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72-469: Doornkop (literally "thorn hill") is a ridge and locality on the western outskirts of Soweto in the Gauteng Province , South Africa . The area is currently being subsumed by the westward expansion of Soweto and the eastward growth of Krugersdorp 's Kagiso township. Suburbs include Tshepisong, Leratong Village, Bambayi and Thulani. Doornkop is also known as Thulani, Snakepark and Silvertown. There

144-654: A Municipal Native Affairs Department in 1927. It bought 1 300 morgen of land on the farm Klipspruit No. 8 and the first houses in what was to become Orlando Location were built there in the latter half of 1930. The township was named after the chairman of the Native Affairs committee, Mr. Edwin Orlando Leake. In the end, some 10,311 houses were built there by the municipality. In addition, it built 4,045 temporary single-room shelters. In about 1934, James Sofasonke Mpanza moved to 957 Pheele Street, Orlando, and lived there for

216-407: A behavioural evaluation, on the conduct of the pass holder. An employer was defined under the law and could only be a white person. The pass also documented permission requested and denied or granted to be in a certain region and the reason for seeking such permission. Under the terms of the law, any government employee could strike out such entries, basically cancelling the permission to remain in

288-598: A key aspect of the country's apartheid system until their effective termination in 1986. The pass document used to enforce these laws was derogatorily referred to as the dompas ( Afrikaans : dompas , lit.   'stupid pass'). The first internal passports in South Africa were introduced on 27 June 1797 by the Earl Macartney in an attempt to prevent Africans from entering the Cape Colony . The Cape Colony

360-516: A metal badge. Only those employed by a master were permitted to remain on the Rand. Those entering a "labour district" needed a special pass which entitled them to remain for three days. Pass laws date “back to 1760 in the Cape when slaves moving between urban and rural areas were required to carry passes authorizing their travel”. The pass laws, “had entitled police at any time to demand that Africans show them

432-453: A popular form of transport. In 2000 it was estimated that around 2000 minibus taxis operated from the Baragwanath taxi rank alone. A Bus rapid transit system, Rea Vaya , provides transport for around 16 000 commuters daily. PUTCO has for many years provided bus commuter services to Soweto residents. The area is mostly composed of old "matchbox" houses, or four-room houses built by

504-468: A properly endorsed document or face arrest”, hindering their freedom of movement. This meant that it restricted where they could live, which in turn then “tied them to their white employers, underpinning a system of cheap labor and humiliating subjection”. Their implementation over time arose from two contradictory needs. The white population in South Africa utilised these laws as “an 'exclusionary' need to obtain political security by controlling and policing

576-512: A rural area. It was replaced in 1945 by the Natives (Urban Areas) Consolidation Act, which imposed "influx control" on black men and also set up guidelines for removing people deemed to be living idle lives from urban areas. This act outlined requirements for African peoples' "qualification" to reside legally in white metropolitan areas. To do so, they had to have Section 10 rights, based on whether The Black (Natives) Laws Amendment Act of 1952 amended

648-615: A strong force amongst black South Africans. Early Career The experiences of other developing nations were examined at the Soweto entrepreneurship conference, which looked for ways to help turn the economic tide in townships. SOWETO'S entrepreneurs gathered at the University of Johannesburg Soweto Campus on 13 and 14 April to engage with experts from all over the globe about how to enhance skills and value-add in township economies. The restrictions on economic activities were lifted in 1977, spurring

720-569: A thirty-year leasehold tenure. Tenants could erect their own dwellings in conformity with approved plans. In June 1955, Kliptown was the home of an unprecedented Congress of the People , which adopted the Freedom Charter . From the onset, the Apartheid government purposed Soweto to house the bulk of the labour force which was needed by Johannesburg (1998:58). Africans used to live in areas surrounding

792-589: Is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng , South Africa , bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for So uth We stern To wnships . Formerly a separate municipality, it is now incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and is one of the suburbs of Johannesburg . George Harrison and George Walker are today credited as

