When I first arrived back in Gauteng, I was eager to visit Alexandra, where my brother, younger sister and I were born. However, my parents decided to return to the Transkei when I was just three years old. I will never forget the disappointment I felt when I saw the famous township in 1972, as I had never seen such an overcrowded place before.
The informal settlements were almost non-existent then. Then came freedom in 1994, which sparked the rush of undocumented migrants from all over Southern Africa and beyond. That was followed by the mushrooming of shacks in every vacant space.
Thousands of people left their decent homes in rural areas in SA and moved into these tiny structures, just to be close to town. The immigrants, however, raised the numbers and the sprawl of these shabby settlements.
Outsiders look at all these unsightly structures and believe we are the most unequal society in the world. The irony of the situation is that those who have been to places like Zimbabwe know that they never saw such shanty towns there because the laws of Zimbabwe do not allow them.
Our country has been hijacked and vandalised, mostly by migrants, some of whom are undocumented. Johannesburg is a shadow of its past, and so are other cities in our country. Will we ever have our country back? – Cometh Dube-Makholwa, Midrand.
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