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Johannesburg (South
Africa) is not
part of the Botswana / Namibia Cultural Sojourn Program, but everyone on this tour,
and it is highly likely that most others doing the program, will pass through
Johannesburg before and/or after the tour. In consideration of this we are including accounts of
a visit
to the Apartheid Museum and a
Soweto Bicycle Tour, that are worth consider as you pass through.
  First, the Apartheid Museum is
vastly more than any narrow
topic of Apartheid. It engagingly covers South Africa before, during and after
Apartheid. Second, the architecture of the building, the flow of the
exhibits and the quality of the exhibition are profound and sublime.
Third, the content and depth of the exhibit are too much to absorb in one
visit. During our two and a half hour stay, we spent two-hours on the
first half of the exhibit and pretty much exhausted our capacity to absorb
for the day. The depth, detail and emotional content of the history
enhances its power to overwhelm. For the last half our of our stay we
basically walked past the second half of the exhibit numb. It is
certainly worth another visit. Photos aren't allowed in the exhibit
halls, so all that can be shared is shots of the exterior.
A partial list of the galleries is: Classification; Segregation; Sharpeville
Massacre and the turn to violence; Life under apartheid; Life on the mines;
The homelands and the rise of black consciousness; Political executions and
detention without trial; Solitary confinement; The student uprisings of
1976; The 1980s -- total onslaught and mass resistance; Sanctions and
international solidarity; Mandela's release; The National Peace Accord and
the Bill of Rights; The transition to democracy; 1994 Elections; The Truth
and Reconciliation Commission; and, The miracle and beyond.
Soweto Bicycle Tour
  To
be clear, the Soweto Bicycle Tour is a different intensity of bicycle tour
from a Ibike tour (in the course of four-hours it covers maybe eight to ten
kilometers), but its focus on the diversity and complexity of the area
visited is very similar. To say that Soweto has a complex history and
socio-economic make-up is an understatement. It has everything from
minimalist housing without indoor plumbing to neighborhoods that could be
dropped seamlessly into Beverly Hills, California. There are informal markets
and shops, tack shops, shebeens, take-away restaurants, fancy restaurants and
malls.
Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and a number of notable artists and musicians
have houses there.
 The history is fascinating because almost nothing was part of a master plan;
a neighborhood would be built, and at a later date another neighborhood with
a totally different character would rise nearby, and then a government
housing scheme with one philosophy of amenity and ownership would be
implemented, only to see the strategy change later and another government
housing scheme would be built with a totally different approach to
amenities, infrastructure and ownership. This was interspersed with
the occupation of vacant land by squatters. The first large
settlements in the area date to 1918. The name Soweto (SOuth WEst
TOwnship) wasn't officially adopted until 1963. It covered the
scattered neighborhoods, communities and townships over a 150 km2 (57.9 sq mi)
area. Details of the history are presented during the tour, but it is
difficult to follow and mentally organize. It would help if the guide
provided a visual aid like a color coded map to help track the names of all
of the neighborhoods and the year that they were built.
  During
the apartheid period, Soweto was largely the housing for the Johannesburg
Black labor pool. There continues to be construction of new single
family and multi-family housing in Soweto. It is now consider a fairly
desirable place to live. A common way to get to work was by commuter train,
which were packed and fairly dangerous. These have now been
supplemented by a new bus rapid transit system. With its new affluence
there are an increasing number of private automobiles coming out of Soweto on
to the every expanding garrote of highways engulfing Johannesburg.
  The
cooling towers for the old coal fired power plant have an interesting story.
When it was in operation the power plant produced electricity for White
Johannesburg, but polluted Black Soweto. Eventually the local citizens
forced the power plant to close and Soweto is a healthier and cleaner place
to live. The towers have now become an iconic piece
of art and there is a platform between the two towers from which you can
bungee jump. |
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