Alex and Sandton to mend fences with project to rebuilding the township

After a successful beautification and infrastructural renewal project in the North-West town of Coligny, NPO South Africa Day hopes to attract millions of rands from potential private sector donors as it sets its sights on yet another total makeover effort for Alexandra.

To be known as ‘We Love Alex Community Makeover Project’, Sandton-based South Africa Day CEO Dr Bheki Shongwe said massive behind-the-scenes work was already underway to bring business people mainly from Sandton and other areas of Johannesburg to raise funds to rebuild Alexandra.

“We are receiving overwhelming acceptancy wherever we go in our bid to sell the idea to potential investment donors who, once they come on board, will be known as the ‘Friends of Alexandra’ in an endeavour to change the soured relations between the two communities of Alex and Sandton,” Shongwe said.

Shongwe said there can never be peace between the two communities for as long as the soured relations remain in place. “Peace will only come when the two communities seize the initiative and take bold steps to mend the fences.

“We want the communities to understand that the current state of affairs in Alex is not beneficial to both Alex and Sandton hence, we have established the Alex Investment and Development Fund in the hope that it will start raking in the much-needed funding for the project.”

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Shongwe said they already have the buy-in of leading names in the business such as Chris Hart and Kevin Wakeford, the latter who brought in millions of rands to the Coega project in Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape.

Once the project is kickstarted, Shongwe said the on-board business entities will adopt the streets in the township for makeover and cleaning purposes and communities living along those various streets will be required to form street committees to ensure the sustainability of the project.

“We will then activate the Strong Towns and Cities Network which will endeavour to start economic zones within the township in a similar vein to the Vilakazi Street projects in Soweto.

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“We also want to modernise the schools around the township and Avbob has already committed to putting serious monies into this project of changing the character of the schools into a state-of-the-art institution with modern technology.”

South Africa Day, which has Father Simangaliso Mkhatshwa as its patron, was established in 2015, copied from an Australian concept, with the aim of reviving the country’s towns and cities, 17 of which have already undergone the makeover already.

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