Lenasia, Gauteng
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Lenasia is large Indian township south of Soweto in Gauteng Province, South Africa. It has now become part of the City of Johannesburg. Lenasia is located approximately 35 kilometers south of the Johannesburg central business district and 45 kilometers South of the Sandton central business district.
Apartheid-era planners situated the group area for Johannesburg's Indians near the Lenz military base. The name "Lenasia" is thought to be a combination of the words "Lenz", "Lens" and "Asia". The Lenz in question was one Captain Lenz who owned the original plot on which Lenasia is situated. Many of its early residents were forceably removed under the Group Areas Act from Feitas, a vibrant non-racial area close to the Johannesburg city centre, to Lenasia. As segregation grew it became the largest place where people of Indian extraction could legally live in the then old Transvaal province
It is a testament to the people who were abandoned here by the apartheid government, that Lenasia is now a vibrant and thriving community. With the advent of the new Trade Route Mall, Lenasia continues to expand. Indeed it is worth mentioning that Lenasia is one of the few Indian areas to be wholly supportive of the African National Congress (ANC). Many Indian struggle stalwarts are now living in Lenasia. The community of Lenasia played a prominent role in opposing the national tri-cameral elections held in 1984 and 1989 under the apartheid era National Party government. This was an attempt to create separate legislative assemblies in South Africa for whites, Indians and coloureds in order to entrench racial segregation and perpetuate the disenfranchisement of the African majority in South Africa. Lenasia also played a significant role in the creation and activities of the United Democratic Front (UDF), the mass democratic movement that opposed apartheid in the 1980s and early 1990s before the unbanning of the African National Congress. Many of Lenasia's residents played a prominent role in the UDF structures and the broader anti-apartheid movement. Some of these activists became senior political figures after the first national democratic elections in 1994.
Lenasia is now a rapid growing suburb with everything a city needs from shopping malls, churches, mandhirs, mousqes, banks and various commercial and industrial sectors. Three satellite radio stations, Radio Islam, Eastwave FM and Channel Islam International broadcast from Lenasia. The township is large and divided into extensions including a major suburb produced from Lenasia, which is called Lenasia South and referred to as Daxina by the locals. Lenasia also has its own radio station called East Wave Radio which can be found on the wave 92.2, this radio station can only be listened to while in Lenasia and nearby surrounding area's.
Although the younger generation tend to travel out of Lenasia, work for the big corporates (braving serious traffic jams daily), the preference of young and old are to remain residence of the area. The growing population of Lenasia is a huge concern, as no additional land is being zoned for suburban development. Hence, properties soar to exorbitant prices, making it more and more difficult for entry level income earners to afford living in this thriving community.
Although still a predominantly Indian area, Lenasia today is a more cosmopolitan and diverse suburb, providing a place to live for local coloured and African people, as well as recent immigrants and refugees.
