We flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg on Tuesday. Our flight home was scheduled for a 7p departure on Wednesday. We did a half-day tour of Soweto.
I knew Soweto was short for South Western Townships, but learned that it was also shorthand for “So Where to Go?” since many of its inhabitants moved there after being evicted from their homes by the apartheid government starting in the late 40s. Many came from Sophiatown.
There’s lot of history in Soweto. The African National Congress (ANC) drafted the Freedom Charter there in 1955. In brief:
1. The People Shall Govern!
2. All National Groups Shall have Equal Rights!
3. The People Shall Share in the Country’s Wealth!
4. The Land Shall be Shared Among Those Who Work It!
5. All Shall be Equal Before the Law!
6. All Shall Enjoy Equal Human Rights!
7. The Shall be Work and Security!
8. The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be Opened!
9. There Shall be Houses, Security and Comfort!
10. There Shall be Peace and Friendship!
The charter is commemorated with a monument with the text inside etched in concrete.
We had half an hour (not nearly enough time) at the Hector Pieterson museum. Pieterson was one of the first youth killed in the Soweto uprising in 1976 and was captured in an iconic photo.
We also toured one of the slums. It’s difficult to express all the thoughts and feelings that you go through. You learn that even though the government has built housing nearby with electricity and water, residents can’t afford to move there because they would have to pay for the utilities. Is crime a problem? No. They have mob rule, which is to say they collectively enforce their own security. Drugs are a problem. Education is a problem. The biggest problem is opportunity. Unemployment is around 75%. Our tour guide was probably in his early 20s and spent his time (outside of tours) running a center for youth focused on education. Someone in the group asked a brave question: Did the residents mind groups of “rich white people” like ours touring their slum? (We weren’t all white, but predominantly so.) He replied no. He said that the people that go on tours help raise awareness and are all very generous to them. He then asked a great question back to the group: What motivated you to see this?
Our guide outside his home.
We got a taste of the local beer at a shabeen. It’s a bit different – something like a combination of milk and beer. It has a sour taste like beer combined with plain yogurt. You can see the milky consistency in the second shot.
We closed the tour with a brief stop at Soccer City Stadium, the main stadium for the recent World Cup and the largest stadium in Africa. The design is based on a calabash, which is the style of pot that we drank beer from.