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864-686: Is another place named Doornkop , a community 15 km north of Middelburg in the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality ( http://www.stevetshwetelm.gov.za/ ) in Mpumalanga . Doornkop is the spot where Dr Leander Starr Jameson was defeated on 2 January 1896 following the Jameson Raid . The Doornkop area is also linked in popular history to the third day (29 May 1900) of the Battle of Johannesburg that took place nearby from 27 to 29 May 1900 during

936-526: The Native Resettlement Act , which permitted the government to remove Blacks from suburbs like Sophiatown, Martindale, Newclare and Western Native Township. Between 1956 and 1960, they built 23,695 houses in Meadowlands and Diepkloof to accommodate the evicted persons. By 1960, the removals were more-or-less complete. In 1959, the city council launched a competition to find a collective name for all

1008-501: The Second Boer War . The ridge was taken by cavalry under command of Lt Gen John French while a nearby ridge, now covered by several Soweto suburbs, was taken by seven infantry battalions, including the following units on the left and right flank. This Johannesburg -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Soweto Soweto ( / s ə ˈ w ɛ t oʊ , - ˈ w eɪ t -, - ˈ w iː t -/ )

1080-541: The dompas , literally meaning the "stupid pass" or perhaps as a syllabic abbreviation for "domestic passport". Apart from discrimination against black people, there was also discrimination against the so-called "coloured people." The "coloured" included all Indians, Chinese and Arabs, as well as those of "mixed" black/white ethnicity. Indian people, for example, were barred from the Orange Free State . These discriminatory regulations fueled growing discontent from

1152-520: The first non-racial elections were held in April 1994. In 2010, South Africa's oldest township hosted the FIFA World Cup Final and the attention of more than a billion soccer spectators from all over the world was focused on Soweto. In April 1904, there was a bubonic plague scare in the shanty town area of Brickfields. The town council decided to condemn the area and burn it down. Beforehand, most of

1224-542: The 1945 Native Urban Areas Consolidation Act, stipulating that all black people over the age of 16 were required to carry passes and that no black person could stay in an urban area more than 72 hours unless allowed to by Section 10. The Natives (Abolition of Passes and Co-ordination of Documents) Act of 1952, commonly known as the Pass Laws Act, repealed the many regional pass laws and instituted one nationwide pass law, which made it compulsory for all black South Africans over

1296-529: The Act was to provide for improved conditions of residence for natives in urban areas, to control their ingress into such areas and to restrict their access to intoxicating liquor. The Act required local authorities to provide accommodation for Natives (then the polite term for Africans or Blacks) lawfully employed and resident within the area of their jurisdiction. Pursuant to this Act, the Johannesburg town council formed

1368-514: The Africans living there were moved far out of town to the farm Klipspruit (later called Pimville), south-west of Johannesburg, where the council had erected iron barracks and a few triangular hutments. The rest of them had to build their own shacks. The fire brigade then set the 1600 shacks and shops in Brickfields alight. Thereafter, the area was redeveloped as Newtown. Pimville was next to Kliptown ,

1440-653: The Afrikaans word meaning separateness. They thought they could separate the various racial groups in South Africa. In those days, the Johannesburg City Council did not support the National Party. The city council and the central government competed to control the Black townships of Johannesburg. Following the election of the new government, some 7,000 new houses were built in the first two or three years, but very little

1512-572: The Black Affairs Administration Act, No. 45 of 1971. In terms of this Act, the central government appointed the West Rand Administration Board to take over the powers and obligations of the Johannesburg City Council in respect of Soweto. As chairman of the board it appointed Manie Mulder, a political appointment of a person who had no experience of the administration of native affairs. Manie Mulder's most famous quote

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1584-500: The Black Local Authorities Act. Previously, the townships were governed by the Johannesburg council, but from the 1970s, the state took control. Black African councilors were not provided by the apartheid state with the finances to address housing and infrastructural problems. Township residents opposed the black councilors as puppet collaborators who personally benefited financially from an oppressive regime. Resistance

