Just-in South Africa Day 2b - Saturday 12th June.

...continuation

Following the power of google maps, Justin and I set off for Soweto from Gold Reef City. The sketchy directions lead us to BP where we asked a local petrol attendant how to get to Soweto. The attendant proceeded to tell us “Its so easy.” Where by he gave us awful directions, which he kept changing and finished off with “Eish, I don’t know – ask someone else, its so easy.”

We came into Soweto past the Chris Hani Baragwantha hospital, the largest hospital in the world. Driving past the Orlando Power Station, now decommissioned, the power station supplied electricity to the rich Northern Suburbs in Johannesburg, whilst the people of Soweto had no electricity. Then down to Vilakazi Street, the only street in the world where 2 Noble Peace Prize Winners have lived – Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Walking down Vilakazi Street there were a group of Dutch tourists dancing with some locals dressed in their traditional Zulu outfits.

We went on a tour of Nelson Mandelas house, where he lived with his first wife Evelyn Mase and later with Winnie Madekezela Mandela. The house was redone about 2 years ago, having seeing it originally in 2004 and 2006 the renovations now make it seen impersonal. Originally the main room had a double bed in it with a jackal hide bed spread, which show cased Mandelas clan claim to royalty, and among other things a chest with a pair of Mandelas boots. Now the room holds a single bed and a photo of Zindiziswa and Zenani (Nelson and Winnies daughters) as adolesecents reading on their beds. The ‘new’ house is apparently a better reflection on how Nelson and Winnie lived, but for me its lost something that was originally magical about being in Nelson Mandelas house.

We then went to the Hector Pieterson Museum. In 1965 the children of Soweto protested Bantu education – the apartheid government had imposed Afrikaans as the medium of education for all black children, regardless of whether they knew the language or not. The protests were supposed to be peaceful but something went wrong and the police opened fire on the children, Hector Pieterson was the first child to be shot. The image of him being carried by another boy with his sister running next to him is the iconic symbol of the national holiday know as Youth Day where we remember the children standing up for their rights.

Justin and I having finished off our day with out breaking for lunch – a new habit that would leave me finishing the week off thinner than I had started it out. We went to Melville to eat at Soi, a great Vietnamese restaurant, to my shock and disappointment it had closed down. Justin and I settled for Melon, I couldn’t tell you what the cuisine was, or what we ate, but I think the food was good. The wine was definatley good. After dinner we went to the South of Joburg to watch the American vs England game. Yet another trip that rendered us lost and driving around in circles.

Justin's version of events
http://nogimmickneeded.blogspot.com/2010/07/south-africa-trip-day-3-jozi-tourism.html

Just-in South Africa Day 2a - Saturday 12th June.

Justin’s first day of waking up in South Africa, to an itineraized day - as mentioned earlier, I had the whole day planned by the hour, roughly. I had the prices and contact details of the places we were going to along with maps from Google and relevant pamphlets I had picked up, all packed neatly into my flip file. I don’t think I’ve ever been more organised for anything in my life. But no matter how much you plan something, the gremlins get in and things get thrown off course.

Our first stop was a tour of the gold mine at Gold Reef City – fitting as Johannesburg was founded due to the discovery of gold. Nicknamed Egoli (meaning gold) by the African migrant labourers that worked in the mines. We were set for our tour at 9am (as informed by the website), problematic as we would discover Gold Reef City only opens at 9:30, and the first tour starts at 10:30. Thrown off by an hour. Standing in the queue to buy tickets Justin passed a comment about the kids with bare feet, I believe it was “They should let you in for free if you’re brave enough to go to a theme park with no shoes on.” Surrounded by Afrikaans people I decide to leave the comment and insight about the type of people who don’t wear shoes until we were in an environment that proved to be less offensive to anyone in earshot.

The architecture of the original buildings in Gold Reef city is awesome, sending me down the nostalgic road of Bourbon Street, New Orleans-a city I love (hmmm, blog about this to follow). We went on the tour of the gold mine, with two British people and 3 Chinese men; equipped with hard hats, issued with mining lights and into the elevator (is there mining jargon for the lift that goes into a mine shaft?). We went down to level 5 (225m), all the levels below this are flooded (it's a 54 level mine – I think). I have realised I’m a decent height for mining; I don’t need to bend down in the low roofed sections. Fast facts, I believe and if memory serves this Crown Mine is the deepest mine in the world, in addition to it housing a bar/pub on the 5th level, the deepest pub in the world; it can be hired out for functions. So if you’re looking for a unique wedding or party venue I’ve found it for you! It’s my pleasure.

Justin and I then went to the apartheid museum. Issued with Identification Documents that label you as Black or White, you’re segregated into the museum through a white’s entrance and a black’s entrance. This simple instruction drives home the feeling of what it might have been like to live in a world that was segregated, to elevate one person over another based on the colour of their skin. We went to the temporary exhibition of Nelson Mandela which was great but by the time we were done with that and entered the museum, we were museumed out, thus the apartheid museum lost its true effectiveness in translating the shock and horror of what apartheid meant to South Africans.

There are some powerful images in the museum a room with nooses hanging from the ceiling, communicates the number of lives lost for those who fought the regime. A huge Casper the police used to enter townships, complete with bullet holes in the windows. Stories of people being necklaced (a man gets put in a tube of rubber tyres that are set alight and he burns to death) because he’s suspected of being a spy for the Nationalist Party (the political party in power during apartheid) and various other atrocities shown on video, I can’t name them because it was too horrific for me to watch – how can people do that to each other, how much rage and hatred needs to fill your soul to be able to hurt each other like that? I don’t understand it. The thoughts and images of the pictures and footage I’ve seen spring to mind.

....to be continued