The Natives Resettlement Act, Act No 19 of 1954 is passed

The Natives Resettlement Act, Act No 19 of 1954 empowered the Government to remove Africans from any area within and next to the magisterial district of Johannesburg. Subsequently, less than a year after the Act was passed Sophiatown residents were forcefully removed to Meadowlands in Soweto. In January 1955 the government deployed security police in Sophiatown in anticipation of a major resistance effort against forced removals. A month later residents were loaded on to trucks with their goods and forced to relocate to Soweto. One of the townships that managed to survive forced removals was the Alexander Township, which turned 100 years in 2012.