Born a Crime

fought and held on and asserted its
right to exist. Wealthy white
suburbs like Sandton grew around
it, but Alex remained. More
squatters came and more squatters
came, putting up makeshift shacks
and shanties. They look like the
slums in Mumbai or the favelas in
Brazil. The first time I saw the
favelas in Rio I said, “Yeah, that’s
Alexandra, but on a hill.”
Soweto was beautiful because,
after democracy, you watched
Soweto grow. Soweto has become a
proper city unto itself. People went
from three-room houses to five-
room houses to three-bedroom
houses with garages. There was
room to grow because the piece of
land from the government gave you
something to build on. Alexandra