The group flew from Durban to Johannesburg and spent the first day on a tour of the city plus a visit to see Shell House, which is the headquarters of the African National Congress. Jo'burg (as the locals call it) is the biggest city in South Africa with two million citizens and another two million in nearby Soweto. Like all South African historic population patterns, the laws of apartheid prohibited blacks from living within the city proper save for a few live-in female houseworkers. Thus, some 50,000 Asians were resettled in their own suburb, Lenasia, and the blacks were assigned to vast townships on the outskirts -- Soweto is by far the biggest and best known; yet it is by no means only an accumulation of tin shacks. There are also better suburbs and a number of more or less functioning social institutions like schools and hospitals. Winnie Mandela's home in Orlando is one the finest.
SOWETO is where the seeds of South African freedom took root and is the largest black city in South Africa. Soweto is an acronym for Southwest Township which was a collective term for what was originally a group of segregated townships inhabited by blacks. Its nearly 50 communities include Orlando East, Orlando West, Kliptown, Chiewelo, Eldorado Park, Niceville, Lineas, Racecourse, etc. The tour visited many places in the Johannesburg/Soweto area.
One of the places visited was the "Museumafrica". This is in the area which contains the Market Theater, the center of anti-apartheid ferment and is still a source of energy.
The name Soweto is in our consciousness because of the children's uprising against the hated BANTU education that prepared the blacks for service jobs only and taught the Afrikaan language for its usefulness to their prospective masters and employers. The children's revolt in Soweto was the center of resistance against apartheid and the racist regime. The massive uprising that began as a student protest against the government's use of Afrikaan in the black schools spread to other cities and more than 600 blacks were killed. The government's rigid policy of racial segregation was in effect from 1948 to the early 1990's. The blood soaked ground in Soweto is that of men, women and children alike. The following photo is that of the gravesite in memory of Hector Jefferson and all the heroes and heroines in June 1976 who laid down their lives in their struggle for peace and democracy and the end of apartheid in South Africa.
At the time the tour group was there Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu had homes in Soweto. While there they met and talked with many of the residents and visited the Holy Anglican Cross Church of Orlando West which was Bishop Tutu's seat before he was elevated to Archbishop of South Africa.
 Grave Site of Hector Jefferson which was unveiled by Dr. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela June 16, 1992 as President of the African National Congress. The memorial was erected by the ANC Youth League. Incised into its surface is a tribute to Jefferson, a 12 year old boy who was the first student to die under police gunfire and all the other children who were killed. An image of a grieving adult cradling a limp young body is also carved into the Monument. |
