President Cyril Ramaphosa has established an Inter-ministerial Committee to attend to the issues raised by Alexandra residents when he met with them earlier this month.

The committee comprises the Ministers of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Environmental Affairs, Home Affairs, Police, Rural Development and Land Reform.

The team will interface with the provincial and local government leadership, the MECs responsible for these portfolios as well as the mayor of Johannesburg. This Inter-governmental Forum comprising the three spheres of government will be convened by the Minister of CoGTA Zweli Mkhize this week. A technical team of directors-generals has also been set up to work on this issue.

“The systems have been put in place for the renewal of Alexandra to be handled by the IGR forum and we are all determined to ensure that the directives of the president are met,” said Mkhize.

This follows on from the Alex Shutdown earlier this month where the area’s residents blockaded roads and protested over a number of issues. The problems raised by residents include:

• Unresolved land issues and release of title deeds
• High demand for housing, illegal occupation of houses and other premises
• Poor service delivery including challenges of sewerage spillage, water, electricity and dangerous electric connection
• Proliferation of illegal shacks and other structures in contravention of bylaws and failure to enforce bye laws
• High crime rate
• Illegal immigration
• Lack of refuse removal and illegal dumping of litter
• Need for economic upliftment and investment promotion for income generation and eradication of poverty unemployment and inequality