SOWETO

Townships were created by the South African government to implement apartheid, creating areas where blacks, Indians and coloreds were permitted to live, outside of urban areas and usually without access to basic utilities. Soweto, an abbreviations of SOuthWEst TOwnships, is home to about 2 million people, about 35% of Johannesburg's population. Initially established to house blacks out of the city, Soweto was incorporated into Johannesburg in 2002. It is likely the most well known of South Africa's townships, primarily due to the Soweto uprising in June of 1973, when the government fired upon and killed 23 people during massive protests over the decision to use only Afrikaan in the education system. This brought a lot of world attention to the area and the policy of apartheid.

 

It is the only place where two Nobel prize winners lived on the same street: Nelson Mandela lived here for a time before being imprisoned and Desmond Tutu has a house here. It is a large urban area, comprised of middle class, working class, and very poor neighborhoods. The largest hospital in the Southern Hemisphere (and the world's third largest) is located here. For those of you who saw the movie District Nine, it was filmed here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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