Day 2. SOWETO
Today we visit SOWETO the Apartheid Museum and the areas surrounding Johannesburg
After a good sleep, a perfect breakfast including free-range eggs (something both of us couldn't believe was possible at the hotel), we drove south-west towards SOWETO - (SOuth WEst TOwnship). It was an iconic place to visit, particularly after witnessing so much news coverage about the uprisings, Nelson Mandela and Apartheid. There are countless acquaintances who have told me stories about SOWETO, the crime, the poverty and the growing divide between the rich and poor.
It's hard to forget the first time you drive past a shanty town, where poverty, disease and crime all go hand in hand. As we approached SOWETO, we could see that the buildings closest to the roads were well presented, of solid construction, small but homely and unless you take the time to move away from those roads, you would take with you an image which is altogether untrue of the real conditions.
Take a drive through SOWETO, take the small streets, the untarred roads – you very quickly understand that a home can resemble a rubbish tip, a mishmash of refuse, bits of rubble, galvanized sheets of metal, planks of wood, shopping bags strung together to form a roof, scrap discarded by the well-to-do (or the more fortunate).
As we drove slowly, it was plain to see the two white tourists in their hired car cruising for some cultural education. Ann-Marie had read that people actually organize tours through these shanty towns. Have we grown weary of movies, books and nature that we now subscribe to a new tourist attraction – the human zoo of misery? Taking photos won't make my memory any more vivid nor the people’s lives any more easier. Not taking photos will perhaps preserve some dignity.
We drove through other small townships, not dissimilar to SOWETO – just goes to show how many of Johannesburg's almost 4 million inhabitants exist in these conditions - all neatly squeezed into small pockets of land between four and five lane freeways, on which it's hard to spot a car not manufactured in Bavaria. Such is life here in Johannesburg, and people wonder why crime is so high, why you lock all the car doors, why you don't go out for a drive at night, why you don't see people walking around at dusk.
We wanted to see the Apartheid Museum not far from SOWETO. The Apartheid Museum is a large structure with indoor and outdoor exhibits. You will easily spend three or four hours here and you will probably need more if you decided to read all of the exhibit texts. There are a number of concepts the museum tries to convey, even from the first entrance gate; that of Apartheid (Afrikaans for separateness), a system of legalized racial segregation. You are given a card upon entering the museum, and for the first few minutes of the exhibit you must either follow the white or black lanes (depending on what card you were given) - simulated apartheid.
Every bit of history was chronicled, the massacres, clashes between the authorities at the time, international reaction by other countries, Casspirs (armoured personnel carriers), testimonials and right at the very end two pools of rocks.
By moving a rock from one pool to the other you show your support for a unified South Africa – no more a divided country, but a new multicultural beginning.
It does ring home some important truths about South Africa and more importantly about Johannesburg. There is still lots of hatred about events which occurred in the past, it will take generations to wash away the misconceptions that whites and blacks have against each other. This is particularly evident in very polarized neighbourhoods (both black and white).
It is interesting to see that resettlements of shanty town residents in preparation towards the 2010 World Cup (Soccer) has once again failed the most destitute and needy. Previously, segregation occurred based on skin colour, now it seems to have been replaced by the weight of your wallet – but of course, this segregation is every bit as destructive to a society as apartheid.
It was starting to get dark and we wanted to have a last look through Johannesburg, assess the situation for ourselves, see the city centre by night. Most will tell you not to go there and stay out. Most it would seem, were right, we were attracting more looks from people than in many other more impoverished nations I've visited. We watched people descend onto the centre to secure the discarded rubbish left during the day. Cardboard boxes, sheets of plastic, scraps of carpet all neatly folded onto trolleys or pulled along the ground to some safe hideaway. It gets chilly here at night this time of year and small fires were springing up all over Johannesburg’s streets and pavements. People huddled around them for warmth, and as we slowly passed, we could see all eyes were on us.
Those hairs on the back of my neck as well as my stomach sensed danger, it's not always evident but that gut feeling has saved me more than once in difficult places. I know when it's time to clear out if you want to spare yourself unpleasant experiences. Based on what we sensed and saw, we reconsidered a night walk around the Market Theatre complex, but not before we had a chance to drive over the Nelson Mandela bridge.
We’d read about Alexandra and it was also mentioned at the Apartheid Museum, that that’s where the riots started back in 1976, the start of what would be an end to the regime. Alexandra is also the location of the latest riots in South Africa; here anti immigrant sentiments sparked out of control and ended with over fifty dead. Things will get worse before they get better.
At first we were quite surprised because it appeared as though we were driving through a typical commerce and light industrial area. When the GPS said that we’d arrived at our destination, we didn’t know what to do next. It wasn’t at all what we’d thought it would be. Surely a whole neighbourhood couldn’t have just vanished. Were the people all relocated, as was the case in many such areas?
We turned down a smaller road. Out of nowhere the slums of Alexandra lay spread out in front of us. The shanty town spread across a number of hilltops. It was plainly obvious that conditions here were worse than in SOWETO. The traffic was moving slowly, which prolonged our exposure to what was going on, even right here not far from the centre of Johannesburg. We both remember the dead carcasses of run-over animals rotting on the streets. The shacks were wall to wall, minibuses stopped and dropped off passengers. No matter which direction you looked, cold people were huddled around small fires.
As in the centre of Johannesburg, we started drawing a lot of attention. We were the only new looking vehicle on the road with white tourists inside - after dark. But this time our quick departure would be hampered by the traffic. As each of the minibuses in front of us pulled over, we had to wait for people to get off and others to get on. This repeated itself over and over as the buses moved to the next stop. The streets got narrower too, which meant that dodging oncoming traffic was a game of cat and mouse, weaving in and out between the people who seemed to have claimed the tarmac for general pedestrian use.
Eventually we made it out onto the main road and within a few blocks were again greeted by shiny buildings and modern structures. It really is sad to see such injustice.