Pan Africa Square is abuzz with mop-up operations

Pan Africa Square was abuzz – not with shoppers or looters, but with community members who came out in their numbers to reclaim the space around the square and the township as a whole on the morning of July 16.

Alexandra was one of the hardest hit of Johannesburg’s northern suburbs during the recent unrest that swept across the country.

One of the locals who took part in the clean-up Nkele Galedzana said community members, making use of a social media group to organise their efforts, decided to ‘come together to take back our township’ after the recent devastation. “This is the first time we’re cleaning but it will not be the last as we want to be here many more times to clean up our township and ensure it is habitable,” she said.

“We realised the amount of damage inflicted on the very infrastructure that is meant to help us live a better life.”

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The group is comprised mainly of youth who have taken a stand to say ‘no to looting, no to mayhem and no to anarchy and not in the name of the people of this township’. “We decided to involve the youth mainly because they are the future of this country and they need to be taught good values and taken away from lawlessness and disorder.”

She added, “We want to also inculcate the culture of engagement whenever there are issues and problems in our community and discourage people from taking the law into their hands. We are for community dialogue.”

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Galedzana said they will be cleaning from 1st to 4th avenues. Other community members will then take over after that.

“We had consultations with the Metro police, SAPS, EMS, taxi associations Armsta and ATA and many other organisations in our community in order to ensure the smooth running of the clean-up operation.”

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