ever implemented; the execution of the "Master Plan" was permanently stopped by the violent "Alex Six Days" uprising in February 1986, during which 40 people were killed. By May the council started collapsing and the councillors resigned which saw the emergence of street committees and peoples' courts. After the imposition of the nationwide state of emergency in June, the Defence Force moved in to keep the peace. In its place, the government introduced the "Urban Renewal Plan" as part of its strategy during the state of emergency. However, this plan lead to considerable demolitions, disruptions and displacement in the community as well as two treason trials involving 13 leaders of Alexandra.

This, combined with the considerable number of additional people moving into Alexandra during this time, led to a new area called the "East Bank" being built.

Because of the insufficient capacity and difficult maintenance of the newly built infrastructure, the situation quickly deteriorated and thus the "Urban Renewal Plan" was shelved in 1990.

During the communal and political conflicts that took place in the 1991 - 1992 period, many people were killed, injured or displaced. This led to several peace initiatives, which were greatly assisted by the first fully democratic South African elections in April 1994. It was a source of great pride to the community that Nelson Mandela, a former resident of the community, became the first black president of South Africa.

In order to assist in renewing and uplift the community, the Alexandra Renewal Project was launced in 2000. Approximately 3,000 houses built for relocation purposes to date.