The Soweto Uprising, also known as June 16, was a series of high school student-led protests in South Africa that began on the morning of June 16, 1976.^[1] Students from numerous Sowetan schools began to protest in the streets of Soweto, in response to the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in local schools.^[2] An estimated 20 000 students took part in the protests, and roughly 176 people were killed.^[3] The 16th of June is now a public holiday, Youth Day, in South Africa, in remembrance of the events in 1976.^[4]

Causes of the protests[link]

Black high school students in Soweto protested against the Afrikaans Medium Decree of 1974 which forced all black schools to use Afrikaans and English in a 50-50 mix as languages of instruction.^[5] The Regional Director of Bantu Education (Northern Transvaal Region), J.G. Erasmus, told Circuit Inspectors and Principals of Schools that from January 1, 1975, Afrikaans had to be used for mathematics, arithmetic, and social studies from standard five (7th grade), according to the Afrikaans Medium Decree; English would be the medium of instruction for general science and practical subjects (homecraft, needlework, woodwork, metalwork, art, agricultural science).^[5] Indigenous languages would only be used for religion instruction, music, and physical culture.^[6]

The association of Afrikaans with apartheid prompted black South Africans to prefer English. Even the homelands regimes chose English and an indigenous African language as official languages. In addition, English was gaining prominence as the language most often used in commerce and industry. The 1974 decree was intended to forcibly reverse the decline of Afrikaans among black Africans. The Afrikaner-dominated government used the clause of the 1909 Constitution that recognized only English and Afrikaans as official languages as pretext to do so.^[7] While all schools had to provide instruction in both Afrikaans and English as languages, white students learned other subjects in their home language.

Punt Janson, the Deputy Minister of Bantu Education at the time, was quoted as saying: "A Black man may be trained to work on a farm or in a factory. He may work for an employer who is either English-speaking or Afrikaans-speaking and the man who has to give him instructions may be either English-speaking or Afrikaans-speaking. Why should we now start quarrelling [sic] about the medium of instruction among the Black people as well? ... No, I have not consulted them and I am not going to consult them. I have consulted the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa ..."^[8]

The decree was resented deeply by blacks as Afrikaans was widely viewed, in the words of Desmond Tutu, then Dean of Johannesburg as "the language of the oppressor". Teacher organizations such as the African Teachers Association of South Africa objected to the decree.^[9] A change in language of instruction forced the students to focus on understanding the language and not the subject material. This made critical analysis of the content difficult and discouraged critical thinking.^[10]

The resentment grew until April 30, 1976, when children at Orlando West Junior School in Soweto went on strike, refusing to go to school. Their rebellion then spread to many other schools in Soweto. A student from Morris Isaacson High School, Teboho 'Tsietsi' Mashinini, proposed a meeting on June 13, 1976, to discuss what should be done. Students formed an Action Committee (later known as the Soweto Students’ Representative Council)^[11] that organized a mass rally for June 16 to make themselves heard.

In a BBC/SABC documentary broadcast for the first time in June 2006, surviving leaders of the uprising described how they planned in secret for the demonstration, surprising their teachers and families (and the apartheid police) with the power and strength of the demonstration (see 'Radio' section below).

The uprising[link]

On the morning of June 16, 1976, thousands of black students walked from their schools to Orlando Stadium for a rally to protest against having to learn through Afrikaans in school. Many students who later participated in the protest arrived at school that morning without prior knowledge of the protest, yet agreed to become involved. The protest was intended to be peaceful and had been carefully planned by the Soweto Students’ Representative Council’s (SSRC) Action Committee,^[12] with support from the wider Black Consciousness Movement. Teachers in Soweto also supported the march after the Action Committee emphasized good discipline and peaceful action.

Tsietsi Mashinini led students from Morris Isaacson High School to join up with others who walked from Naledi High School.^[13] The students began the march only to find out that police had barricaded the road along their intended route. The leader of the action committee asked the crowd not to provoke the police and the march continued on another route, eventually ending up near Orlando High School.^[14] The crowd of between 3,000 and 10,000 students made their way towards the area of the school. Students sang and waved placards with slogans such as, "Down with Afrikaans", "Viva Azania" and "If we must do Afrikaans, Vorster must do Zulu".^[15]

A 2006 BBC/SABC documentary corroborated the testimony of Colonel Kleingeld, the police officer who fired the first shot, with eyewitness accounts from both sides. In Kleingeld's account, some of the children started throwing stones as soon as they spotted the police patrol, while others continued to march peacefully. Colonel Kleingeld drew his handgun and fired a shot, causing panic and chaos. Students started screaming and running and more gunshots were fired. ^[16]

The police loosed their dogs on the children, who responded by stoning the dogs to death. The police then began to shoot directly at the children.

