What is your image of Soweto?
Is it a grainy film reel of soldiers firing at crowds as their armoured vehicle lumbers through clouds of teargas?
Perhaps a black and white photo of a distraught man clad in dungarees and gumboots, carrying a bloodied and limp body in his arms, with a screaming girl in tow?
Do you conjure a sprawling den of violent crime and corrugated iron, inhospitable to all but the rats wallowing in open sewers and mountains of trash?
Whatever your mind evokes when contemplating Soweto, unless familiar with this fascinating and infamous South African township, it is likely to be wildly inaccurate.
Opening up
Two recent events have started to scratch away at the walls of misconception and historical burden that shield the true Soweto from travellers.
The 2010 Soccer World Cup opened the South Western Township to the world, and in return she spread her arms to embrace 32 nations. Fans of all creed and colour partied safely in the streets for a month, culminating with 11 Spaniards ecstatically hoisting the coveted trophy in Soweto’s Soccer City.
A few weeks prior, thousands of hot-blooded rugby followers descended upon the heart of Soweto, Orlando, to watch the Pretoria based Blue Bulls triumph in a vital match. Not since the potent days of the 1980’s had an army of white South Africans entered the area. This time they swapped totting guns for waving flags and were greeted by bottles filled with cold beer instead of flaming gasoline.
For domestic and international tourists, Soweto is shedding its gnarly reputation and revealing a soft underbelly. A trip to this hip, iconic and welcoming metropolis will reveal its true image and provide an incisive glimpse at the soul of a resurgent South Africa.
Four wheels or two?
The best way to tour Soweto is by two wheels. A bicycle delivers unfettered access to tarred roads and muddy alleyways alike, leaving no area of the township out of bounds.
Soweto Backpackers have been running guided bicycle tours from their steps for five years. Established in 2003 at local lad Lebo’s family home in Orlando West, it has steadily grown into a safe, comfortable, award winning and funky place to stay.
“The bicycle tours mean tourists can really contribute to Soweto and experience the area in a more authentic way” explains Lebo, before we set off. He also sees it as a cog in the constant re-conciliation process; “vitally it lowers cultural and racial boundaries by bringing blacks and whites together. If not for these tours, the only time local kids would see whites is on TV.”
More concerned with avoiding speeding mini-buses than de-sensitizing children to the colour of my skin, I saddled up and donned a garish helmet. Thankfully our certified guide Nkululeko, anticipated my anxiety and started with a comprehensive safety briefing, outlining various cycling hand gestures and procedures.
The first test was climbing a small hill, wheezing in the wake of an indefatigable Swedish couple, for a panoramic view of Orlando. Whilst recovering from our exertions we took in the urban vista, quickly banishing illusions that Soweto is a township reserved exclusively for the impoverished. Swathes of cosy suburbia unfolded complete with tarmac, two-storey homes and BMW’s parked behind electric gates.
Nkululeko explained the early history of Soweto, established a century ago as a labour reserve for its booming neighbour Johannesburg. It has grown and evolved into Africa’s largest township with 38 suburbs and a vibrant population of 4.5 million. The journey has taken twists and turns from segregation to protest via suppression, establishing itself along the way as the heart of the anti-apartheid struggle.
Our journey continued with a manageable pattern of cycling, resting, teaching and questioning. Unlike many sanitised tours, interaction wasn’t limited between tourist and guide. The bicycle trip encourages contact with locals by the intimate nature of biking through their lives. As part of the tour, Nkululeko versed us in ‘Soweto Survival 101’, a crash course in greetings from the Zulu “sani bonani” to the street lingo “heita”.
Soweto prides itself on being a welcoming community. Notions of ‘Wild West’ style lawlessness were flushed as small children, passing businessman and grandmothers hanging out washing, all greeted us. In a country where beggars congregate at every suburban traffic light, not once were we asked for money.
Of course crime, poverty, homelessness and vagrancy are all very real and salient issues here. It would be easy to blinker these troubles and head solely to Vilakazi Street, labelled the ‘millionaires row’ of Soweto and ‘the only street with the homes of two Nobel laureates – Mandela and Tutu’.
Our tour refused to gloss over the bad and headed deep into Meadowlands, a seriously disadvantaged neighbourhood built on the pillars of inter-racial segregation. Meadowlands was established as a Zulu stronghold by the apartheid government, fomenting ‘divide and rule’ by rooting Inkhata Freedom Party supporters within a traditional ANC area.
What exists now is a warren of bleak corrugated iron shacks, divided by mattress spring fences, muddy walkways and shared port-a-loos. Barely navigable by bike, never mind cars, it is a sobering reminder of the developmental challenge South Africa faces.
The no-frills excursion is cemented by the choice of refreshment pit stops. To quench our thirst, we were ushered into a dank, smoky, windowless Shebeen (drinking den) replete with ubiquitous drunks. We shared our calabash of umqombothi, a maize beer tasting of off cider with a consistency of vomit, with our new friends whilst Nkululeko explained the cultural customs of how to swig and pass.
For lunch we shunned the monochrome menus of newly terraced restaurants, and patronised the ‘No1 Restaurant’ off Vilakazi Street. A Kota, or ‘township burger’, consisting of half a loaf of white bread stuffed with cheese, egg and salami threatened to ground us instead of providing a timely energy boost.
One image that encapsulates the era of struggle is that of dying schoolboy Hector Peterson. Shot whilst demonstrating against Afrikaans becoming the language of school instruction in 1976, Peterson became the posthumous pin up of the anti-apartheid movement. His memorial honours all those who died in that tumultuous time, and is a pertinent spot for reflection.
A Soweto bicycle tour is an authentic journey through a nation defining area of major cultural and historical relevance. Testaments to what was and should no longer be, such as Robben Island and the Apartheid Museum, are national treasures and tourism Mecca’s. As a living organism that chronicles what was, what is, and what can be, Soweto should be viewed in the same way.
Places to stay and getting there
More information on Soweto Bicycle Tours can be found at: www.sowetobicycletours.com
Soweto Backpackers offers budget accommodation. For more information go to: www.sowetobackpackers.com
The Soweto Hotel on Freedom Square, in the nearby Sowetan suburb of Kliptown is a great higher end alternative. Jazz themed boutique accommodation, restaurant and bar nestled between the vacuous Freedom Square and the Kliptown informal settlements. www.sowetohotel.co.za
If staying in Soweto doesn’t appeal, Orlando is easily reachable by car and public transport from Johannesburg. The Rea Vaya bus service from Johannesburg city centre takes 1-2 hours depending on traffic. If travelling by private car or taxi, halve that.
Bicycle tours are not for everyone. There are plenty of alternate options to see Soweto by car, bus or foot so check with local tour operators to see what is available.
No comments:
Post a Comment