Migrants urged to help uplift Alex
ALEXANDRA - Migrants into Alex have been urged to contribute positive aspects of their upbringing into the township just like they would like to see others do when in their own areas of origin.
Migrants in Alex have been urged to contribute the positive aspects of their upbringing to the township – just as they would like to see others do when in their own areas of origin.
This was said by Victor Rambo Mkhize, chairperson of Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association, Zone 13, in an assessment of the township’s conditions that make it notorious for crime and many social ills.
Its environmental decay creates inhospitable living conditions and the high population density strains all the basic service provisions resulting in regularly blocked sewer systems and power tripping from illegal connections. The illegal dumping and illegal construction of residential and business structures worsen the situation.
Mkhize urged outsiders now living in the township to help locals to improve its cleanliness and to obey the laws and norms of neighbourliness. He asked them not to be part of those who littered indiscriminately and to adhere to anti-dumping messages from councillors and other long-standing concerned residents.
Mkhize said most of the newcomers shied away from public meetings where issues of concern are addressed, claiming that the concerns do not involve them. “This despite spending most of their working lives here, some of their children know no other place as they grow. They are educated, and develop friends and relationships here.”
He urged them to adapt as some have even acquired property which they expect their neighbours to safeguard when they return to their homes on holidays.
Mkhize added that a change of attitude would also help curb crime and the locals’ perception of their involvement in shady dealings, which fuel tensions and sometimes spark fights. This he said in reference to claims that some areas such as parts of Setswetla Informal Settlement and sections of other extensions are crime hotspots and no-go zones for residents.
Also, he cited the challenge of people tarnishing the township’s image by using it to hide stolen and hijacked vehicles, and by dumping vehicle scrap on driveways and in roadside parking spaces. “This makes it difficult for residential and municipal services’ mobility.” And, along with the many illegal structures already constructed on pavements, it results in children and pedestrians risking their lives by being forced to walk in traffic-filled roads.
