HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX:

Born in 1912 when a group of blacks bought land from a white farmer who failed to find white buyer, Alexandra will be turning 100 this year (2012) with very little to celebrate or party about.

This year (2012), one of Johannesburg’s most notorious townships, Alexandra, known popularly as “Alex”, marks its 100^th anniversary. Many are still hoping the government will embark on revitalizing this slum that has become nothing less than a symbol of inequality in South Africa.

Despite its ramshackle history, it is a township that is credited with being former president Nelson Mandela’s first home in Jo’burg.

The pride of its over 400, 000 residents, mostly migrant workers and a third of whom are unemployed is that Alex became and is still one of the very few places where people of color can own property. This is what has over the years cultivated its culture of resistance and one that saw Alex survive the apartheid rule.

It is a township whose accident of history, in line with her boycotts helped inspire Mandela’s fight for freedom.

With the ambitious renovation project launched back in 2001, set to revitalize Alex with building of thousands of houses, tarred roads and putting up of street lights, it is yet to be seen whether Alex will survive the bulldozers of modernization, of trying to bring equality and attract investment.

- Additional reporting by AFP