Township tours in South Africa

The above quote is from a professional photographer living in Cape Town’s Langa Township. She decided to put her thoughts into actions, and went to the city’s affluent Camps Bay and started taking random shots. The reactions were not friendly, and a video that she shot of her tour soon went viral. Township tourism is, not surprisingly, controversial, and can go so very wrong if managed in an irresponsible way.

There are two fundamental things to remember: only go on a tour that has been created and supported by the residents of that township, and put your camera away. There are reasons why these tours have gained a reputation of being ‘drive by shooting’ trips with some tourists cramming their cameras with pictures of poverty instead of trying to understand ways in which to address it in a sustainable, fair and respectful way. Such ways do exist, and when handled responsibly, township tours can be an important and enlightening part of your trip to South Africa.

Townships are not places to go sightseeing or people watching. They have history and heritage, family legacies and loving communities. Langa, for example was founded in 1927, and named after Langalibalele – a Bantu chief who was incarcerated on Robben Island in 1873 for activism against the the Natal government.

During the apartheid years non white people were evicted from their homes and displaced to suburban areas without basic amenities or infrastructure. These became known as townships or ‘locations’ (coming from the Afrikaans word ‘lokasies’) and which were, in themselves, segregated. Following the Population Registration Act of 1950, “blacks, coloureds and Indians” were allocated different settlements.

Consequently, most towns and cities still have at least one township, often with thousands of people living there. The history of these settlements is such that they were never constructed sustainably, the small houses had two rooms which were expected to house eight people, residents do not own the land where their houses were built, some of the buildings are now deemed illegal and basic services such as sewerage, electricity and water are still lacking. The influx of people from rural areas means that townships are actually growing rather than shrinking, as ever more precarious shacks and lean-tos are jammed in between existing houses and roads.

The name is an acronym for South Western Townships, which were created originally at the beginning of the 20th century, and expanded during the apartheid era. Thankfully the 21st century has seen many more modern developments than back in the relentless years of segregation. It is now almost considered the capital of all of South Africa’s townships, and is easily accessible by train with several stops scattered through Soweto. Go on a cycling tour, visit a Rasta bar, tuck into a ‘kota’, a carb-elicious meat and cheese sandwich, visit the Mandela Family Museum or Desmond Tutu’s home. And dance. There’s a lot of music everywhere in Soweto. And just to blow any preconceptions out of the water, check out the Soweto Wine Festival in March.