One of the first students to be shot dead was 13-year-old, Hector Pieterson. He was shot at Orlando West High School and became the symbol of the Soweto uprising.^[17] The police attacks on the demonstrators continued and 23 people, including two white people, died on the first day in Soweto. Among them was Dr Melville Edelstein, who had devoted his life to social welfare among blacks.^[18] He was stoned to death by the mob and left with a sign around his neck proclaiming 'Beware Afrikaaners' .^[19]

The violence escalated as the students came under attack; bottle stores, and beerhalls - seen as ouposts of the apartheid government - were targeted as were the official outposts of the state. The violence abated by nightfall. Police vans and armoured vehicles patrolled the streets throughout the night.

Emergency clinics were swamped with injured and bloody children. The police requested that the hospital provide a list of all victims with bullet wounds. The hospital administrator passed this request to the doctors, but the doctors refused to create the list. Doctors recorded bullet wounds as abscesses.^[11][17]

The 1,500 heavily armed police officers deployed to Soweto on June 17 carried weapons including automatic rifles, stun guns, and carbines.^[11] They drove around in armoured vehicles with helicopters monitoring the area from the sky. The South African Army was also ordered on standby as a tactical measure to show military force. Crowd control methods used by South African police at the time included mainly dispersement techniques.

Casualties[link]

The accounts of how many people died vary from 200 to 600,^[20]. The original government figure claimed only 23 students were killed^{[citation needed]}. The number of wounded was estimated to be over a thousand men, women, and children.

Aftermath[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The aftermath of the uprising established the leading role of the ANC in the liberation struggle, as it was the body best able to channel and organize students seeking the overthrow of apartheid. So, although the BCM's ideas had been important in creating the climate that gave the students the confidence to strike out, it was the ANC's non-racialism which came to dominate the discourse of liberation amongst blacks. The perspectives set out in Joe Slovo's essay No Middle Road - written at just this time and predicting the apartheid regime had only the choice between more repression and overthrow by the revolutionaries - were highly influential.^[21]

The Soweto Uprising was a turning point in the liberation struggle in South Africa. Prior to this event, the liberation struggle was being fought outside of South Africa, mostly in Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe), South West Africa (later Namibia) and Angola. But from this moment onwards, the struggle became internal and the government security forces were split between external operations and internal operations.

The clashes also occurred at a time when the South African Government was being forced to "transform" apartheid in international eyes towards a more "benign" form. In October 1976, Transkei, the first Bantustan, was proclaimed "independent" by the South African Government. This attempt to showcase supposed South African "commitment" to self-determination backfired, however, when Transkei was internationally derided as a puppet state.

For the state the uprising marked the most fundamental challenge yet to apartheid and the economic (see below) and political instability it caused was heightened by the strengthening international boycott. It was a further 14 years before Mandela was released, but at no point was the state able to restore the relative peace and social stability of the early 1970s as black resistance grew.

Many white South African citizens were outraged at the government's actions in Soweto, and about 300 white students from the University of the Witwatersrand marched through Johannesburg's city centre in protest of the killing of children. Black workers went on strike as well and joined them as the campaign progressed. Riots also broke out in the black townships of other cities in South Africa.

Student organizations directed the energy and anger of the youth toward political resistance. Students in Thembisa organized a successful and non-violent solidarity march, but a similar protest held in Kagiso led to police stopping a group of participants and forcing them to retreat, before killing at least five people while waiting for reinforcements. The violence only died down on June 18. The University of Zululand's records and administration buildings were set ablaze, and 33 people died in incidents in Port Elizabeth in August. In Cape Town 92 people died between August and September.

Most of the bloodshed had abated by the close of 1976, but by that time the death toll stood at more than 600.

The continued clashes in Soweto caused economic instability. The South African rand devalued fast and the government was plunged into a crisis.

