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Heritage Trust takes a tour
- Details
- 24 April 2012
A group from the Parktown Heritage Trust took a journey back into history when they boarded a bus bound for Soweto.
A GROUP of 36 people from the Parktown Heritage Trust all boarded a Rea Vaya bus on a bright Saturday morning, headed for Thokoza Park as part of the trust's tour of Soweto.
Joburg residents of all ages began their adventure in a vacant lot opposite the colourful Ellis Park North Station on Bertrams Road on 21 April. Tour guides from the trust, David Forrest and Franky Toussaint, gathered the troops before leading them into the sanctuary of the station where station managers and ambassadors waited to greet them.
Chatter escalated after Forrest told travellers what they could expect from the trip: "This tour is about opening your mind and experiencing the real Soweto, so if you have questions, ask the person sitting next to you on the bus.
"These are the people who use the bus every day," he said.
Tour-goers were treated to a ride through some of Joburg's most famous and infamous areas, all from the comfort and safety of the buses. Stops in Joubert Park at the Johannesburg Art Gallery and Fashion Square stations offered commuters the opportunity to experience the teeming streets and mishmash of humanity in the heart of the city, while stops at Library Gardens and Chancellor House enabled a clear picture of the rejuvenation that is taking place in the inner city.
Westgate
The busy streets of Joburg were soon left behind after Westgate Station, and residents were able to enjoy uninterrupted views of the mine dumps to the southwest of the city. The majestic FNB Stadium welcomed them to the boundaries of Soweto. Stops at the Soweto stations of Diepkloof, Noordgesig, Orlando Stadium and Klipspruit Valley saw the ebb and flow of passengers going about their daily business.
Thokoza Park Station was the end of the line for all passengers, who disembarked into a balmy morning complete with the view of Soweto residents out in force to enjoy a Saturday in the pristine park. Those on the tour walked the pleasantly short distance to the struggle landmark, Regina Mundi Church.
Stepping through the door of the church transported the group into the dark days of the fight against apartheid, when police would call out the names of struggle leaders to arrest them and the entire congregation of about 2 000 people would stand up in answer. In a fit of frustration at their plans being thwarted, one police officer slammed his gun down on the marble slab at the head of the church and actually broke a piece of the marble off. A few bullet holes also leave their scars.
Vilakazi Street
Once back in the sunshine and the present, the group walked back to Thokoza Park Station and took the short ride to Boomtown Station in Orlando. From there, a feeder bus carried them into the tourist heart of Soweto: Vilakazi Street.
A walkabout in the Mandela House museum and re-tracing the steps that the thousands of students followed on 16 June 1976 to the Hector Pieterson Memorial placed the township's violent history in stark relief.
After spending the day in the past, tour-goers were catapulted back to the present with a smooth ride back to Boomtown Station, and then on to Ellis Park North.
Tired but elated, they climbed off the bus at the same spot they had started out from that morning, having been able to enjoy an easy, safe and reliable ride into history. It proved to be cheap, too, coming in at under R30: a ticket from Ellis Park to Thokoza Park cost R7.30, while the tickets that included the feeder buses to and from Vilakazi Street and back into the city cost R10.50 each.
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