A trip down memory lane

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25 May 2012

It's an easy journey by Rea Vaya bus to one of South Africa's most famous streets.

The June 16 Trail along Vilakazi Street

IT is not hard to see why Soweto has been dubbed the most famous township in South Africa, with one of its gems being the historically rich Vilakazi Street.

Vilakazi Street is a great place to visit if you want to learn more about the history of the 16 June 1976 uprising, and to get there without hassle you can hop onto a Rea Vaya bus.

The journey begins at the Johannesburg Art Gallery station, opposite Joubert Park. After a few minutes, a bus heading to Thokoza Park in Soweto pulls in at the terminal.

The greatest part of the journey is watching from the windows the hectic street life of Joburg and noting some of the historic buildings dotted around the city.

Soon after the hustle and bustle of the city have been left behind, a gigantic red calabash symbolising an African gourd comes into sight. This is the FNB stadium, the place where the first and final games of the 2010 football World Cup tournament were played.

There is plenty of memorabilia to take home on a trip to Soweto

The bus passes Orlando Stadium, the traditional home of soccer in Soweto and home ground of the mighty Orlando Pirates, before the journey ends at Boomtown Station, the third station after Orlando Stadium. From Boomtown a feeder bus ferries passengers to Vilakazi Street.

The red brick matchbox houses, the first structures to be seen just after turning into Vilakazi Street, were among the first homes to be built in Soweto in the days when there was no electricity in the township and residents relied on fires for cooking and heating.

Vilakazi is the most famous street in Soweto and the only street in the world which has been home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners – former South African president, Nelson Mandela, and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.

This is the street where, on 16 June 1976, apartheid police fired live bullets at school children marching from Naledi High School to Orlando Police Station to hand over a memorandum in protest against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in schools.

Today, it is thronged with street vendors, who jostle to sell African artefacts ranging from jewellery to paintings, clothing to pottery.

The Nelson Mandela Museun is a major draw card

At the end of a row of houses the home of Archbishop Tutu, surrounded by a grey wall comes into sight. One of Soweto's historic landmarks, it has been recognised as a heritage site. The house has been the family's Johannesburg home since 1975 and the Archbishop and his wife, Leah, still live there when they come to Joburg.  It is not open to the public.

Next door to the Tutu home is Sakhumzi Restaurant, famed for its tasty buffet of indigenous dishes such as mogudu (tripe), dombolo (chicken with dumplings) and amanqina (cow, pig or sheep hooves). It has operated on this historic street for more than 10 years.

A few metres away is the newly renovated home of Nelson Mandela, at 8115 Orlando West, on the corner of Vilakazi and Ngakane streets. Mandela moved into the house with his first wife, Evelyn Ntoko Mase, whom he divorced in 1957; from 1958 he was joined there by his second wife, Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela. Now called the Mandela Family Museum, the house has become one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city, drawing travellers from abroad, heads of state and local residents keen to learn about Mandela's history.

Also on Vilakazi Street is Soweto's first TV channel, Soweto TV, located in what was once a primary school. Then comes Phefeni Secondary School, one of the first schools to boycott classes in 1976.

At the corner of Vilakazi and Moema streets a memory wall, built in 2000, stands as a memorial to Hector Pieterson, the 13 year old who was the first child to die in the 1976 uprising. It is believed to stand on the exact spot where he was shot.

After a fine day out to Vilakazi Street and the Hector Pieterson Museum, a Rea Vaya bus back to the city can be caught at any of the bus stops with a Rea Vaya signage along Vilakazi Street.