The African National Congress printed and distributed leaflets with the slogan "Free Mandela, Hang Vorster", immediately linking the language issue to its revolutionary heritage and programme and helping establish its leading role (see Barush Hirson's "Year of Fire, Year of Ash" for a discussion of the ANC's ability to channel and direct the popular anger).

International reaction[link]

The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 392 strongly condemned the incident and the apartheid regime.

Henry Kissinger, United States United States Secretary of State at the time, was about to visit South Africa at the time of the riot, and said that the uprisings cast a negative light on the entire country.

African National Congress (ANC) exiles called for international action and more economic sanctions against South Africa.

In the media[link]

Images of the riots spread all over the world, shocking millions. The photograph of Hector Pieterson's dead body, as captured by photo-journalist Sam Nzima, caused outrage and brought down international condemnation on the Apartheid government.

The Soweto riots are depicted in the 1987 film by director Richard Attenborough, Cry Freedom, and in the 1992 musical film Sarafina!. The riots also inspired a novel by Andre Brink called A Dry White Season, and a 1989 movie of the same title. In the 2003 film Stander, the Soweto riots start Captain Andre Stander's disillusionment with apartheid, and he seeks forgiveness from the father of a protesting student he killed.

Radio[link]

Twenty years on from the uprising, for June 1996, the Ulwazi Educational Radio Project of Johannesburg compiled an hour-long radio documentary portraying the events of June 16 entirely from the perspective of people living in Soweto at the time.^[22] Many of the students who planned or joined the uprising took part, as did other witnesses including photographer Peter Magubane, reporter Sophie Tema, and Tim Wilson the white doctor who pronounced Hector Pieterson dead in Baragwanath hospital. The programme was broadcast on SABC and on a number of local radio stations throughout South Africa. The following year, BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service broadcast a revised version containing fresh interviews and entitled The Day Apartheid Died.^[23] The programme was runner-up at the 1998 European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) TV & Radio Awards and also at the 1998 Media Awards of the One World International Broadcasting Trust, and was highly commended at the 1998 Prix Italia radio awards. In May 1999, it was re-broadcast by BBC Radio 4 as The Death of Apartheid with a fresh introduction, providing added historical context for a British audience, by Anthony Sampson, former editor of Drum magazine and author of the authorised biography (1999) of Nelson Mandela. Sampson linked extracts from the BBC Sound Archive that charted the long struggle against apartheid from the Sharpeville massacre of 1960, through the riots of 1976 and the murder of Steve Biko, and right up to Mandela’s release from prison in 1990 and the future president’s speech in which he acknowledged the debt owed by all black South Africans to the students who gave their lives in Soweto on 16 June 1976.^[24]

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

External audio
	Guardian Unlimited audio recording of Antoinette Sithole on the Soweto uprising

External videos
	Soweto Uprising (2007) at the Internet Archive
	BBC video of the Soweto uprisings

• "S. Africa marking Soweto uprising" - BBC
• Guardian Unlimited audio recording of Antoinette Sithole (Pieterson) on the Soweto uprising
• An extensive mashup with info on the events on June 16, 1976
• Youth and the National Liberation Struggle 1894-1994 South African History Online
• Helena Pohlandt-McCormick. "I Saw a Nightmare..." Doing Violence to Memory: The Soweto Uprising, June 16, 1976 Columbia University Press, 2005

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Soweto
RDP Housing in Soweto
Johannesburg, including Soweto, from the International Space Station
Soweto Location in Greater Johannesburg
Soweto Johannesburg, including Soweto, from the International Space Station
Coordinates: 26°15′58″S 27°51′57″E / 26.26611°S 27.86583°E / -26.26611; 27.86583Coordinates: 26°15′58″S 27°51′57″E / 26.26611°S 27.86583°E / -26.26611; 27.86583
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
Municipality	City of Johannesburg
Area[1]
• Total	106.44 km2 (41.10 sq mi)
Population (2001)[1]
• Total	858,644
• Estimate (2008)	1,300,000
• Density	8,100/km2 (21,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2001)[1]
• Black African	99.3%
• Coloured	0.6%
First languages (2001)[1]
• Zulu	40.9%
• Sotho	18.3%
• Tswana	12.4%
• Xhosa	10.3%
• Other	18.1%
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)
Website	http://www.soweto.gov.za/

Soweto (/sɵˈweɪtoʊ/, /sɵˈwɛtoʊ/, or /sɵˈwiːtoʊ/) is an urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships.^[2] Formerly a separate municipality, it is now incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Suburbs of Johannesburg.

