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See the sites by bus
- Details
- 19 April 2012
For a few rand, you can take a trip to some of the historical sites of Soweto, such as the famous Vilakazi Street.
THERE is an easy, safe, comfortable and cheap way to tour the suburb of Soweto – take a Rea Vaya bus and for less than R22 you can see many of the interesting places in this vibrant suburb.
A one-way ticket to Hector Pieterson Museum from Johannesburg Art Gallery Station costs only R10,50. The ride takes between 30 and 40 minutes. And there are quite a number of historical and cultural sites along the route that are worth seeing.
Once out of the inner city, heading southwest along Pat Mbatha Highway, you'll spot FNB Stadium, the gigantic calabash that signifies an African gourd. The stadium was the flagship venue for the football World Cup in 2010, for which it was rebuilt. It hosted the first and final games.
It was also the site – in its previous incarnation – of Nelson Mandela's first public speech after his release from prison in 1990, and of Chris Hani's funeral in 1993.
You will also pass Orlando Stadium, the traditional home of soccer in Soweto and the home ground of the mighty Orlando Pirates, before disembarking at Boomtown Station, the third station after Orlando Stadium.
FEEDER BUS
From here, catch a feeder bus to Vilakazi Street, the famous street near the Hector Pieterson Museum. Turning into Vilakazi Street, the red-bricked matchbox houses are striking. The houses were among the first to be built in Soweto. They had no electricity and residents used fires for cooking and heating.
This is one of the most famous and vibrant streets in Joburg. It is the only street in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize winners lived – Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Mandela's house is now a museum, but Tutu still lives in his when he is in Joburg.
Protesting schoolchildren also marched down Vilakazi Street on 16 July 1976 to present a memorandum at the Orlando Police Station in protest against the introduction of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in schools.
With all this history, it's no surprise that tourists fill the street. And with them, comes a whole economy. The pavements are littered with traders selling traditional craft and other souvenirs. Many other thriving businesses can be seen along the street – hairdressers, restaurants, and bed and breakfasts among them.
You'll drive past Sakhumuzi Restaurant, the popular eatery that draws hundreds of foreign and domestic tourists with its local cuisine. It is also a favourite watering hole and dining spot for locals, and is right next to Tutu's home.
MANDELA HOUSE
A few metres from Sakhumuzi is the newly refurbished Mandela house, at 8115, on the corner of Vilakazi and Ngakane streets in Orlando West. Now called the Mandela Family Museum, it is open for public tours during the week.
Mandela moved there in 1946 with his first wife, Evelyn Ntoko Mase. They divorced in 1957 and from 1958, he was joined in the house by his second wife, Winnie Madikizela. He spent very little time with his second wife and children in the house though, as his role in the struggle forced him to go underground, and for which he was later sent to prison.
Near the museum is Phefeni Secondary School. It was one the first schools to play a significant role in the struggle for better education in South Africa. Children boycotted classes in protest after the government ruled that lessons would be in Afrikaans, on 28 April 1976.
From outside, the original buildings are concealed, but they can be seen once you enter the gates. Soweto TV is also on the street. It broadcasts from a classroom at a local primary school and reaches about four million viewers in the township.
HECTOR PIETERSON
The feeder bus will drop you on the corner of Moema and Vilakazi streets. There is a memorial wall built in 2000 in remembrance of Hector, the 13-year-old who was the first child to die in the 1976 student uprising.
This is believed to be the spot where he was shot by the apartheid police. Sam Nzima's legendary photograph of the fatally wounded Hector being carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo, with his sister, Antoinette Pieterson, running beside them, is placed on the wall.
A stroll along Moema Street to Hector Pieterson Museum just two blocks down the road, on the corner of Khumalo Street, will bring you closer to the ordinary day to day lives of the locals. You will also get to see along Moema Street a metal depiction of students facing a policeman with a vicious looking dog. This artwork symbolises the students who marched on that fateful day.
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