The internecine violence that swept across the Reef in the early 1990s resulted in the deaths of thousands of people and at times threatened to derail the negotiations process. While Kathorus (Katlehong, Thokoza and Vosloorus) on the East Rand was the epicentre of this civil war, other townships such as Alexandra also suffered grievously. The violence manifested itself mainly as political rivalry between township residents who supported the African National Congress (ANC) and hostel dwellers who supported the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). But the underlying causes of the conflict could not be reduced to such a simple political contestation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that the causes of the violence had to be located in apartheid, the extremely limited resources and the politicisation of ethnic divisions. Furthermore, the particular characteristics and trajectory of the conflict in each township, while manifesting certain common trends, were shaped by local circumstances that were not always or even mainly party political.

Tensions between hostel dwellers and township residents (especially the youth) in Kathorus initially occurred over the enforcement of stayaways by militant youth and then in the form of the bloody taxi feuds of 1989, thus preceding the outbreak of the overtly political conflict in August 1990. Another salient feature of the violence on the East Rand was that the main protagonists in the conflict tended to be Zulu migrants and the residents of large squatter camps. Both these groups were among the most marginalised sections of the township community. They generally lived in close proximity to each other and tended to compete for meagre resources.

Although these elements were present in the conflict in Alexandra, there were also some important differences. Firstly, the initial wave of violence of August and September 1990 missed Alexandra. Secondly, although Alexandra also experienced taxi violence in the late 1980s it did not assume the form of a struggle between hostel dwellers and township residents. Finally, and most significantly, the immediate underlying cause of the violence was to be found in local civic politics, where there was some similarity with events in Thokoza.