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The Nelson Mandela Bridge is one of South Africa's monuments at the centre of the drive to foster urban transformation in the city of Johannesburg. It stands out as one of the monumental emblems of transformation after the disappearance of administrative and occupational apartheid. On the one hand, the bridge is used consciously and unconsciously, to rehearse the ideals of democracy by harping on the towering image of Nelson Mandela as a struggle hero. On the other hand, the bridge is 'one of the prestigious projects at the centre of city-marketing and branding'. This article explores three dimensions of representation of the bridge in terms of what Stuart Hall refers to as reflective, intentional and constructivist meaning. The paper does this by examining how these meanings are produced and ordered, as well as, the knowledge, norms and practices that structure the new system of meaning in South Africa. The main argument of the paper is that the South African post-apartheid development ideology of reconstruction embedded in the struggle memory has become a platform on which the sign value of the NMB has become a rhetorical device for the appropriation of commercial interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, the spatial legacy of Apartheid has resulted in township areas that can be recognised as intense concentrations of poverty. Variations in the types of housing, often dominated by informal structures and overcrowded conditions, are characteristic of these areas. As such, they are generally perceived as areas of limited economic potential. In response to these conditions and in an attempt to alleviate the associated problems, the African National Congress government has initiated an Urban Renewal Programme in eight nodes in six urban areas in the country. Alexandra in Johannesburg is one of these nodes. The programme and service delivery in this township is a controversial issue that reached boiling point during instances of civil unrest in 2011. The renewal programme entails the demolition of housing units, the relocation of the inhabitants, as well as the expropriation of properties for redevelopment by the developers. This perception study on the success rate of the renewal programme was conducted in four sectors of Alexandra, namely East Bank, River Park, Tsutsumani and Tswe'tla, each with its own housing and socio-economic characteristics. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the Urban Renewal Programme as perceived by the inhabitants in the delivery of public services such as sanitation, water supply and electricity, and the provision of housing, health facilities, educational and recreational facilities. On the visual front, the programme appears to be meeting with success, particularly in terms of the provision of housing. The beneficiaries, however, are generally of the opinion that management and/or the government is not making enough of an effort to meet their expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]