ALEXANDRA TURNS 100, BUT MANY HAVE LITTLE TO CELEBRATE
Alexandra township in north east Johannesburg marked its 100th anniversary this week, but many of its people have little to celebrate as their plight has been forgotten by the authorities.
This is what I discovered on my visit there yesterday as part of the DA's "Don't forget the forgotten" campaign in Gauteng.
I was accompanied by DA Constituency Head Mike Moriarty, DA councillors Shadrack Mkhonto and Reggie Mabaso, and local DA activists.
Our visit included the following:
- Old Alexandra Town Council building, which is condemned, structurally unsound and overcrowded with squatters
- Ganda Centre in 1st avenue, where more than 100 families squat in a former shopping centre that is structurally unsafe
- Women's Hostel - we were barred from entering, but conditions outside are appalling, with uncollected rubbish and general neglect
- 6th avenue shacks - there are hundreds of shacks next to the Women's hostel, all piled on top of each other. Residents make use of toilets of private homes across the road. There is regular loss of life due to shack fires.
- K206 RDP houses on the East Bank, where we arranged for an official to assess building faults that need to be fixed.
We also visited the Alexandra Heritage Centre which is opposite a small house where Nelson Mandela once stayed. This brand new centre has stood empty for two years. It is a scandal that it is not filled with exhibits to celebrate Alexandra's 100 years.
Mike Moriarty and I stayed overnight at the home of Vincent and Maggie Mbalati who live in a crowded shack settlement at 86th 12 Avenue. More than 300 shacks accommodating more than 15 people live in about half an acre. They share a few chemical toilets where rats scurry around. It's a huge potential fire hazard.
The empty Alexandra Heritage Centre symbolises the many false promises of upliftment that have been made to the people of Alexandra.
About R2 billion has been spent in the past ten years as part of the Alexandra Renewal Project, but this has not been effectively spent and much has been wasted because of infighting and corruption.
The time has come for the needs of forgotten people in Alexandra to be recognised and addressed effectively.
Statement issued by Jack Bloom MPL, DA Gauteng Caucus Leader, May 25 2012
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