History[link]

The history of African townships south west of Johannesburg that would later form Soweto was propelled by the increasing eviction of Africans by city and state authorities. Africans had been drawn to work on the gold mines that were established after 1886. From the start they were accommodated in separate areas on the outskirts of Johannesburg, such as Brickfields (Newtown). In 1904 British-controlled city authorities removed African and Indian residents of Brickfields to an "evacuation camp" at Klipspruit municipal sewage farm (not Kliptown, a separate township) outside the Johannesburg municipal boundary, following a reported outbreak of plague.^[3] Two further townships were laid out to the east and the west of Johannesburg in 1918. Townships to the south west of Johannesburg followed, starting with Pimville in 1934 (a renamed part of Klipspruit) and Orlando in 1935.^[4]

World War I[link]

Industrialisation during World War I drew thousands of black workers to the Reef. They were also propelled by legislation that rendered many rural Black Africans landless. Informal settlements developed to meet the growing lack of housing. The Sofasonke squatter's movement of James Mpanza in 1944 organised the occupation of vacant land in the area, at what became known as Masakeng (Orlando West).^[5][6] Partly as a result of Mpanza's actions, the city council was forced to set up emergency camps in Orlando and Moroka, and later in Central Western Jabavu.^{[citation needed]}

Baragwanath Hospital[link]

The Imperial Military Hospital Baragwanath, named after Cornishman John Albert Baragwanath, was built in 1941 during the Second World War to serve as a British Military Hospital. John Albert Baragwanath initially owned the situated site as a hostel, The Wayside Inn, until the British Government paid £328,000 to make it a hospital.^[7] Field-Marshal Jan Smuts noted during the opening ceremonies that the facility would be used for the area's black population after the war. In 1947 King George VI visited and presented medals to the troops there. From this start grew Baragwanath Hospital (as it became known after 1948), reputedly the world's largest hospital.^[8] In 1997 another name change followed, with the sprawling facility now known as Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital in honour of the South African Communist Party leader who was assassinated in 1993 by white extremists.^[9]

Government policy from 1948[link]

After the Afrikaner-dominated National Party gained power in 1948 and began to implement apartheid, the pace of forced removals and the creation of townships outside legally designated white areas increased. The Johannesburg council established new townships to the southwest for black Africans evicted from the city's freehold areas of Martindale, Sophiatown, and Alexandra. Some townships were basic site and service plots (Tladi, Zondi, Dhlamini, Chiawelo, Senaoane, 1954), while at Dube middle-class residents built their own houses. The first hostel to accommodate migrant workers evicted from the inner city in 1955 was built at Dube. The following year houses were built in the newly proclaimed townships of Meadowlands and Diepkloof.^[10]

In 1956 townships were laid out for particular ethnic groups as part of the state's strategy to sift black Africans into groupings that would later form the building blocks of the so-called "independent homelands". Spurred by a donation of R6 million to the state by Sir Ernest Oppenheimer in 1956 for housing in the area, Naledi, Mapetla, Tladi, Moletsane and Phiri were created to house Sotho- and Tswana-speakers. Zulu- and Xhosa-speakers were accommodated in Dhlamini, Senaoane, Zola, Zondi, Jabulani, Emdeni and White City. Chiawelo was established for Tsonga- and Venda-speaking residents.^[10]

In 1963, the name Soweto (SOuth WEstern TOwnships) was officially adopted for the sprawling township that now occupied what had been the farms of Doornkop, Klipriviersoog, Diepkloof, Klipspruit and Vogelstruisfontein.

Soweto Uprising[link]

Soweto came to the world's attention on 16 June 1976 with the Soweto Uprising, when mass protests erupted over the government's policy to enforce education in Afrikaans rather than English. Police opened fire in Orlando West on 10,000^[11] students marching from Naledi High School to Orlando Stadium, The rioting continued and 200 people, including two white people, died on the first day in Soweto. The first to be killed was Hector Pieterson, who was 12 years old, when the police began to open fire on the students. Another among the killed was Dr. Melville Edelstein, who had devoted his life to social welfare among blacks. He was stoned to death by the mob and left with a sign around his neck proclaiming "Beware Afrikaaners". The impact of the Soweto protests reverberated through the country and across the world. In their aftermath, economic and cultural sanctions were introduced from abroad. Political activists left the country to train for guerrilla resistance. Soweto and other townships became the stage for violent state repression. Since 1991 this date and the schoolchildren have been commemorated by the International Day of the African Child.

