Alexandra seems to have come to a standstill, with scheduled events being cancelled or postponed as a result of the unrest around the Pan Africa Square.

A rumour doing the rounds that one of the Dudula leaders will hand himself/herself over to the police has has been quashed by another Dudula leader, Agnes Malatjie, who said their national leader, who she would not name, was having talks with the Alex Police Station commander.

Organisers of events scheduled to take place in Alexandra cited the unpredictability of the situation due to the violence at the square as the reason for postponing their planned events, saying they could not risk their visitors from outside Alex being caught in the ‘crossfire’. This after the Alexandra Dudula Movement and its sister organisation #OperationFiyela (operation clean sweep), are demanding that all foreign vendors leave the location.

The situation had turned violent following a tense stand-off between the protesters and foreign vendors at the square yesterday. Unconfirmed reports state six people have been arrested following the outbreak of violence between the two groups.

A gender-based violence awareness event and workshop which was supposed to be held at the old Alex Police Station in Wynberg on March 8 had to be postponed to Saturday (March 12) at the same venue and time.

Alex Peace Ambassador Thabo Mopasi said a dialogue was needed to solve the current crisis in Alexandra, which he said could turn nasty if allowed to go on unchecked.

“We need to gather in social cohesion programmes to talk about our differences and issues and try to find common ground for the sake of peace in our community,” Mopasi told Alex News.

“There are many interest groups in Alexandra and we need to gather under one roof and find common ground.”

Chairperson of the Community Policing Forum in Alexandra, Chris Mabunda, said the situation at the square was a lot calmer today, most probably because of the rain.

“Law enforcement agencies are still there monitoring the situation,” Mabunda said.