1656-486: The Black section of Johannesburg Hospital (known as Non-European Hospital or NEH) was transferred to Baragwanath Hospital . In 1997, the facility was renamed Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital after former General Secretary of the South African Communist Party , Chris Hani . The National Party won the general election of 1948 and formed a new government. The party's policy was called apartheid,

1728-541: The British Government built a military hospital next to the road between Johannesburg and Potchefstroom . The place was to be at the 8th milestone near the old Wayside Inn, owned by a Cornishman called John Albert Baragwanath. It was called The Imperial Military Hospital, Baragwanath . After the war, the Transvaal Provincial Administration bought the hospital for £1 million. On 1 April 1948,

1800-518: The Burghers (Whites), Coolies (Indians), Malays (Coloureds) and Black Africans (Africans), but the whole area simply stayed multiracial. Soweto was created in the 1930s, when the White government started separating Blacks from Whites, to create black "townships" . Blacks were moved away from Johannesburg, to an area separated from White suburbs by a so-called cordon sanitaire (or sanitary corridor) which

1872-548: The South African government's privatization drives will worsen the situation. Research showed that 62% of residents in Orlando East and Pimville were unemployed or pensioners. There have been signs recently indicating economic improvement. The Johannesburg City Council began to provide more street lights and to pave roads. Private initiatives to tap Sowetans' combined spending power of R4.3 billion were also planned, including

1944-645: The Soweto Highway, links Soweto with central Johannesburg via Nasrec and Booysens . This road is multi lane, passes next to Soccer City in Nasrec and has dedicated taxiway lanes from Soweto eastwards to Booysens and Johannesburg Central. A major thoroughfare through the south-eastern part of Soweto ( Eldorado Park ) is the R553 Golden Highway . It provides access to the N1 , N12 and M1 highways. Minibus taxis are

2016-571: The Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek in search of riches. They were of many races and nationalities. In October 1887, the government of the South African Republic (ZAR) bought the south-eastern portion of the farm Braamfontein. There were large quantities of clay, suitable for brickmaking, along the stream. The government decided that more money was to be made from issuing brick maker's licences at five shillings per month. The result

2088-426: The age of 16 to carry the "passbook" at all times within white areas. The law stipulated where, when, and for how long a person could remain. The document was similar to an internal passport , containing details on the bearer such as their fingerprints, photograph, the name of his/her employer, his/her address, how long the bearer had been employed, as well as other identification information. Employers often entered

2160-479: The area. Hostels are another prominent physical feature of Soweto. Originally built to house male migrant workers, many have been improved as dwellings for couples and families. In 1996, the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality awarded tenders to Conrad Penny and his company Penny Brothers Brokers & Valuers (Pty) Ltd. for the valuation of the whole of Soweto (which at the time consisted of over 325,000 properties) for rating and taxing purpose. This

2232-529: The area. A passbook without a valid entry then allowed officials to arrest and imprison the bearer of the pass. These passes often became the most despised symbols of apartheid . The resistance to the Pass Law led to many thousands of arrests and was the spark that ignited the Sharpeville Massacre on March 21, 1960, and led to the arrest of Robert Sobukwe that day. Colloquially, passes were often called

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2304-416: The belief that it would benefit the black female population. The “municipal authorities argued that passes for women were necessary to combat illegal brewing and prostitution”. They hypothesised that if a woman could prove that they made an honest living with legal employment then they would not be allowed to resort to illegal activities since they would be evicted. This proved to be a futile system since it

2376-510: The black population. The 1910s saw significant opposition to pass laws being applied to black women. In 1919, the revolutionary syndicalist International Socialist League (South Africa) , in conjunction with the syndicalist Industrial Workers of Africa and the early African National Congress , organised a major anti-pass campaign. The 1950s saw the ANC begin the Defiance Campaign to oppose

2448-592: The call issued by African National Congress 's 1985 Kabwe congress in Zambia to make South Africa ungovernable . As the state forbade public gatherings, church buildings like Regina Mundi were sometimes used for political gatherings. In 1995, Soweto became part of the Southern Metropolitan Transitional Local Council, and in 2002, was incorporated into the City of Johannesburg. A series of bombings occurred in 2002. They are believed to be