Aftermath[link]

In response, the apartheid state started providing electricity to more Soweto homes, yet phased out financial support for building additional housing.^[3]

Soweto became an independent municipality with elected black councilors in 1983, in line with the Black Local Authorities Act.^{[citation needed]} Previously the townships were governed by the Johannesburg council, but from the 1970s the state took control.^[3]

Soweto's black African councilors were not provided by the apartheid state with the finances to address housing and infrastructural problems. Township residents opposed the black councilors as puppet collaborators who personally benefited financially from an oppressive regime. Resistance was spurred by the exclusion of blacks from the newly formed tricameral Parliament (which did include Whites, Asians and Coloreds). Municipal elections in black, coloured, and Indian areas were subsequently widely boycotted, returning extremely low voting figures for years. Popular resistance to state structures dates back to the Advisory Boards (1950) that co-opted black residents to advise whites who managed the townships.

Further popular resistance: incorporation into the City[link]

In Soweto, popular resistance to apartheid emerged in various forms during the 1980s. Educational and economic boycotts were initiated, and student bodies were organized. Street committees were formed, and civic organizations were established as alternatives to state-imposed structures. One of the most well-known "civics" was Soweto's Committee of Ten, started in 1978 in the offices of The Bantu World newspaper. Such actions were strengthened by the call issued by African National Congress's 1985 Kabwe congress in Zambia to make South Africa ungovernable. As the state forbade public gatherings, church buildings like Regina Mundi were sometimes used for political gatherings.

In 1995, Soweto became part of the Southern Metropolitan Transitional Local Council, and in 2002 was incorporated into the City of Johannesburg.^{[citation needed]} A series of bomb explosions rocked Soweto in October 2002. The explosions, believed to be the work of the Boeremag, a right wing extremist group, damaged buildings and railway lines, and killed one person.

Demographics[link]

As Soweto was counted as part of Johannesburg in South Africa's 2008 census, Soweto's population is 1,3 million ^[12] recent demographic statistics are not readily It has been estimated that 40% of Johannesburg's residents live in Soweto. However, the 2008 Census put its population at 1,3 million ^[13] (2010) or about one-third of the city's total population. File:/Users/Seb/Desktop/Ralph.jpg Soweto's population is predominantly black. All eleven of the country's official languages are spoken, and the main linguistic groups (in descending order of size) are Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, Venda, and Tsonga.

Cityscape[link]

Orlando Power Station Cooling Towers

Landmarks[link]

Soweto landmarks include:

• Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, Diepkloof
• Orlando Towers
• Credo Mutwa village, Central Western Jabavu
• Walter Sisulu Square, Kliptown
• Regina Mundi Catholic Church, Rockville
• Freedom Towers
• SAAF 1723, a decommissioned Avro Shackleton of the South African Air Force is on static display on the roof of Vic's Viking Garage, a service station on the Golden Highway.

Climate[link]

Transport[link]

The N1 next to Soweto

The Soweto Highway with dedicated taxiways

The suburb was not historically allowed to create employment centres within the area, so almost all of its residents are commuters to other parts of the city.^{[citation needed]}

Rail[link]

Metrorail operates commuter trains between Soweto and central Johannesburg. Soweto train stations are at Naledi, Merafe, Inhlazane, Ikwezi, Dube, Phefeni, Phomolong, Mzimhlophe, Mlamlankunzi, Orlando, Nancefield, Kliptown, Tshiawelo and Midway.^[15]

Road[link]

The N1 Western Bypass skirts the eastern boundary of Soweto. There is efficient road access for many parts of the region along busy highways to the CBD and Roodepoort, but commuters are largely reliant on trains and taxis.

The N12 forms the southern border of Soweto.

A new section of the N17 road (South Africa) is under construction that will provide Soweto with a 4 lane highway link to Nasrec.^[16]

The M70, also known as the Soweto Highway, links Soweto with central Johannesburg via Nasrec and Booysens. This road is multi lane, has dedicated taxiways and passes next to Soccer City in Nasrec.

