"Soweto" a Soweto Travel Page by Lalsey

According to my "lonely planet" Soweto is a must see if you're in Johannesburg, and given I had one day to spend before embarking on my trip across South Africa, I thought I should see it, if the Lonely planet insisted. I did feel slightly uncomfortable about the idea of doing this - was poverty as a tourist attraction a bit voyeuristic? Having visited I know this is wrong for a number of reasons, firstly quite a number of people living in Soweto aren't living in poverty (Desmond Tutu and Winnie Mandela both have houses there, and some of the houses wouldn?t be out of place in the best neighbourhoods in any city), and secondly I guess by visiting tourists are injecting some wealth into the area, and maybe helping to breakdown some barriers?

Any way I arranged my trip via the Drifters Inn I was staying in, and I wish I could tell you the name of the guy who showed me round, as he was great and I?d love to recommend him! (see www.soweto.co.za for tours though) He picked me up from the Inn, and I assumed would then go and pick loads of other tourists up too, however I was his only tourist for the trip. Probably dreadful for him (financially, and in terms of his sanity, being stuck with me all morning!) but great for me as I had a completely individual tour! We drove from the inn to Soweto, and on the way my tour guide filled me in with a lot of the history and politics of Soweto.

It was staggering to see just how many people lived in Soweto, and in parts, in what conditions. As you can see from this picture, some areas are 'shanty towns', other areas are poorer, there's middle class neighbourhoods and even very wealthy areas. Unlike most towns the rich and poor areas would be, at times, separated by one road.

My tour guide was a fascinating guy who had lived in Soweto all his life. He talked to me about how the district had evolved from the gold rush, to 1905, when it was first designated a "black area". The township grew during the 1930?s the demand for housing for the large numbers of people who had moved into Johannesburg when new housing was built in an area known as Orlando, named after the first administrator Edwin Orlando Leaky. Houses would originally have been rented from the government but many have sold to the tenants and private sector housing was developed from the 1980?s. I guess this recent history explains the diversity you can see today.
I wondered whether the class structure which had emerged caused resentment between neighbours who lived in such different levels of wealth, in such close proximity. I wondered if a community previously united in oppression could become divided by newly emerging "classes", and what this may hold for the future as the shared experience of apartheid fades, and it becomes the case, as in most societies of the ?haves (home owners) and the have nots?. His philosophy seemed to be that it was almost an individual responsibility for individuals to lift themselves out of poverty, and indeed many entrepreneurs were evident, for example making a living selling bumpers, exhaust pipes, doing car repairs, making a living from the tourist trade, and what seemed to be a burgeoning cell phone industry (Vast parts of Soweto didn't have land line infrastructure, so a real market for this technology here).

My guide took me to the Regina Mundi church, whose history was entwined with that of Soweto. As political gatherings were banned (and anything more than a handful of people meeting in one place could be defined as a "political gathering") people used the sanctity of the church to organise themselves politically. During the Student uprising in 1976 many students sought sanctuary in the Church. The police stormed the church, and whilst no one was killed, the bullet holes can still be seen in the church today. Most poignant was the statue of Jesus, who lost its arms during the incident.

I visited the home of Nelson Mandella, now a museum, and also a fascinating museum which documented the student uprisings of the 1970s, when mass rioting broke out over the government's decision to enforce education in Afrikaans. It was tragic to learn that children as young as 8 were shot in the fight against apartheid. I spent far too long in this museum and I think my Guide had thought I’d got lost!

Whilst researching Soweto I found this quote by Louis Rive “It has been said that the path through Africa runs through Soweto; that Soweto is a microcosm, or the soul of South Africa; that Soweto is a shining example of neglect and exploitation; that Soweto means many things to many people”. It is certainly a fascinating place and offers a real insight into apartheid and South Africa, past, present and future.