Jubie Matlou
A woman pushes a wheelbarrow of cement to bricklayers, who are putting the final touches to a three-storey block of flats; a grader rumbles as it digs its way into the ground; kwaito music blasts from a hostel window across the street, and stray dogs wander around looking for left-overs.
Such a scene was unthinkable in the infamous Beirut section of Alexandra township, near Sandton, during the internecine political violence of the early 1990s.
It appears peace has returned to the area and development is taking place. Five blocks of flats, which will provide accommodation to about 80 families, are being built in the Beirut area in a project that seeks to rejuvenate Alexandra from the effects of urban decay. Thirteen more blocks of flats are to follow in the next year or so.
Beirut is one of the first beneficiaries of the R1,3-billion allocated to the Alexandra renewal project (ARP) announced by President Thabo Mbeki during the opening of Parliament last year.
The seeds of the ARP were sown in the mid-1990s through a presidential special project that included Katlehong and Thokoza.
The ARP includes the upgrading of infrastructure; the improvement of health and environmental surroundings, small business and street market activity; integrated transport and road networks; de-densification through relocations; building of new sites and the conversion of hostels into family units; job creation; and the creation of a safe and secure township for the 350 000-strong community.
“Our aim is not to flatten down Alexandra … rather to rebuild it in accordance with acceptable environmental and urbanisation standards,” says Mike Maile, the ARPproject communications manager.
Maile is quick to dismiss the negative effects of the rejuvenation project, such as the pending court case brought by the South African National Civics Organisation to challenge the demolition of illegal housing structures and the relocation of affected people to Braamfischerville and Diepsloot.
“As a result of the burgeoning population of Alex, we have had situations where desperate people erected housing structures in public spaces and on dangerous and life-threatening areas, such as the banks of the Jukskei river and on top of storm-water drainage routes,” says Maile.
“This posed both health and environmental risks not only for the people affected, but also for the delivery of services to residents. A number of schools, for example, cannot function efficiently when shacks are erected on their ground.”
He says the challenge facing the project is the acquisition of more vacant land to provide room for additional housing projects.
“With the completion of the 700-unit River Park that houses the displacees of political violence, and the relocation to the Far East Bank of people whose housing structures were demolished as a result of the upgrading programme, the project has exhausted almost all available land in the area.
“To this end, we are busy negotiating to acquire more land for the project to house about 20 000 families.”
Housing projects in the area have faced many difficulties. Some of the relocated displacees at River Park complain of defects in the new houses. And the launch of the Tsutsumani Athletics village was plagued by controversy and protests about alleged nepotism in the allocation of housing units to people who were not on the waiting list.
Other aspects of the ARP include economic local development such as the ongoing upgrading of Pan Africa Square a site of business activities that encompasses retailers, hawkers and the bus and taxi ranks.
A new grade five police station costing R15-million has been completed. The station includes units to combat murder and robbery, narcotics, and child and family abuse. A new common emergency number is being proposed to cater for emergencies.
Engineering developments include the commissioning of a transport and road network study to link Alexandra with surrounding nodal points such as the Eastern bypass of the N3 highway.
A campaign has been launched to remove garbage from the Jukskei river. Stretches of greenery line the river’s banks following the demolition of shacks that were erected on the flood line. The pavement along London Road has been cleared of “illegal” shacks and spaza shops, and a park that serves as a picnic spot for residents has been established.
Maile emphasises the need to sustain the project to rejuvenate Alexandra. He says: “Unless we maintain the buy-in of various players such as the government, the private sector and the community to own this project, the attempt to reverse urban decay in Alexandra will not hold.”
Ga-Mampyana (a Sesotho colloquial name for Alexandra township meaning a place of poverty) not only has a rich cultural and political history that spans 90 years, it carries many contrasts and complexities.
The township, sandwiched between the affluent and leafy suburbs of Sandton and Kelvin and often referred to from an aerial viewpoint as a scrapyard, has undergone many physical and social changes.
At one stage it was the only place outside of the homelands where blacks had the right to freehold title. When they resisted apartheid forced removals black property owners were stripped of their title deeds.
Populist Soviet-style street and yard committees mushroomed in the 1980s as political activism took centre stage. The Msomi and Spoilers’ gang battles of the 1950s were replaced with strife and conflict between hostel dwellers and the community.
As influx control laws were relaxed, and democracy dawned for the country, thousands of economic refugees flocked to Alexandra in search of opportunities.
In the absence of the Ma-Stands and Ra-stands (earlier black property owners), illegal housing structures were erected, even on pavements, and illegal electricity connections were made.
As non-payment of services escalated, the delivery of basic municipal services deteriorated providing a fertile ground for crime and grime.
Despite its poverty and desperation Alexandra township continues to be an enigma for both local and overseas visitors.
The sight of a parked German sedan squashed among makeshift shacks and a cow knocking a water tap with its horns are some of the complex nuances beyond any outsider’s comprehension.