Alexandra, Gauteng’s “township of rhythm”, is ready to jump aboard the tourism train. Efforts are being made to lure visitors into the heart of a place that was once ruled by gangsters and considered strictly off-limits to anybody with a hint of common sense. But times have changed.
“We may not have Wandie’s or the Hector Pieterson museum [tourist attractions in Soweto], but we have all the movement, the people, the vibe,” says Abey Sechoaro.
Born and raised in Alexandra — Alex for short — he and his brother, Saki, run a tourist company, Bosele Township Experience. “Bosele” translates as “at dawn” and a crowing rooster is painted on the side of their white van. “It is meant to be a wake-up call,” explains Abey, while Saki navigates the narrow township streets on a Saturday morning, trying to find his way around with many a road closed off for funeral processions. “Most people have never been here, while it is just around the corner.”
He is right; Alex is just around the corner from Johannesburg’s more affluent areas. It’s hardly a 10-minute drive from posh, high-rise Sandton, yet worlds apart. Along the Old Pretoria Road one can still see the fence that was put up in the old days to keep travellers between Pretoria and Jo’burg from accidentally ending up in Alexandra.
Once one has crossed the bridge that leads straight into the busy Pan-Africa precinct, Alex’s CBD, Woolworths makes place for modest street stalls selling oranges and bananas, and Guess and Gucci are switched for tables littered with second-hand clothing and shoemakers offering their services on the side of the road.
Whether it’s the current economical situation, the best eatery or historic facts and figures, Abey Sechoaro knows all about his township.
“Sadly, it still carries a big scar of the past; Alex came into being by accident and the government never meant it to exist,” he begins his history lesson. “It started with a Greek farmer who decided to make his land — named after his wife, Alexandra — available for the growing number of people flocking to Jo’burg following the discovery of gold at the end of the 19th century.
“When white people were not interested because they saw the Jukskei River as a source of epidemic, the farmer offered his land to blacks. Alexandra was one of few places where black people could afford to buy property and feel free. But with the 1913 Land Act it was decided that Alex should not be there. The government tried to move people and demolish the township, but resistance was tough. Government lost control and that’s when gangs started to take over the place.”
Nicknames given to Alex over the years are evidence of its violent history: Thug City, Little Chicago, Nobody’s Baby.
Alexandra consists of an old and a new part, divided by the Jukskei River. To Sechoaro the old part is the real Alex. The tour begins in an area previously known as “Beirut” because of the devastating violence that caused buildings to crumble. Now it is simply called “Alex Reconstruction Area”.
All around the township, big yellow signs read: “It’s happening in Alex.” They mark areas where the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP) works to improve the physical, economic and social environment of the Johannesburg township.
Darlene Louw, of the ARP, is passionate about Alex. “We run 73 different projects now, including a sports field and a school. I believe in a holistic approach; you can’t just build houses and expect things to get better.”
When she joined the ARP a year ago, the outgoing redhead decided things had to change. She started to spend almost all her time in the township; now she “lives in Alex but sleeps at home”.
She believes strongly in working with the community. “You have to get involved in order to change things from the inside out,” she says. “I am white. I can’t just come here and say what needs to be changed without consulting the people who live here.”
The people who live in Alexandra are happy to see people from outside come into their neighbourhood to see their township way of life: a life that is often lived on the street. Sheets of cardboard are put up as protection from the sun where women sit patiently while their hair is being braided, a tailor mends clothes behind his sewing machine on a street corner and children splash around in a tin tub. There’s a queue to see the sangoma and another queue for the stand that sells vetkoek; the communal tap is a social meeting point for gossip, and goats contently rummage around in the garbage heaps.
“A tour here is an authentic township experience,” says Sechoaro. “Soweto shows how people struggled; Alex shows everyday life.”
It feels perfectly safe to step out of the van and walk around on foot. Smiles are everywhere. In a sandy passageway a group of girls plays the game of mgusha. Some hold a string made out of old, flesh-coloured pantyhose tied together, while others jump in and out of the circle, clapping their hands rhythmically.
Of course, not all life in Alex is pretty. Sechoaro shows the other side too. In the middle of the township with its already small houses, there’s an informal settlement with shacks that look like they might fall down any minute. Built on a slight hill, the settlement is dubbed Mountain View, and its people are mainly from Mozambique and Zimbabwe. “Unfortunately it feeds xenophobia because they seek to use the same facilities that are already shared by 40 people,” he says.
Today, with 350Â 000 inhabitants, space is limited in Alexandra and unemployment is high, estimated at between 50% and 60%. Petty crime is another big problem. But since the initiation of the ARP in 2001, improvements have been made. People are encouraged to start their own small businesses, and plans are under way to build proper retail outlets, a shopping centre and a better taxi rank.
Tourism is also set to boost the economy in Alexandra. Even on this Saturday the construction site of the new Nelson Mandela museum is busy. The museum, set to open early next year, is being built around the house where Mandela first lived when he came to Johannesburg, and it will provide information on the township.
At the Indian market, tourists can shop side by side with the locals. At King’s Cinema, a popular place for jazz screenings in the 1940s and 1950s and later a gathering place for gangsters, one gets two movies for the price of one. If one is feeling peckish, there’s the outdoor meat market across the street. As the Bosele van drives past, the butcher is chopping up a cow. The hacking sound of his knife can be heard through the open car window. A couple of cow heads lie on the stall bench, with neatly cut pieces of meat on a plastic sheet on the ground.
“For the tourists we have to get different food,” says Sechoaro, laughing when he points out a woman who is boiling chicken feet in a large pot. “Western tourists are obsessed with healthy food. They like their vegetables and stuff.”
Apart from a daytime tour, tourists can also experience the nightlife in Alex. Together with the ARP, Sechoaro is busy revamping two shebeens that will cater for the expected visitors. A stone’s throw away from the yet-to-be-finished Mandela museum, one of these will have a taxi theme, complete with old taxi couches, “because tourists want something special”.
There are three existing B&Bs in Alex. They are usually empty. But just like the people who did not want to move out in the early 1900s, Sechoaro is not ready to give up on Alex. “It’ll take some time, say two years, before tourism picks up here. But then it will be big,” he says.
Louw, of the ARP, agrees: “I see a huge future for tourism here. Alex has got the right vibe, and the most amazing people. You can actually feel the physical heartbeat of South Africa here.”