Alexandra (South Africa)

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Alexandra
Alexandra (South Africa)
Alexandra
Alexandra
Coordinates 26 ° 6 ′  S , 28 ° 6 ′  E Coordinates: 26 ° 6 ′  S , 28 ° 6 ′  E
Basic data
Country South Africa

province

Gauteng
District Johannesburg
ISO 3166-2 ZA-GP
Residents 179,624 (2011)
founding 1912

Alexandra (also called Alex for short ) is an administrative part of the metropolitan municipality City of Johannesburg in the South African province of Gauteng . During apartheid it was one of the few neighborhoods in Johannesburg where black people lived. Alexandra is one of the poorest neighborhoods in town.

geography

The subdivision of Johannesburg's boroughs until 2006

Alexandra is located about eleven kilometers north of the center of Johannesburg on the Jukskei River. A few kilometers away is the up-and-coming district of Sandton . Alexandra borders the districts of Wynberg in the west, Marlboro and Kelvin in the north and Kew, Lombardy West and Lombardy East in the south.

Alexandra is around eight square kilometers and officially has 179,624 inhabitants (as of 2011). The population density is around 22,000 people per square kilometer. Alexandra belongs to Region E in Johannesburg, which was called District 7 until the 2006 administrative reform.

history

Originally the area of ​​what is now the district belonged to the farmer Papenfus, who named it after his wife Alexandra. From 1904 he planned to build a residential area for whites. Due to the distance to the center of Johannesburg, he was unsuccessful. Alexandra was therefore built in 1912 as a township for "natives". It was not until the following year that the Natives Land Act was proclaimed in South Africa , which denied black ownership of land in numerous cities. Since Alexandra was already founded, black people could still buy land here.

In 1916 around 30,000 people were already living in Alexandra. Since neither the newly established Alexandra Health Committee nor the city council of Johannesburg were responsible, there was no administrative leadership in the district during this time.

With the victory of the National Party in the parliamentary elections in 1948 and the beginning of the apartheid policy , Alexandra was placed under the authority of the then " Native Affairs Authority ". The main goal was to limit the population and dispossess landowners. An evacuation like in the Sophiatown district did not take place, but around 50,000 residents had to move to Tembisa and Soweto . A plan to replace large family homes with single dormitories was abandoned in 1979.

On January 7, 1957, the Alexandra bus boycott began , also known as Azikwelwa (German: We will not drive), which is considered to be one of the few successful campaigns against the apartheid regime. After the fare was increased, buses in Alexandra were boycotted . Instead, many people walked the routes every day. Residents of other parts of Johannesburg and Pretoria joined the boycott. In June 1957 the price increase was withdrawn.

In the course of the uprising in Soweto , who had encroached on 17 June 1976 in Alexandra, 19 people were killed there. As a result, the policy of repression against the residents was somewhat softened. So the right of residence of blacks was recognized. In 1982 the district was given residential status and the Alexandra Liaison Committee, led by Reverend Buti, was entrusted with the management of the district.

The Alex Six Days took place in February 1986 . 40 people were killed in the unrest. The local administration collapsed and was partially replaced by informal structures such as people's courts. Troops moved in in June, but they were unable to maintain order in the long term. 13 local leaders were charged with high treason . The riots continued.

From 1991 to 1992 there were the first successful peace initiatives after further conflicts. With the end of apartheid in 1994, the situation eased.

In 2000 the Alexandra Renewal Project (German: " Alexandra Renewal Project ") was initiated. It led to conflict between residents and businesses like a garbage disposal company in neighboring Marlboro.

In May 2008, a nationwide series of xenophobic attacks, particularly on Zimbabweans , began in Alexandra.

Sons and daughters of the district

Personalities who lived in Alexandra

literature

  • Philip Bonner, Noor Nieftagodien: Alexandra - A History . Johannesburg 2008

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Own measurement on the 1: 70,000 city map of Johannesburg
  2. ↑ 2011 census , accessed October 3, 2013
  3. ↑ Alex's history is finally told. ( Memento from February 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) at alexandra.co.za (English)