Thousands of residents of Alexandra in Johannesburg shut down the township on Wednesday morning. Photo: Zoë Postman
4 April 2019
Following the shut down of Alexandra in Johannesburg on Wednesday, residents of the township intended to go to the the City of Johannesburg’s Sandton offices to express their dissatisfaction on Thursday morning.
During Wednesday’s shut down residents demanded that Mayor Herman Mashaba address them on overcrowding, and lack of access to water and electricity.
But Thursday’s protest was called off. Organisers said they received a tip-off that private security had been hired ahead of the protest, and out of concern for violence they stopped the protest.
Protest organiser Sandile Mavundla appealed to the community to suspend the protest temporarily. “You can’t risk the lives of the people, because you don’t know what will happen. Live ammunition will be fired and we don’t want to see any fatalities,” he said.
Small groups of people however continued to barricade roads on Thursday morning. Lenin Drive, Laduma Street and London Road were blocked. Vasco De Gama and 17th Avenue were briefly blocked.
Residents plan to meet to discuss the way forward.