A small but important part of South African liberation mythology was committed to posterity this week when the Lilliesleaf Farm in the Rivonia suburb of Johannesburg was declared a museum and national monument to the Liberation Struggle. Although the bustling suburb of Rivonia has since grown up around this apparently innocuous house, in the early 1960s it was an isolated farm location, and proved perfect for a time for banned members of the ANC to hide-out from the ubiquitous and highly efficient police and security services. The house was home for a few months to Nelson Mandela himself as he laid low pretending to be a gardener and a cook. It was also a meeting place for most of the luminaries of the struggle, and many of the defining policies that ultimately saw the overthrow of apartheid some 30 years later were devised here.
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Spotted! The twin cooling towers of the defunct Orlando Power Station in Soweto, South Africa’s largest township.
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Soweto Cooling Towers
Where are they? Between Pimville and Orlando West (the latter being the former home of Nelson & Winnie Mandela; one of Desmond Tutu’s current homes; site of a June 16th massacre; etc.) | Map
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As the white van turns left off of the M12 into Soweto, South Africa’s largest township, an awkward silence falls over the group of American tourists.
“So Joe, what is it that your government is doing to improve the lives of everybody in your country?” Joe Motsogi, owner of JMT Tours and Safaris, asks himself on his headset.
For Joe - who points out that the government is spending millions of rand on various housing and development projects at every stop - a tour is not only about the sights and sounds of Soweto, but about the future of his country.
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Soweto, South Africa’s most famous township, and one of the most-visited places on the continent, now has its own tourist information centre, opened last week in the historic precinct of Kliptown. The centre - still being completed, but open for business (it’s scheduled for completion this April) - is designed to be a one-stop information broker for tours and accommodation, as well as a hub for local tourism entrepreneurship, and boasts a curio shop and an internet cafe.
Contact the Soweto Tourism and Information Centre (note: website and email forthcoming): +27 (0) 11 945 3111 / 214 0700Visit the Centre: Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication, cnr. Klip St. Valley Road & Union A, Kliptown, Soweto | Map
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The Seattle Post Intelligencer has published a piece on a safari trip to Botswana - with a day’s excursion to Johannesburg and Soweto - that should be of interest to all who’ve ever wanted to get up close and personal with southern Africa.
Tips for Booking and Taking an African Safari (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
John Engstrom, who wrote the article, had a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and picked up some valuable travel tips for others along the way. The only quibble I have with his piece is the “worth every penny” price for his Soweto tour. $70 a head is …
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Spotted! The Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, South Africa’s largest township.
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Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto
But… where is it? It’s the bright yellow building behind the vibracrete wall - dressed up as an advertisement for local cell phone company, MTN. This is fairly typical in Soweto, where covering all available surfaces with ads is the order of the day.
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Tsotsi, the film version of Athol Fugard’s 1980 novel, directed by Gavin Hood, represents South Africa’s best hope of winning an Oscar tonight.
The American Academy of Motion Pictures has nominated Tsotsi in the “Best Foreign Language Film” category. It faces stiff competition from the likes of Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now.
Tsotsi - which means “gangster” in South African slang - follows the life and crimes of a young hoodlum in Soweto, Johannesburg. In an irony that only a few countries in the world are capable of producing, the film’s director of photography, Lance Gewer, was hijacked last …
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Howzit! You’ve reached a section of SouthAfricaBlog.com that is, sadly, empty.
In time, however, it will be filled with all sorts of blog fodder, so if this particular subject is your bag, bookmark it and come back later.
Meanwhile, why not visit our Help Wanted section, where you can make yourself useful?
Thanks!
Ben, who am Editor
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