2520-439: The city council was KwaMpanza, meaning Mpanza's place, invoking the name of Mpanza and his role in bringing the plight of Orlando sub tenants to the attention of the city council. The city council settled for the acronym SOWETO (South West Townships). The name Soweto was first used in 1963 and within a short period of time, following the 1976 uprising of students in the township, the name became internationally known. Soweto became

2592-422: The city, so the authorities felt it would be more expedient to concentrate black workers in one district that could be easily controlled (1998:58). The new sub-economic townships took off in 1956, when Tladi, Zondi, Dhlamini, Chiawelo and Senoane were laid out providing 28,888 people with accommodation. Jabulani, Phiri and Naledi followed the next year. Sir Ernest Oppenheimer arranged a loan of £3 million from

2664-611: The construction of Protea Mall, Jabulani Mall, and the development of Maponya Mall, an upmarket hotel in Kliptown, and the Orlando Ekhaya entertainment center. Soweto has also become a Centre for nightlife and culture. Well-known artists from Soweto, besides those mentioned above, include: The Soweto Wine Festival was started in 2004. The three-night festival is hosted at the University of Johannesburg 's Soweto Campus on Chris Hani Road in

2736-546: The eastern boundary of Soweto. There is efficient road access for many parts of the region along busy highways to Johannesburg and Roodepoort , but commuters are largely reliant on trains and taxis. The N12 (named the Moroka Bypass) forms the southern border of Soweto, separating it from Lenasia . A new section of the N17 has been built, connecting Soweto with Nasrec as a four-lane dual carriageway. The M70 , also known as

2808-451: The first day in Soweto, 21 of whom were black, including the minor Hector Pieterson , as well as two white people, including Melville Edelstein , a lifelong humanitarian. The impact of the Soweto protests reverberated through the country and across the world. In their aftermath, economic and cultural sanctions were introduced from abroad. Political activists left the country to train for guerrilla resistance. Soweto and other townships became

2880-2371: The first weekend of September. Organised by the Cape Wine Academy, the festival attracts over 6000 wine enthusiasts, over 100 of South Africa's finest wineries and well over 900 fine wines. Soweto Pride , an annual pride parade, is held in Soweto every year, on the last Saturday of September. The inaugural Pride was in 2004. The parade aims to celebrate black lesbian, queer and trans women plus non-binary people, and offer them space to voice issues affecting them. Pass laws Immorality Amendment Act † (1950) Population Registration Act (1950) Group Areas Act (1950) Suppression of Communism Act (1950) Native Building Workers Act (1951) Separate Representation of Voters Act (1951) Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act (1951) Bantu Authorities Act (1951) Native Laws Amendment Act † (1952) Pass Laws Act (1952) Public Safety Act (1953) Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act (1953) Bantu Education Act (1953) Reservation of Separate Amenities Act (1953) Natives Resettlement Act (1954) Group Areas Development Act (1955) Riotous Assemblies Act (1956) Industrial Conciliation Act (1956) Natives (Prohibition of Interdicts) Act (1956) Immorality Act (1957) Bantu Investment Corporation Act (1959) Extension of University Education Act (1959) Promotion of Bantu Self-government Act (1959) Unlawful Organizations Act (1960) Indemnity Act (1961) Coloured Persons Communal Reserves Act (1961) Republic of South Africa Constitution Act (1961) Urban Bantu Councils Act (1961) General Law Amendment Act (1963) Separate Representation of Voters Amendment Act (1968) Prohibition of Political Interference Act (1968) Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act (1970) Bantu Homelands Constitution Act (1971) Aliens Control Act (1973) Indemnity Act (1977) National Key Points Act (1980) List of National Key Points Internal Security Act (1982) Black Local Authorities Act (1982) Interim Constitution (1993) Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act (1995) In South Africa under apartheid , and South West Africa (now Namibia ), pass laws served as an internal passport system designed to racially segregate

