HRC and Public Protector aim their binoculars onto Alex issues

The Human Rights Commission (HRC), in conjunction with the office of the Public Protector, has begun to probe the issues that led to the recent Alex total shutdown.

This was after thousands of residents in Alexandra blockaded the streets with rubble and rocks, fencing the entire township with burning tyres and preventing traffic flow in and out on 3 April.

According to the HRC provincial manager Buang Jones, the Alex commission of inquiry will establish whether Alex residents’ human rights were infringed upon by the three spheres of government. He said that the inquiry will investigate socio-economic conditions in the area to determine if the neglect amounts to maladministration, abuse of power and corruption.

In his oral submission on 14 May, the city manager of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni told the commission that claims by the Alex Total Shutdown Movement that service delivery has declined were not true. He said that the city’s integrated waste management company Pikitup has been uninterruptedly collecting garbage in the area.

On the issue of housing, Lukhwareni said that the shortage of land was the main issue faced by the municipal housing department. He said the municipality has appointed a civil engineering company to investigate whether two residential hostels, Madala and Helen Joseph, are still viable for refurbishment. Lukhwareni said the city has set aside R20 million to develop the hostels.

He also dismissed allegations by community members, who presented their oral submissions on 13 May at East Bank Community Hall, that the JMPD were not responding to the community about illegal land occupation in the area. He presented images showing members of JMPD demolishing illegal structures along Jukskei River, and some in Tsutsumani.

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