Alexandra Renewal Project negatively affected us, say residents

The SA Human Rights Commission was in Alexandra on Monday morning to investigate events which gave rise to the Alex shutdown.

The inquiry, which is an effort between the commission and the public protector, took place at the East Bank Hall, where community members eagerly waited to make their submissions.

Part of the commission’s investigation will include the multi-billion rand project, which was meant to uplift the social, physical and economical status of the township.

However, the project did not deliver the promises it set out, subsequently plunging Alexandra in protest in April.

“To us we can say the ARP project has had a negative impact because what it did was to make us fight one another while we were staying together in Alexandra, while we were sharing everything in Alexandra. We were neighbors, we were talking to one another,” said secretary-general of the Anti-Rental Committee of Alexandra, Malebu Mokgabudi.

The anti-rental committee has also claimed that it knows nothing about the ARP nor its benefits.

“To be honest, we can’t answer for that one because we don’t know anything about project. We can’t say if it was effective or not. We don’t know how much they have how much they spent etc,” added Phaledi Makelani, a representative from the committee.

The community of Alexandra also questioned why foreign nationals have been able to gain access to housing, when locals don’t even have access to accomodation.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura has subsequently instituted an investigation into the project, to probe where the money went which was allocated to it.

The inquiry will continue on Tuesday, where City of Joburg Manager Dr Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni will make oral submissions.