2952-497: The government, that were built to provide cheap accommodation for black workers during apartheid . However, there are a few smaller areas where prosperous Sowetans have built houses that are similar in stature to those in more affluent suburbs. Many people who still live in matchbox houses have improved and expanded their homes, and the City Council has enabled the planting of more trees and the improving of parks and green spaces in

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3024-435: The greater part of the 20th century. Not only did the focus on how to control change over time, but also whom to control. Initially and “historically the use of passes in South Africa as a form of labour control applied only to men”. This happened because “whenever attempts were made to extend the system to black women, mass protests quickly resulted”. The vociferous opposition to the pass laws are of no surprise, considering

3096-582: The growth of the taxi industry as an alternative to Soweto's inadequate bus and train transport systems. In 1994 Sowetans earned on average almost six and a half times less than their counterparts in wealthier areas of Johannesburg (1994 estimates). Sowetans contribute less than 2% to Johannesburg's rates Some Sowetans remain impoverished, and others live in shanty towns with little or no services. About 85% of Kliptown comprises informal housing. The Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee argues that Soweto's poor are unable to pay for electricity. The committee believes that

3168-540: The largest Black city in South Africa, but until 1976, its population could have status only as temporary residents, serving as a workforce for Johannesburg. It experienced civil unrest during the Apartheid regime. There were serious riots in 1976, sparked by a ruling that Afrikaans be used in African schools there; the riots were violently suppressed, with 176 striking students killed and more than 1,000 injured. Reforms followed, but riots flared up again in 1985 and continued until

3240-563: The levy was used to finance basic services in Black townships. In 1954, the City Council built 5,100 houses in Jabavu and 1,450 in Mofolo. The city council's pride and joy was its economic scheme known as Dube Village. It was intended "primarily for the thoroughly urbanised and economically advanced Native". Stands, varying in size from fifty by hundred feet to forty by 70 feet, were made available on

3312-570: The men who discovered an outcrop of the Main Reef of gold on the farm Langlaagte in February 1886. The fledgling town of Johannesburg was laid out on a triangular wedge of "uitvalgrond" (area excluded when the farms were surveyed) named Randjeslaagte, situated between the farms Doornfontein to the east, Braamfontein to the west and Turffontein to the south. Within a decade of the discovery of gold in Johannesburg, 100,000 people flocked to this part of

3384-528: The mining industry, which allowed an additional 14,000 houses to be built. It was decided to divide Soweto into various language groups. Naledi, Mapetla, Tladi, Moletsane and Phiri were for Sotho- and Tswana-speaking people. Chiawelo for Tsonga and Venda. Dlamini Senaoane, Zola, Zondi, Jabulani, Emdeni and White City were for Zulus and Xhosas. The central government was busy with its own agenda. The presence of Blacks with freehold title to land among Johannesburg's White suburbs irked them. In 1954, Parliament passed

3456-486: The next year, the city council proclaimed a new emergency camp. It was called Moroka. 10,000 sites were made available immediately. Moroka became Johannesburg's worst slum area. Residents erected their shanties on plots measuring six metres by six metres. There were only communal bucket-system toilets and very few taps. The camps were meant to be used for a maximum of five years, but when they were eventually demolished in 1955, Moroka and Jabavu housed 89,000 people. In 1941,

3528-505: The number of Africans in “white” areas, and an 'inclusionary' need to ensure a supply of cheap labor within these areas”. The legislation and practices associated with the pass laws have changed over time. As these demands and beliefs changed, so did the rights of the black population in South Africa. When the pass laws were implemented at the turn of the century, they “encouraged the flow of labor into 'white' agriculture and industry and to redistribute labour into geographical areas where it

3600-398: The oldest Black residential district of Johannesburg and first laid out in 1891, on land which formed part of Klipspruit farm. The future Soweto was to be laid out on Klipspruit and the adjoining farm called Diepkloof . In the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek and the subsequent Transvaal Colony , it was lawful for people of colour to own fixed property. Consequently, the township of Sophiatown

