Alexandra residents face daily struggles, from rising crime and substance abuse affecting youth, to overcrowding driven by a housing backlog.
Now, their calls for the city’s intervention are growing louder.

Read more: Protest on London Road

On September 23, a coalition of organisations in Alexandra mobilised under Ziyakhala Community Movement marched to the City of Johannesburg Region E offices in Sandton. The residents delivered a memorandum of demands to the city’s officials, calling for urgent action to address long-standing issues in Alexandra.

Malibongwe Sibiya, the secretary general of Ziyakhala Community Movement, presented the memorandum, outlining some of their key concerns, including dilapidated infrastructure, misallocation of housing units, deteriorating conditions in community health care facilities and local schools.

“Schools are being used for non-educational purposes, classrooms are overcrowded, and there’s a lack of qualified teachers, there is crime and drugs in our schools,” Sibiya noted.

Also read: Road closure alert: London road, Alexandra affected by protests

Felicia Chauke, a representative of Alex traders, echoed the same sentiments, highlighting how the issues of substance abuse is affecting the future of Alexandra’s younger generation.

“Street to street, every house is affected by substance abuse. What is the government saying when they see our children losing their lives this way? There won’t be a next generation,” she exclaimed. “Young people who are abusing substances are not giving birth to the next generation.”

Sibiya highlighted some of the pressing economic issues plaguing the Alex residents. He cited a lack of business opportunities, training facilities, and limited employment opportunities. He further spoke about limited access to quality healthcare, highlighting the issue of overworked medical staff and the influx of undocumented foreigners.

The leader of the Alexandra Block by Block Housing Solutions, Thapelo Machaba, raised concerns about the long-standing issue of overcrowding in Alexandra, noting that to date, it still had not been addressed.

They further detailed the city’s need to care for the environment, noting that there was a need for assistance in maintaining rivers and parks. One resident, a representative of Pan African Shopping Centre traders, Charles Burmham, lamented the deteriorating state of the shopping centre, especially where the hawkers were trading.

“They [city] were supposed to clean it, but just by looking at the state of Pan, you can see there’s no by-law enforcement at Pan. The city is failing us. When they come to clean, they only clean for about 10 minutes, and then they go,” Burmham shared.

They proposed short-term solutions, advising the city to establish a community task team to address the issues they have outlined. Their proposals urge the city to develop sustainable housing solutions, support community-led projects, and promote accountability.

Charity Mapholi, a representative of the regional director, Thaba Makhafela, received the memorandum, noting that they would go through it and respond accordingly within seven days.

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