A major thoroughfare through Soweto is the Golden Highway. It provides access to both the N1 as well as the M1 highways.

Minibus taxis are a popular form of transport. In 2000 it was estimated that around 2000 minibus taxis operated from the Baragwanath taxi rank alone.^[17]

A Bus rapid transit system, commonly known as Rea Vaya provides transport for around 16 000 commuters daily.^[18]

PUTCO has for many years provided bus commuter services to Soweto residents.

Housing[link]

The area is mostly composed of old "matchbox" houses, or four-room houses built by the government, that were built to provide cheap accommodation for black workers during apartheid. However, there are a few smaller areas where prosperous Sowetans have built houses that are similar in stature to those in more affluent suburbs. Many people who still live in matchbox houses have improved and expanded their homes, and the City Council has enabled the planting of more trees and the improving of parks and green spaces in the area.

Hostels are another prominent physical feature of Soweto.^[19] Originally built to house male migrant workers, many have been improved as dwellings for couples and families.

Society and culture[link]

Media[link]

Being part of the urban agglomerations of Gauteng, Soweto shares much of the same media as the rest of Gauteng. There are however some media sources dedicated to Soweto iteself:

• Soweto Internet Radio is a digital media network company established in 2008.
• Soweto TV is a community television channel, available on DStv channel 150.
• The Sowetan newspaper has a readership of around 1.6 million.^[20]

Museums, monuments and memorials[link]

Nelson Mandela National Museum

• Hector Pieterson Museum, Orlando West
• Nelson Mandela National Museum, Orlando West
• Regina Mundi church, Rockville

Music[link]

Soweto is credited as one of the founding places for kwaito, which is a style of hip-hop specific to South Africa.^[21][22] This form of music, which combined many elements of house music, American hip-hop, and traditional African music, became a strong force amongst black South Africans. The spread of Soweto in popular culture worked both ways, as American hip-hop artists Hieroglyphics rap about the terrible conditions and changing social order in their song "Soweto," saying that cowardice has ruled this area, but how now the "gems," or black youth, need to express themselves.^[23] This appears to be Hieroglyphics attempt to urge a critical, political version of hip-hop in South Africa.

• Azola Gospel Group staying opposite Maponya Mall

Sport[link]

Football (soccer)[link]

Soweto is home to two soccer teams that play for the top South African football league: the Kaizer Chiefs and the Moroka Swallows. Another club, the Orlando Pirates, originated from Soweto but moved to Parktown. Both the Chiefs and the Pirates feud in the rivalry known as the Soweto derby.

Events[link]

• The Soweto Open tennis tournament, part of the Challenger Tour is annually hosted in Soweto.
• The annual Soweto marathon is run over a 42.2 kilometres (26.2 mi) course through Soweto.

Festivals[link]

The Soweto Wine Festival 2009

The Soweto Wine Festival has built up cult status since its launch in 2004. The three-night wine festival is hosted at the University of Johannesburg, Soweto Campus on Chris Hani Road from 6 pm to 10 pm in the first weekend of September. Organised by the Cape Wine Academy, the festival attracts well over 6000 wine enthusiasts, over 100 of South Africa's finest wineries and well over 900 fine wines to taste. In 2010, the expanded 3-night festival exceeded organisers' expectations, attracting well over 7,500 visitors to the wine event in Soweto.

Stadiums[link]

• FNB Stadium, South Africa's largest stadium; home ground of both the national team and the Kaizer Chiefs
• Eldoroda Park Stadium
• Dobsonville Stadium, home ground of Moroka Swallows
• Jabavu Stadium
• Noordgesig Stadium
• Orlando Stadium, home ground of Orlando Pirates
• Meadowlands Stadium

Suburbs[link]

By 2003 the Greater Soweto area consisted of 87 townships grouped together into Administrative Regions 6 and 10 of Johannesburg.^[24]

Estimates of how many residential areas make up Soweto itself vary widely. Some counts say that Soweto comprises 29 townships,^[25] whilst others find 34.^[26] The differences may be due to confusion arising from the merger of adjoining townships (such as Lenasia and Eldorado Park) with those of Soweto into Regions 6 and 10. The total number also depends on whether the various "extensions" and "zones" are counted separately, or as part of one main suburb. The 2003 Regional Spatial Development Framework arrived at 87 names by counting various extensions (e.g. Chiawelo's 5) and zones (e.g. Pimville's 7) separately. The City of Johannesburg's website groups the zones and extensions together to arrive at 32, but omits Noordgesig and Mmesi Park.^{[citation needed]}

The list below provides the dates when some of Soweto's townships were established, along with the probable origins or meanings of their names, where available:

Other Soweto townships include Phomolong and Snake Park^{[citation needed]}

Economy[link]

Slums, Soweto.

