Obtaining ‘Peace’, Searching for Justice: Evaluating Civil Society and Local Government Responses to Xenophobia in Alexandra

Abstract

While local government and civil society responses to the May 2008 xenophobic violence in Alexandra were relatively effective at achieving their goal of peace and stability in the township, the article argues that larger structural issues remained almost untouched. The Alexandra Vukuzenzele Crisis Committee (AVCC), an affiliate of the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF), hinted at a completely different approach to dealing with the crisis than the other organizations discussed, but was not successful at making strides towards achieving its goal—‘attack[ing] capitalism not foreigners!’. Placing hope in the ARP, leaders (including those in the APF) have failed to undertake a long-term programme to alleviate the social conditions such as poverty and unemployment that social movements and other analysts declare are the primary cause of the violence.

Notes

Alexandra is a black township located thirteen kilometres to the north-east of the centre of Johannesburg. It is surrounded by white middle-class residential and business areas, including Sandton, one of the wealthiest suburbs in Africa. People have been living in Alexandra since 1904. In 1905, the area was transferred to the Alexandra Township Company Limited. At this stage, the area was intended for whites only, but due to the quality of the plots and distance from the city, whites were uninterested in living there. In 1912, in response to an application by the Alexandra Township Company Limited, the government agreed to turn Alexandra into a ‘Native’ or ‘Non European’ Township.

The area is popularly called Beirut, but local IFP leaders prefer the title RCA and detest the name Beirut since the latter reflects the violence that displaced people to the area rather than the notion that it is being reconstructed in response to a period of violence in the early 1990s.

Transit camps are those shack areas designed for residents who have been removed by the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP) for ‘development’ purposes, and who are waiting (indefinitely in transit) for RDP houses.

In March 1991 a civil war between the IFP and the ANC threatened to rip apart the entire social fabric of Alexandra. By 6 April 1991, 106 people had been killed since the violence began a month earlier (Bonner & Nieftagodien, 2008, p. 21) and throughout 1992 the violence continued to permeate the lives of Alexandra's residents to the point that Alexandra was deemed an unrest area on various occasions. In March 1992, the community engaged in sustained action to ‘secure a lasting peace in the township’ (Bonner & Nieftagodien, 2008, p. 377). The National Peace Accord (NPA) was the most significant of these engagements and its objectives were not political, but were aimed at uniting the community to bring peace in Alexandra. By July 1993, it was clear that these efforts were largely successful, as only six people were recorded killed since the beginning of that year. Reflecting on the period of violence in Alexandra between 1990–1992, Mayekiso stated that ‘more than two hundred people lost their lives, thousands were injured, and thousands more were displaced by invasion of their homes’ (Mayekiso, 1996, p. 190).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Luke Sinwell

Post-Doctoral Fellow, South African Research Chair in Social Change, University of Johannesburg, South Africa.