The View From London Road
Thursday, May 17, 2007
By Rick Powell
(Johannesburg, South Africa, May 15)
The only thing that has changed since I was last in Johannesburg is that eight
years have passed. The view from London Road is pretty much the same as it was
in 1999 when I was here to observe the second national election for President
and members of Parliament. London Road runs through a microcosm of the society,
from the oldest black township in South Africa through a new upper-class white
suburb. At the bottom of the hill is Alexandra, where some of the most famous
freedom fighters – including Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo – lived.
Workers who live in modest homes and tin roof shacks, most without running water
or toilets, gather to walk or take the mini- busses up London Road to Sandton
City at the top of the hill, where they work in places like the five-star Michelangelo Hotel, whose famous golden
tower can be seen from the bottom of London Road, or in Sandton City’s Mandela
Square, whose upscale shops would rival Tyson’s Corner. Most of the workers
are represented by unions, which are still strong in this country, but the
social environment is quite different. Many of the black workers of Alexandra
have been on waiting lists for as long as ten years to get new houses with
running water and toilets. A young worker who lives in Alexandra told me on the
drive to the airport that most of his neighbors are on the list and have never
gotten the houses the government promised them. “We ask the government when
will our houses be ready,” he told me, “and we are told that we will have to
wait. The government has been telling us that for years.” Meanwhile, he said,
“We have seen other people that we do not know get houses and when we ask them
how long they have waited they tell us that they just signed the documents a few
weeks ago. This is not right. When the next election comes I do not think that I
am voting for the ANC. What should I do?” he asked me. I wanted to give the
typical revolutionary response I thought a good progressive trade unionist would
give but I thought better of it. “I don’t know,” I said, and we drove on.
Powell, the Metro Council’s Political Coordinator, is traveling in South
Africa. Photos by Rick Powell