Housing development project, Kliptown.

Many parts of Soweto rank among the poorest in Johannesburg, although individual townships tend to have a mix of wealthier and poorer residents. In general, households in the outlying areas to the northwest and southeast have lower incomes, while those in southwestern areas tend to have higher incomes.

The economic development of Soweto was severely curtailed by the apartheid state, which provided very limited infrastructure and prevented residents from creating their own businesses. Roads remained unpaved, and many residents had to share one tap between four houses, for example. Soweto was meant to exist only as a dormitory town for black Africans who worked in white houses, factories, and industries. The 1957 Natives (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act and its predecessors restricted residents between 1923 to 1976 to seven self-employment categories in Soweto itself. Sowetans could operate general shops, butcheries, eating houses, sell milk or vegetables, or hawk goods. The overall number of such enterprises at any time were strictly controlled. As a result, informal trading developed outside the legally-recognized activities.^[3]

By 1976 Soweto had only two cinemas and two hotels, and only 83% of houses had electricity. Up to 93% of residents had no running water. Using fire for cooking and heating resulted in respiratory problems that contributed to high infant mortality rates (54 per 1,000 compared to 18 for whites, 1976 figures.^[3]

The restrictions on economic activities were lifted in 1977, spurring the growth of the taxi industry as an alternative to Soweto's inadequate bus and train transport systems.^[3]

In 1994 Sowetans earned on average almost six and a half times less than their counterparts in wealthier areas of Johannesburg (1994 estimates). Sowetans contribute less than 2% to Johannesburg's rates^{[citation needed]}). Some Sowetans remain impoverished, and others live in shanty towns with little or no services. About 85% of Kliptown comprises informal housing.^{[citation needed]} The Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee argues that Soweto's poor are unable to pay for electricity. The committee believes that the South African government's privatization drives will worsen the situation. Research showed that 62% of residents in Orlando East and Pimville were unemployed or pensioners.^[30]

There have been signs recently indicating economic improvement. The Johannesburg City Council began to provide more street lights and to pave roads. Private initiatives to tap Sowetans' combined spending power of R4.3 billion were also planned^{[citation needed]}, including the construction of Protea Mall, Jabulani Mall, the development of Maponya Mall, an upmarket hotel in Kliptown, and the Orlando Ekhaya entertainment centre. Soweto has also become a centre for nightlife and culture.

In popular culture[link]

Songs alluding to Soweto

Singer–songwriter Joe Strummer, formerly of the Clash, referenced Soweto in his solo album Streetcore (song: "Arms Aloft"), as well as in the Clash track, "Where You Gonna Go (Soweto)", found on the album London Calling (Legacy Edition).^[31]

The UK music duo Mattafix has a song called "Memories Of Soweto" on their 2007 album Rhythm & Hymns.

Soweto is mentioned in the anti-apartheid song "Gimme Hope Jo'anna" by Eddy Grant. The line "While every mother in a black Soweto fears the killing of another son" refers to police brutality during apartheid.

Dr. Alban's song "Free Up Soweto" was included in the 1994 album Look Who's Talking.

Mexican group Tijuana No! recorded the song "Soweto" for their first album "No". In reference to the city and the movements.

It is also the name of a song by the rap group Hieroglyphics.

American band Vampire Weekend refers to its own musical style, a blend of indie rock and pop with African influences, as "Upper West Side Soweto", based on the same description of Paul Simon's album Graceland.

Fiction and cinema[link]

The 1976 uprising was depicted in the 1989 film A Dry White Season, which starred Donald Sutherland, Marlon Brando and Susan Sarandon as white South Africans pursuing justice for the deaths of black Soweto residents which followed the demonstrations.

The marches by students in Soweto are briefly mentioned in a novel by Linzi Glass named Ruby Red, which had been nominated for the Carnegie Medal in 2008. Soweto is also mentioned in the novel, Waiting for the Rain by Sheila Gordon.

