support and contributions from numerous people.
The JDA not only provided funds but offered all sorts of logistical support and advice. Kirsten Harrison and Tanya Zack embraced the community’s proposal with enthusiasm and were the early drivers behind the project. Their insistence on proper historical research was crucial in defining its character. Thanduxolo Ntoyi played a critical role as the liaison between our work as researchers, the JDA and the community. Thando Mendrew, the current CEO of the JDA, and Susan Monyai were exceedingly helpful and were critical in steering the project to its conclusion in the form of this book.
Ali Hlongwane played an important role in facilitating relations with the existing heritage organisations. The Hector Pieterson Museum, Mandela Museum and the June 16th Foundation supported and encouraged our work. The former also hosted our workshop with teachers. Several other local entities and people, including the Ward Committee, local councillors and political activists engaged us throughout the life of the project. Sifiso Ndlovu, the key historian on the Soweto Uprising, was always generous in his response to our queries.
Dumisane Khesa, Sakhile Mthabela and Tshepo Ramutumbu were the main local researchers on the project. Two others, Joy Matthews and Boitumelo Khoza left when they found long-term employment elsewhere. The remaining three attended training workshops, conducted interviews and spent many weeks in the archives. Despite some challenges their collective effort added value to the research. It was agreed at the outset to photograph contemporary life in the area and to collect photos from residents. Sally Gaule brought her skills and experience to bear on both these aspects and mentored Sakhile in the process. The two of them mounted a successful exhibition based on the photographs taken during the course of the project. In addition, Sally has produced an insightful and sensitive photo-essay as the last chapter of the book.
Wonderboy Peters and his crew of young film-makers spent a number of weekends video-recording interviews with several residents, and produced a documentary on the history of Orlando, which has been enthusiastically received in the community. Copies have been distributed to interviewees and schools in the area.
The research team based at the History Workshop was, as usual, outstanding. Tshepo Moloi played a pivotal role in conducting interviews and acting as a mentor to the local researchers. His expertise as an interviewer is evident in the documentary and this book. Transcribing interviews is a critical but often neglected part of oral history. Plantinah Dire, Tshegofatso Leeuw, Sibongile Mgwebi, Reabetswe Kgaruwe, Mojabeng Liholo, Bongani Khumalo and Musawenkosi Malabela ensured the interviews were reliably transcribed and translated. Our administrators, Zahn Gowar, Gugulethu Nyathikazi and Ms Sifiso Ndlovu often went beyond the call of duty to address a steady stream of demands. Phil Bonner was always supportive and participated in the training workshop.
The librarians and archivists at the university’s William Cullen Library were very helpful and exceedingly patient in assisting our local researchers. Without the support of Wits Press this book would not have seen the light of day. Monica Seeber was a patient and professional editor, and Melanie Pequeux steered the project to its conclusion.
Many residents of Orlando West welcomed us into their homes to be interviewed and photographed. Their stories are at the heart of this book. We hope our various efforts have met their expectations of contributing to an understanding of the rich history of the area.
Noor Nieftagodien
History Workshop
University of the Witwatersrand
LIST OF INTERVIEWES
Lungiswa Bacela
Toto Davashe
Alfred Jacobs
Mogari Khomo
Ntombi Khumalo
Setshebi Kota
Sechaba Lepote
Patrick Madibe
Grace Kekeletso Mafafane
Mary Makola
Mirriam Mankula
Rebecca Matthews
Sonnyboy Matthews
Ndukuzakhe Isaac Mazibuko
Ntlantla Daniel Mazibuko
Mbulelo Mbele
Rev. Lulama Walter Mbete
Zamo Mbutho
Peter Mkhasibe
Reverend Ishmael Papi Morris
Tseko Mothopeng
Ms. Motopanyane
Shadrack Mutau
China Ngema and Mrs Masoma
Enoch Nhlapho
Collin Nxumalo
Eric Osiba
Nukuthula Cynthia Ramoitheki
Sidney Ramokgopa
Patrick Sekuthe
Andronica Bahedile Sithole
Mr Sithole and Mrs Sithole
Rita Tandy
Wilfred Boy Thabethe
Shirley Thathi
Elizabeth Nonki Tsimo
Catherine Vilakazi
Jacky Vilakazi
Mzwakhe Washington Sixolo
Mrs Sixolo
Thami Zitha
Map by Wendy Job
CHAPTER ONE
ORIGINS
SOWETO AND JOHANESBURG, INEXTRICABLY LINKED. THEIR SEPARATE histories cast light on each other.
Formally established in 1886 after the discovery of gold, Johannesburg grew rapidly over the next couple of decades to become South Africa’s main economic centre and its most populous city. In 1887, the mining town set up to accommodate early mine diggers contained a mere 3 000 souls, but as the gold rush gathered momentum its population exploded. Immigrants poured in – from the region and from all over the world. By 1899 there were 100 000 people in Johannesburg. And in 1911, only a quarter of a century after the founding of the city, there were about 240 000. Johannesburg’s rate of growth was exceeded only by New York’s.
The name Soweto was only adopted in 1963, after the rapid expansion of townships in the south-western areas of Johannesburg from the 1950s. Before then, the city’s non-mining African people, like many other poor inhabitants of this rapidly expanding ‘city of gold’, were to be found in the inner city slums and municipal locations. But the origins of Soweto go back to the turn of the twentieth century. There were three pivotal moments in the pre-apartheid development of the township: the 1904 plague, the establishment of Orlando in 1930, and Mpanza’s squatter movement of the mid 1940s. Each of these contributed in its own way to making Soweto the pre-eminent location of Johannesburg’s African population.
At the end of the Anglo-Boer War, the newly appointed engineer of Johannesburg, Major WAJ O’Meara, expressed outrage over the slumyards in the north-west of the city. There was no public housing, and Burghersdorp, Brickfields, Fordsburg, ‘Kaffir Location’ and ‘Coolie Location’ had become the main residential sites for the city’s poor working class. It was ‘Coolie Location’ that most angered city officials, not only because they saw it as a risk to the health of the town, but also because Indian traders living in the location were perceived as a threat to white small businesses. Writing recently about the contestations that preceded the early founding of what was to become Soweto, the medical historian Howard Phillips has explained that the city authorities proposed to deal with these ‘problems’ by an improvement scheme, the primary aim of which was to