Alex is the forgotten stepchild of Joburg

ALEXANDRA township was established in 1912. It has a land mass of about 2km². It was established to accommodate migrant workers. It was meant to accommodate not more than 70000.

The initial title-holders were some of the first black landowners in the City of Johannesburg. In

2006, I handled a case relating to the eviction of residents who occupied factories (yes, factories as homes) in land owned by a company running a shopping centre. We were acting for the eviction victims. We had a full tour of Alexandra and adjacent areas. There is a huge piece of land between Buccleuch and Marlboro off-ramp on the N3 to OR Tambo International Airport. This land was owned by Wits University in 2006.

In 2003, the government allocated R3 billion to decongest Alexandra and build more houses. That money was stolen.

When we were busy with the case in 2006, Nomvula Mokonyane was the MEC of Land and Housing. Judge Bertelsmann of the Pretoria High Court subpoenaed her to explain why the provincial government was not assisting those exposed to eviction.

To save her from appearing in court, the Gauteng Department of Land and Housing and the City of Johannesburg made promises to prioritise people facing eviction.

Undertakings were jointly made by the Department of Land and Housing and the City of Johannesburg. Further land was identified between West Bank and Tsutsumani to build housing units.

In 2006, when we were doing the case, Alexandra township had 500000 residents. There are probably close to a million people in that

2km² area. The ANC, DA and EFF are doing nothing to ameliorate the squalor. Alexandra township is the forgotten stepchild of Johannesburg.

The attempt to decongest Alexandra by moving some of its residents to Diepsloot amounted to fiddling while Rome was burning.