Jennifer Sibanda

Collision/Cohesion

Jennifer Sibanda- 3rd Year Diploma

“umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu”

Xenophobia is the fear or hatred of foreigners, people from different cultures, or strangers; and with the rise in the xenophobic attacks happening on South Africa that peaked in 2008, one has to wonder if this is the democracy many fought for, both locally and within the continent. Alexandra township is home to both foreign nationals and South African locals, this presented the opportunity for me to learn and understand xenophobia a little deeper. I now understand that xenophobic attacks happen due to social, economic and sometimes political reasons. Foreigners flee from their home countries to seek refuge in South Africa and in turn try to make a living in their new found home, while South Africans on the other hand feel as if foreigner nationals are taking their jobs and opportunities, which creates a hatred between the two parties involved and is evident in this particular township.

Roosevelt street is the street that is the most vibrant, robust and densified in Alex in terms of transportation routes for vehicles and pedestrians; businesses owned by foreign nationals and street vendors who are local South Africans; as well as different residential typologies such as houses, flats and informal settlements. One thing that I noticed was that the street itself was divided in such a manner that one side of the street was home to more formal residential typologies and businesses and the other side of the street catered to the more informal settlements and local street vendors. With local residence and business owners seeing foreigners as a threat, foreign business owners have burglar proof bars and high walls for their shops for protection from attackers; but through my intervention I aim to bring the two ‘worlds’ together on a street level so that they can share the space as well as co-exist to help the economy grow. My intervention comes in the form of community centre/multipurpose building that aims to provide a platform for dialogue for all community members as well as revive the spirit of ubuntu. The centre is be positioned on the intersection of 14th Avenue and Roosevelt Street, which is blocked off vehicular traffic from 15th Ave and 13th Ave and redirected to a different route. This intersection now caters to pedestrian access in order to promote social cohesion. On ground level is a market space and social space where people can interact. The first floor level stretches over from the one side of the street to the other joining the two market space on ground level and caters for a trade and skills center where locals and foreign nations can exchanges and learn each other’s skills in a form of a workshop. From the second floor going higher, this is a form of future proving architecture, where the residence that were removed in order to cater for the new multipurpose building, will be moved.