Satisfaction Levels and the Community’s Attitudes Towards Urban Renewal in Alexandra, Johannesburg

In South Africa, the spatial legacy of Apartheid has resulted in township areas that can be recognised as intense concentrations of poverty. Variations in the types of housing, often dominated by informal structures and overcrowded conditions, are characteristic of these areas. As such, they are generally perceived as areas of limited economic potential. In response to these conditions and in an attempt to alleviate the associated problems, the African National Congress government has initiated an Urban Renewal Programme in eight nodes in six urban areas in the country. Alexandra in Johannesburg is one of these nodes. The programme and service delivery in this township is a controversial issue that reached boiling point during instances of civil unrest in 2011. The renewal programme entails the demolition of housing units, the relocation of the inhabitants, as well as the expropriation of properties for redevelopment by the developers. This perception study on the success rate of the renewal programme was conducted in four sectors of Alexandra, namely East Bank, River Park, Tsutsumani and Tswe’tla, each with its own housing and socio-economic characteristics. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the Urban Renewal Programme as perceived by the inhabitants in the delivery of public services such as sanitation, water supply and electricity, and the provision of housing, health facilities, educational and recreational facilities. On the visual front, the programme appears to be meeting with success, particularly in terms of the provision of housing. The beneficiaries, however, are generally of the opinion that management and/or the government is not making enough of an effort to meet their expectations.