Soweto

I had a couple of final tourist destinations to check off my to-do list while here Joburg and I finally ticked them off this weekend.

I went with two friends to Soweto for the afternoon on Saturday, where we stopped by the Hector Pieterson Museum, Vilakazi Street and Chaf Pozi Restaurant under Orlando Towers.

I had been to Soweto previously to go to the Soweto Derby, a big match between the two rivals teams from the Premier Football League, both based in Soweto. Following the match we went out for braii and dancing at Chaf Pozi where I some of the best dancing in my life. A trio got up to perform in the middle of the crowd, in a style called Pantsula. I could have watched them for hours, it's seriously the best.

But on this Saturday, there was no dancing, but a good look into some important historical figures. Hector Pieterson was a young man who became a symbol of the student uprising against Apartheid and unfair educational policies for black students. He was shot by police during a student protest against the mandatory use of Afrikaans in all classrooms.

Unfortunately, there was load shedding on Saturday in Orlando West, the neighbourhood we were in, so the video displays in the museum weren't working, but the photo and text displays we good and the museum gave a very real and accurate depiction of what happened during these events, much of which was hard to read. What I also found sad was to read about the societal issues that flared up during the Bantu education system and how those same issues are still very much present today.

This display board discusses the issues rising in 1976, but this could easily describe the current atmosphere of 2015. (click on the photo to enlarge)

 
We next head for Vilakazi street, which is the only street in the world where two Nobel Prize Winners have lived; Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Seems strange, I've now seen two of Mandela's very different beds; the one in his cell on Robben Island and the one in his home in Soweto.

 

Very proud to see this on the wall of Mandela's bedroom

You are able to go in and walk around the quaint Mandela home, but the Tutu home is just marked discretely with a plaque. The Mandela home really is more about Winnie Mandela than Nelson though, because for most of the time that the family lived at this location, Nelson was in exile or in prison.

To cap off our afternoon we head to Chaf Pozi under the beautifully painted Orlando Towers (old cooling towers which are covered in murals representing the area and now sit as a famous landmark for Soweto), for some delicious braii - lots of meat, pap and chakalaka; very traditional South African food and oh so yummy.