Who remembers the Manyisa lyrics from the legendary award-winning hip-hop group Skwatta Kamp?
In the hit song, Bozza, one of the best vernac rappers, has a line that goes: “Me and hip-hop, y-iAlexandra nokungcola” (loosely translated: “Me and hip-hip are joined together like Alexandra and dirt.”).
The album with that song was released in 2002.
At the time, the township that is a stone's throw away from Sandton – the richest square mile in Africa – was famously known for being one of the dirtiest townships in the country.
Twenty-two years later that line still hits as a punchline because the more things change, the more they stay the same in Alexandra township, according to some residents.
Alex seems to be the last township to be thought of when services need to be delivered, they tell Drum.
But the north Joburg townships is also the place where most politicians make their first pit stop when canvassing for votes.
While the famous question is asked by many, "What has the past 30 years of democracy been like?” the answer in Alex is, "Nothing's changed since the dawn of democracy.”
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Alexandra is known as one of the oldest townships, according to stats by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The current population estimates vary widely but what is certain is that the overcrowding in Alex has made the lives of many who live in it more and more miserable over the years.
Now, 2024 brings with it another election year and the residents of Alexandra township keep getting more promises on top of the ones from the past.
Of all the promises they’ve heard before, the one President Cyril Ramaphosa uttered in 2019 of building million of houses for the residents still haunts them the most because houses are what they desperately need.
“It is like they look at what people desperately need and then use it to hold them ransom so that they can gain their votes. Promising houses to people who need houses is heartless and I hope people will use their power to vote to good use,” says Thabo Mopasi, a community leader in Alex.
He is one of the people who were born and raised in Alexandra and has lived to tell the tale of all the promises they have been told since the dawn of democracy.
He says in the past, people have faced an infrastructure problem.
They still use the bucket system that they even invented a name ‘sompungana’ which is used as a derogatory term for people who have just used the toilets and left some noisome stink.
“We have come a long way as the people of Alex.
“Just like any township, there is a side that gets service delivery and one that doesn’t. In the Avenues, we have come a long way, we don't have toilets, there is no water and sanitation and people use bucket systems. You’ll find those buckets in the streets of Alex lying side to side. It is smelly and people do take offense when you cover your nose with a mask because they didn’t ask to live in such conditions.”
Thabo says when the President promised people the houses, he knew that things were bad for the leading party, and they would say just about anything to stay in power.
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“There have been several sets of government that came into play before democracy and its new promises. There was a renewal project led by Reverend Sam Buti, and that process of renewal project was that of building the flats, East and West Bank. But at that time, the people were not interested, they wanted Mandela to be released from prison. In 2001, the same project was relaunched by President Thabo Mbeki and that project developed about 15 thousand houses. They were supposed to build 55 000 houses with the R1,3-billion-rand budget.”
He says an opportunity to renew Alex was squandered, and it cuts deep that housing is still used as a canvasing tool. Thabo says there are only 19 schools in Alex. And there are one-room shacks shelter a family of four and above.
“The system is not working for the people of Alexandra. The nurses who work in our clinics are overworked. We have a problem with substance abuse because they are sinking their sorrows. We [have] a serious problem. The renewal projects have not been fair for the people of Alex, and today’s government is living in their dreams,” laughs Thabo.
He says the President is a dreamer and is telling people wrong things because for Alex to develop it will cost about R57 billion since the R1,3 billion was not enough and it was looted.
“Some houses were built, and some were not finished. Delays are a thing of Alexandra. The government has a problem with delays and even when they build, they don’t handover. There are container houses built during Covid 19, they are standing. The department of Human Settlement doesn’t know what it is doing, and no one accounts for anything that is why to date no one takes accountability for the container structures.”
As the community, he says even though they have heard it all they are still hopeful that they one day have a serious interaction with the government.
“We want to have an honest conversation that reflects our reality. Not a dreamy Tintswalo fairytale that doesn’t serve the people who have been struggling for years.”
