"Alexandra the Scrap Yard"

Residents of Alexandra township in Johannesburg are angry. They say their lives are no better than they were four years ago, when a project aimed at renewing the area was initiated. They feel they’ve been let down and they want to know why.

Alexandra is a few kilometers from wealthy Sandton.  In 2001, President Thabo Mbeki established the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP) with a budget of R1.3 billion. The aim was to build houses and to upgrade the area with better roads, bridges, sanitation and shopping centres. The project would generate jobs because local skills would be used wherever possible.

Alexandra Concerned Residents, a community based organization, says not much has changed in the last four years. There are still too many dust roads they say, and not many projects have got off the ground.  Unemployment is still extremely high (officially 60%); homelessness, poverty, unhealthy living conditions and overcrowding are prevalent and still a way of life for many people.

Some residents of Alexandra even claim their lives have got worse. They accuse the ARP and other relevant stake holders of not doing their job properly and want to know why this been allowed to happen.

There are only three years left to complete the project. By now many residents have started doubting that Alexandra will ever become an area with proper sanitation, water and electricity. Better living conditions for all seems a remote dream.

Special Assignment goes in search of answers to the community’s many questions. This investigation is directed by Mpho Moagi and was filmed by Thulo Monare.

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