“SOWETO - the passion ... the pain ...”

 

 

“Soweto - the passion ... the pain ...” is a bitter-sweet journey through Soweto’s turbulent history and cultural evolution.

Intimately related by a handful of the many giants of character that have emerged from this township, it is a tribute to the passion and resilience of Soweto’s sons and daughters - who, when forcibly relocated to what was then Orlando & Meadowlands - brought with them the vibrancy & tradition of places like Sophiatown.

This passion gave birth to a distinctive and memorable subculture of creative expression through music, literature and the arts that has become the trade-mark of Soweto.

Soweto’s pain is a long relationship with violence - originating long before the landmark student uprisings of 1976 - the seeds of urban black oppression planted in Orlando East in 1931 - when the first wave of black families forcibly relocated from white Johannesburg - arrived to faceless rows of identical two-roomed houses.

“The passion ... the pain ...” reflects the manner in which the ruling regime - after the shockwave of 1976 - determined to exploit tensions within the community;

tensions between “personal aspiration” for a better life on the one hand and the “sacrifice demanded by political struggle” on the other.

Encouraging the growth of a manageable-sized black middle-class in Soweto, it was a divide & rule strategy.

A mirror to what was happening in most black townships across the country in the 1980’s - the streets of Soweto erupted in all-out war - as the youth - sacrificing education for liberation - took on the security forces - to make the townships ungovernable and apartheid unworkable.

For the everyday township dweller - it became increasingly difficult to remain uninvolved. Everyday issues became politicized - you were either for or against .

Confined to the townships - black anger - turned inwards. Sell-outs were necklaced.

In the process, a generation of Soweto children - constant witness to violence & death - were brutalized.

In spite of this - through it’s undying sense of community and spirit of “ubuntu” Soweto has produced champions in every field - from sport to politics to the arts & business.

Featured in this Episode are:

Sibongile Khumalo, Walter Sisulu, Dr. Aggrey Klaaste, Tandie Klaasen, Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse, Peter Magubane, The Soweto String Quartet, Gibson Kente, Baby Jake Matlala, Dingaan Thobela, Bafana Hlope, Dr Nthatho Motlana & Winnie Madikizela Mandela.

 

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