3672-473: The pass laws. This conflict climaxed at the Sharpeville Massacre , where the anti-pass protestors led by the rival breakaway Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) surrounded the Sharpeville police station, prompting the police to open fire, killing 69 people and injuring over 180. Subsequent protests and strikes were met with major repression and the ANC and PAC were both banned. On July 24, 1986, as part of

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3744-400: The population, restrict movement of individuals, and allocate low-wage migrant labor . Also known as the natives' law , these laws severely restricted the movements of Black South African and other racial groups by confining them to designated areas. Initially applied to African men, attempts to enforce pass laws on women in the 1910s and 1950s sparked significant protests. Pass laws remained

3816-607: The rest of his life. A year after his arrival in Orlando, he formed his own political party, the Sofasonke Party. He also became very active in the affairs of the Advisory Board for Orlando. Towards the end of World War II, there was an acute shortage of housing for Blacks in Johannesburg. By the end of 1943, the Sofasonke Party advised its members to put up their own squatters' shacks on municipal property. On Saturday 25 March 1944,

3888-623: The squat began. Hundreds of homeless people from Orlando and elsewhere joined Mpanza in marching to a vacant lot in Orlando West and starting a squatters camp. The city council's resistance crumbled. After feverish consultations with the relevant government department, it was agreed that an emergency camp, which could house 991 families, be erected. It was to be called Central Western Jabavu. The next wave of land invasions took place in September 1946. Some 30,000 squatters congregated west of Orlando. Early

3960-519: The stage for violent state repression. Since 1991, this date and the schoolchildren have been commemorated by the International Day of the African Child . In response, the apartheid state started providing electricity to more Soweto homes, yet phased out financial support for building additional housing. Soweto became an independent municipality with elected black councilors in 1983, in line with

4032-522: The townships south-west of the city's centre. It was only in 1963 that the city council decided to adopt the name Soweto as the collective name. The name Soweto was officially endorsed by the municipalities' authorities only in 1963 after a special committee had considered various names. The apartheid government's intention was for Soweto to house black people who were working for Johannesburg. Other names considered included "apartheid Townships" and "Verwoerdstad" (Gorodnov 1998:58). In 1971, Parliament passed

4104-472: The townships. In Soweto, popular resistance to apartheid emerged in various forms during the 1980s. Educational and economic boycotts were initiated, and student bodies were organized. Street committees were formed, and civic organizations were established as alternatives to state-imposed structures. One of the most well-known "civics" was Soweto's Committee of Ten , started in 1978 in the offices of The Bantu World newspaper. Such actions were strengthened by

4176-432: The white area”, which meant that they changed their enforcement to “being taken off the streets and into housing and factories”. Pass laws were repealed in 1986. The Natives (Urban Areas) Act of 1923 deemed urban areas in South Africa as "white" and required all black African men in cities and towns to carry around permits called "passes" at all times. Anyone found without a pass would be arrested immediately and sent to

4248-480: The work of the Boeremag , a right-wing extremist group, damaged buildings and railway lines , and killed one person. In 2022, 15 people were killed in a mass shooting at a bar. Soweto's population is predominantly black and the most common first language is Zulu . Soweto landmarks include: Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as subtropical highland (Cwb). The suburb

4320-419: The “efforts to use the pass system to balance white needs for security and labor”, while also creating laws that would allow for the control of “African employment, housing, access to land, and citizenship”. Due to these laws, “over 17,745,000 Africans have been arrested or prosecuted” between 1916 and 1984. The policing of Africans has allowed for the whites to maintain dominance over the black population for

4392-413: The “fact that black women in South Africa have traditionally taken a more active role in mass popular protest”, in comparison to men. The biggest manifestation was a phenomenon that occurred “during the 1950s when black women throughout the nation fiercely resisted official efforts to make them carry passes for the first time”. The history of the application of pass laws towards women was intertwined with

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4464-668: Was done thereafter. In 1952, there was a breakthrough. Firstly, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research came up with a standard design for low-cost, four-roomed, forty-square-metre houses. In 1951, the Parliament passed the Building Workers Act , which permitted Blacks to be trained as artisans in the building trade. In 1952, it passed the Bantu Services Levy Act, which imposed a levy on employers of African workers and

