Urban settlement in South Africa, southwest of Johannesburg; population (1996 est) 1,098,100.

It experienced civil unrest during the apartheid regime. Most of the inhabitants travel to Johannesburg to work, but there are local industries, including wood pulp and paper manufacturing. Soweto began as a shanty town in the 1930s and became 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.

There were serious riots in 1976, sparked by a ruling that Afrikaans be used in African schools here; the riots were violently suppressed, with 176 people killed and more than 1,000 injured. Reforms followed, but riots flared up again in 1985 and continued until the first multiracial elections were held in April 1994.

Following the end of apartheid in 1994, the municipal services of Soweto were administered by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Board, on which the people of Soweto have elected representatives.

SOWETO was created early in this Century when after an outbreak of illness, the authorities determined to separate blacks from whites, and move blacks away from Johannesburg, to an area separated from white suburbs by a so-called cordon sanitaire (or sanitary corridor) this was usually a river, a railway track, an industrial area or a highway etc., they did this by using the infamous "Urban Areas Act" in 1923. This is still the legacy and trademark of the apartheid city.

Logic has it that the name stands for "South Western Townships" but some feel it came from the relocating residents asking "SoWhere To?"

The making of Soweto

Soweto is the most populous black urban residential area in the country. Some call it a city within a city due to its proximity to Johannesburg. Thanks to its proximity to Johannesburg, the economic hub of the country, it is also the most metropolitan township in the country - setting trends in politics, fashion, music, dance and language.

But the township was, from its genesis, a product of segregationist planning. It was back in 1904 that Klipspruit, the oldest of a cluster of townships that constitute present day Soweto, was established. The township was created to house mainly black labourers, who worked in mines and other industries in the city, away from the city centre. The inner city was later to be reserved for white occupation as the policy of segregation took root. But it was not until 1963 that the acronym, Soweto, was adopted as the official name for the South Western Townships, following a four-year public competition on an appropriate name for the sprawling township.

The townships which make up Soweto are:

Braamfischerville; Chiawelo; Diepkloof; Dobsonville; Dlamini; Dube; Jabavu; Emdeni; Jabulani; Killarney; Klipspruit; Mapetla; Meadowlands; Mofolo; Molapo
Moletsane; Moroka; Mzimhlophe; Naledi; Orlando; Phefeni; Phiri; Phomolong; Pimville; Protea Glen; Protea; Senanoane; Snake Park; Tladi; White City; Zola
Zondi. The perennial problems of Soweto have, since its inception, included poor housing, overcrowding, high unemployment and poor infrastructure. This has seen settlements of shacks made of corrugated iron sheets becoming part of the Soweto landscape. Apartheid planning did not provide much in terms of infrastructure, and it is only in recent years that the democratic government has spearheaded moves to plant trees, develop parks, and install electricity and running water to some parts of the township.

Soweto has also been a hotbed of many political campaigns that took place in the country, the most memorable of which was the 1976 student uprising in which several students were shot at, and others killed.

The first student to fall –Hector Peterson can be remembered as a symbol of that struggle at the Hector Peterson Memorial which was set up not too far from where he was shot. Other politically charged campaigns to have germinated in Soweto include the squatter movement of the 1940s and the defiance campaigns of the mid-to-late 1980s.

The township has also produced the highest number of professional soccer teams in the country. Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and Moroka Swallows all emerged from the township, and remain among the biggest soccer teams in the Premier Soccer League.

Homelessness has been a perennial feature of Soweto since its inception. With its uniform four-roomed matchbox houses, hostels and without trees, Soweto looks drab and grey. The hostels were built on the outskirts of various townships to house migrant workers who have historically lived on the fringes of Soweto communities.With its high unemployment rate, the area has also spawned many gangsters and been a seedbed of criminal activity. Since the 1930s, various gangsters, mostly territorial formations of young, barely literate males, out of school and out of work, have come and gone. The gangs come and go, fashions come and go, but the ubiquitous township continues to grow.

The extensions built in the 1980s to house the emerging middle class, mostly civil servants, have added some colour to the township. Recent years have seen Soweto become a site of massive development projects and a major tourist attraction in the country.

Modern Soweto

SOWETO is getting a facelift, which will not only make it a greater tourist attraction, but will also make the city self-sustaining. In the not so distant future, residents of the famous township will no longer have to spend money on transport to go to far away malls for their shopping.

Soweto will also become a tourist destination, with several B&B’s and restaurants already up and running, the residents of Soweto have found a way to turn a tumultuous history into an income generating tourist attraction.

All these developments are meant to remain true to the culture and idiosyncrasies that make Soweto such a vibrant place to be, from Museums to shopping complexes, all will have a distinctly “Sowetan flavour” to them, which will make it all the more worthwhile for the curious visitors, who will now flock to the township in greater numbers.

Investment is also pouring into the renovation and upgrading of public parks, various locations such as the Dorothy Nyembe Park and, Thokoza Park in Rockville. With many parks that had become hotspots for criminal activity and were subject to vandalism, the city of Johannesburg took it as its responsibility to bring back life into these parks. The result is phenomenal, where there was only overgrown thick grass, lush, green well groomed gardens complete with water features have sprung up.

There are also plans to make new mixed income residential areas – such as those developed around Kliptown - which are meant to draw back the upwardly mobile into Soweto. It is hoped that this will boost investment and confidence in the southern region of Johannesburg.

Another venture that has been in the works for a while is the new Cathedral of the Universal Church in Diepkloof. This new House of God is in a central location close to the taxi rank as well as Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. It will be a great and welcome change for those who had spent over 10 years worshipping God in an old warehouse.

The Cathedral has a seating capacity of 8 000 and it has Sunday School facilities as well as a bookshop, and a baptism pool. This will not only be just another church in Soweto, but it will also be a monument to the new Soweto, it also proves that Soweto is not a dreary, crime ridden place, but it is home to a variety of different people and has given birth to many different cultures which are markedly unique to this area alone.