The seismic political upheavals of 1984–86 posed the most serious challenge ever to white minority rule. Their scale and intensity graphically highlighted the black majority's unequivocal rejection of apartheid and dealt a fatal blow to the government's reform programme introduced in the early 1980s. As the previous chapter demonstrated, the Black Local Authorities (BLAs) – advertised as a cornerstone to the reform package – were widely rejected by the communities they purported to represent and serve. The mounting pressure of public anger and ridicule caused councillors to resign en masse, rendering these local authorities as useless as their predecessors, the Urban Bantu Council and Community Councils. Moreover, rapidly deteriorating living conditions in the townships further alienated communities from the state and its local representatives. In Alexandra, which had entertained high expectations of renewal and development after 1979, dissatisfaction over the failed promises of service delivery was especially pronounced. As a result, the state's plans and Sam Buti's Alexandra Liaison Committee (ALC) lay in tatters, bereft of any meaningful support.

The National Party's (NP's) reaction to this crisis reflected both its fears about the mounting tide of black resistance and its reluctant recognition of the legitimacy of township residents’ grievances, which produced a two-pronged response – heavy-handed repression combined with a limited reform package. In Alexandra the latter strategy took the form of the implementation of an Urban Renewal Project aimed at addressing the severe housing crisis and other social problems. Repression was always present but escalated from mid-1985 when the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) was banned. The imposition of successive states of emergency placed severe restrictions on township organisations and activists and led to the detention of thousands of activists. The effect of this repression was to create a stalemate between the state and the forces of liberation, which ushered in a period of political lull in the townships. During this phase, roughly between 1986 and 1989, township organisations struggled to maintain the momentum of their struggle activities in preceding years due to the imprisonment of thousands of activists. The leadership vacuum that developed, combined with state repression, strained the unity forged during 1984–86 and, in some instances, even caused it to unravel.