4536-611: Was easier for the women in illegal practices to get around the laws than the home-based workers. As the years passed by, pass laws would be used less and less to prosecute people. There was a “decline in pass law prosecutions over the period 1968-1981”, which is not surprising considering “the new forms of tight influx controls”. There had been a radical change when the Riekert Commission recommended “that 'unlawful occupation of accommodation by persons', together with 'unlawful employment', be grounds for 'repatriation' of persons from

4608-746: Was given to the Rand Daily Mail in May 1976: "The broad masses of Soweto are perfectly content, perfectly happy. Black-White relationships at present are as healthy as can be. There is no danger whatever of a blow-up in Soweto." Soweto came to the world's attention on 16 June 1976 with the Soweto uprising , when mass protests erupted over the government's policy to enforce education in Afrikaans rather than their native language. Police opened fire in Orlando West on 10,000 students marching from Naledi High School to Orlando Stadium . The rioting continued and 23 people died on

4680-504: Was laid out in 1903 and Blacks were encouraged to buy property there. For the same reasons, Alexandra, Gauteng was planned for Black ownership in 1912. The subsequent Natives Land Act of 1913 did not change the situation because it did not apply to land situated within municipal boundaries. In 1923, the Parliament of the Union of South Africa passed the Natives (Urban Areas) Act . The purpose of

4752-547: Was merged with the two Afrikaners republics in Southern Africa to form the Union of South Africa in 1910. By this time, versions of pass laws existed elsewhere. A major boost for their utilization was the rise of the mining sector from the 1880s: pass laws provided a convenient means of controlling workers' mobility and enforcing contracts. In 1896 the South African Republic brought in two pass laws which required Africans to carry

4824-467: Was needed”. This process would last until the 1950s, when the government opted to change the paradigm. This meant, “from 1950 onward the emphasis of the pass laws has been overtly exclusionary and directed to 'relocating' Africans from 'white' areas and containing them within the Bantustans”. Therefore, there has always been a tension between the white and black community in South Africa. This stemmed from

4896-438: Was not historically allowed to create employment centres within the area, so almost all of its residents are commuters to other parts of the city. Metrorail operates commuter trains between Soweto and central Johannesburg . Soweto train stations are at Naledi, Merafe, Inhlazane, Ikwezi, Dube, Phefeni, Phomolong, Mzimhlophe, New Canada, Mlamlankunzi, Orlando, Nancefield, Kliptown, Tshiawelo and Midway. The N1 Highway skirts

4968-472: Was spurred by the exclusion of blacks from the newly formed tricameral Parliament (which did include Whites, Indians and Coloreds). Municipal elections in black, coloured, and Indian areas were subsequently widely boycotted, returning extremely low voting figures for years. Popular resistance to state structures dates back to the Advisory Boards (1950) that co-opted black residents to advise whites who managed

5040-457: Was that many landless Dutch-speaking burghers (citizens) of the ZAR settled on the property and started making bricks. They also erected their shacks there. Soon, the area was known either Brickfields or Veldschoendorp. Soon other working poor, Coloureds , Indians and Africans also settled there. The government, who sought to differentiate the white working class from the black, laid out new suburbs for

5112-560: Was the single largest valuation ever undertaken in Africa. Being part of the urban agglomerations of Gauteng , Soweto shares much of the same media as the rest of Gauteng province. There are however some media sources dedicated to Soweto itself: Soweto is credited as one of the founding places for Kwaito and Kasi rap, which is a style of hip hop specific to South Africa. This form of music, which combined many elements of house music , American hip-hop, and traditional African music, became

5184-472: Was usually a river, railway track, industrial area or highway. This was carried out using the infamous Urban Areas Act of 1923. William Carr, chair of non-European affairs, initiated the naming of Soweto in 1949. He called for a competition to give a collective name to townships dotted around the South-west of Johannesburg. People responded to this competition with great enthusiasm. Among the names suggested to

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