Soweto was characterized in the American film Stander. The film presented the story of Andre Stander, a rogue police captain who sympathized with the irrational state of apartheid and its corruption by becoming a bank thief. The Soweto uprising riots provided Stander's breaking point in the film.

In 2006, Sara Blecher and Rimi Raphoto made the popular documentary "Surfing Soweto", about young kids "surfing" in the roof of Soweto trains, and the social problem this represents.

The 2009 film District 9 was shot in Soweto, specifically Chiawelo^[32] . The plot involves a species of aliens who arrive on Earth in a starving and helpless condition, seeking aid. The originally benign attempts to aid them turn increasingly oppressive due to the overwhelming numbers of aliens and the cost of maintaining them, and to increasing xenophobia on the part of humans who treat the intelligent and sophisticated aliens like animals while taking advantage of them for personal and corporate gain. The aliens are housed in shacks in a slum-like concentration camp called "District 9", which is in fact modern-day Soweto; an attempt to evacuate the aliens to another camp leads to violence and a wholesale slaughter by South African mercenary security forces (a reference to historical events in "District Six", a mostly Coloured neighborhood subjected to forced segregation during the apartheid years). The parallels to apartheid South Africa are obvious but not explicitly remarked on in the film.

Famous Sowetans[link]

Native Sowetans

Soweto was the birthplace of:

• Frank Chikane (born 1951), anti-apartheid activist and life-long resident
• Bonginkosi Dlamini, aka" Zola", poet, actor, and musician
• Morgan Gould (born 1983), Association football player who plays for Supersport United F.C.
• Doctor Khumalo (born 1967), football player
• Bakithi Kumalo, bass guitar player.
• Jack Lerole musician, famous for penny whistle performance
• Lebo M., composer
• Mandoza (born 1978), kwaito musician
• Richard Maponya businessman, anti-apartheid activist
• Teko Modise footballer
• Kaizer Motaung (born 16 October 1944), is founder and pastor of Kaizer Chiefs Football Club.
• Lucas Radebe (born 1969), former football player and national team captain
• Cyril Ramaphosa (born 1952), lawyer, trade union leader, activist, politician and businessman
• Tokyo Sexwale (born 1953), businessman and former politician, anti-apartheid activist, and political prisoner
• Jomo Sono (born 1955), a South African football club owner and coach and also a former star soccer player
• Siphiwe Tshabalala (born 1984) South Africa footballer who plays for Kaizer Chiefs Football Club.

Other residents

• Gibson Kente (1932–2004), playwright.
• Irvin Khoza (born 27 January 1948) is a South African football administrator and Chairman of Orlando Pirates.
• Aggrey Klaaste (1940–2004), newspaper journalist and editor.
• Ali BaeBae Lerefolo (born 1940), Scriptwriter, actor, theater performer
• Nelson Mandela (born 1918) spent many years living in Soweto. His Soweto home in Orlando is currently a major tourist attraction.
• Lilian Ngoyi (1911–1980), anti-apartheid activist, who spent 18 years under house arrest in Mzimhlope.
• Steven Pienaar (born 1982), Everton F.C. and national team football player
• Hector Pieterson (1964–1976), the first student to be killed during the 1976 uprising in Soweto. A picture where the dying Hector is carried away by a man became a famous press photo. Today a memorial and museum named after him in Orlando West reminds of the 1976 Student Uprising.
• Percy Qoboza (1938–1988), newspaper journalist and editor.
• Gerard Sekoto (1913–1993), artist who lived in Kliptown before emigrating to France in 1947.^[33]
• Desmond Tutu (born 1931), cleric and activist who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s, through his opposition to apartheid.

Other interest[link]

Well-known artists from Soweto, besides those mentioned above, include:

• The Soweto Gospel Choir. Songs and interview from NPR's All Things Considered Soweto Gospel Choir: 'Voices from Heaven', 4 February 2005.
• Soweto String Quartet
• Soweto Melodic Voices, the youth choir selected to sing at the 2009 Confederations Cup.

Films that include Soweto scenes:

• Tau ya Soweto (2005).
• Sarafina (1992).
• Hijack stories (2000)

See also[link]

• The World (South African newspaper)
• Region 6 (Johannesburg)
• Region 1995 (Johannesburg)
• Soweto riots
• Norweto
• Stompie Moeketsi

References[link]