Johannesburg: 26th September 2009

Matt and I spent the day today having a tour of Soweto and visiting the apartheid museum. We weren’t sure what to expect from Soweto – apparently the tour is one of Jo’burgs ‘not to be missed’ highlights but we were a bit sceptical as we’re not really into poverty tourism. However, the tour wasn’t about ‘look how poor they are and how shabby their huts are’ it was much more about the uplifting side of life in the township and the story of the uprising in 1976.

So we started by visiting freedom square, where the ANC announced their freedom charter in 1951. In the memorial hall a very eccentric chap called ‘Colin’ explained what had happened there and the content of the freedom charter. He then played us one of the freedom songs on his penny whistle. So far, so moving and dignified. He then proceeded to dance a jig and play the penny whistle through his nose...kind of ruined it really. Odd!

After that we went to the Regina Mundi church which has been the scene of many dramatic events during the freedom uprisings. Many students hid here during the uprising of 1976 and you can still see the bullet holes where the police fired in. Mercifully nobody was killed, but many were injured. There was a great exhibition showing photos of the event at the back of the church, and a stained glass window of St Nelson of Mandela.

Following that we went to the Mandela house, where Nelson lived for 18 years before going to prison and where his family remained. Winnie currently lives across the road and owns the cafe behind it.

The final stop was the excellent Hector Pieterson museum. Hector was a 13 year old boy who was shot in June 1976 whilst protesting about the enforced use of Afrikaans in all black education. The black kids didn’t want to be taught in Afrikaans...because they couldn’t speak it – funny that! The police shot at the crowd and the uprising began. As the first person to be killed Hector Pieterson became a symbol of the struggle. The museum, which opened a few years ago excellently tells the story of the uprising and really brings to life how the people had to struggle through apartheid.

So, that was the Soweto tour, not about poverty at all, but about a people’s struggle for freedom, and really quite inspiring.

Next up was the equally excellent Apartheid museum which tells the story of South Africa throughout the latter 20th century and how the ANC managed to have the apartheid laws overturned in the early 90s. I’d recommend the museum to anyone as it really does open your eyes to what happened.