Greenville residents open to relocation amid the city’s plan to fix London Road

Residents of the informal settlement of Greenville in Alexandra said they are willing to be relocated, provided they are moved to safer, better-serviced areas.
This comes after the city of Johannesburg’s MMC for Development Planning, Eunice Mgcina, revealed the city’s intention to upgrade London Road in Alexandra.

Read more: London Road reduced to a crime hotspot, says councillor

Mgcina said the city may need to demolish homes built too close to the road to carry out repairs. “From my side, as development planning, there are issues of encroachment, and the mayor has spoken about this a lot, that we have too much lawlessness. People do as they please; they don’t respect the by-laws of the city.”

She acknowledged budget constraints but confirmed that funds have been allocated to fix London Road. “Even though the budget is not enough, we’ve identified Alexandra as one of the priority areas to come and demolish some of these structures,” she said. Mgcina stressed that any removals must be done in coordination with the housing department to ensure affected families were relocated to safe houses. “The law protects our residents. So, we also need to observe the law. When we move people, we must put them in a safe space.”

Also read: Protest on London Road

Residents said they understood the need for relocation, especially if it meant improved living conditions. “If they relocate us to a well-built place, we won’t have a problem because it’s not like we’re gaining anything by staying here in Alexandra. Instead, our houses are getting damaged,” said resident Lindiswa Ntamnani, pointing to a crack on the wall of a nearby house caused by a car crash.

Ntamnani said the danger of living so close to the road had forced residents to build with bricks instead of informal materials. “If these were shacks, cars would crash and pass right through our houses.”
Resident Mandisa Quta echoed the sentiment. “We don’t mind being moved, but they should move us to a place with better services. We’re not staying here by force, and there are no services here. We don’t have electricity, water is always flowing, we had to install our taps, and we share five toilets with a lot of people.”

MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Jack Sekwaila, cited another reason that necessitated the demolition of some houses built along the London Road. He said that some of the homes were built either over water or power lines. “We might need to remove some of these structures here. So, that at least we set a tone in our township that this is not right.”

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