2.1.2.LOCALITY

Figure 25: Locality map of Alexandra during the apartheids era (Bonner and Nieftagodien, 2016).

CITY SCALE _

Alexandra, is described as a ‘special’ place in the context of South African urbanism as it has survived a number of urban formalisation and development methods of both the apartheid and democratic government, and yet has maintained its distinct flavor of a South African black urban world (Bonner and Nieftagodien, 2016). Under the apartheid regime, the Mentz Committee was tasked with enforcing the 1950 Group Areas Act, an Act which segregated people along racial and ethnic lines (Bonner and Nieftagodien, 2016). The committee recommended that Alex should not be allowed to grow and that its residents should be limited to people working in the northern suburbs (Bonner and Nieftagodien, 2016). Despite the recommendations, Alex grew because the township is strategically located close to residential areas, factories and commercial opportunities (Cirota, 2017). Population growth in Alex coincides with the projected trends of urbanisation. The township has high rates of informality, unemployment, poverty, social violence and is constantly vulnerable to social and weather extremes. In the 1980s and 1990s, Alex experienced an increase in population, and high levels of political conflict and mobilisation. This was a period signified by negotiations for a democratic South Africa (Onatu and Ogra, 2013). Alex is now divided into three parts, namely: - The old Alex, is situated on the west bank of the Juskei River. It is the poorest part of Alex, made up of old hostels and informal dwellings, such as backyard shacks. - The East Bank was developed in the 1980s and is occupied by middle-class people. East Bank is made up of a mixture of RDP houses, social housing flats and houses. - The Far East Bank, which is now called the ‘Tsutsumani’ (Mere, 2011: 03) is occupied by middle-class people and is well developed.