Other sights in Johannesburg
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Liliesleaf Farm
Liliesleaf Farm, the secret headquarters of the African National Congress (ANC) during the 1960s, reopened as a museum in June 2008. It tells the story of South Africa’s liberation struggle through a series of high-tech, interactive exhibits.
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Hector Pieterson Museum & Hector Pieterson Memorial
North of Vilakazi St is Soweto’s big gun, Hector Pieterson Sq. Named after the 13-year-old who was shot dead in the run-up to the Soweto uprising, the square now features the poignant Hector Pieterson Memorial and the excellent museum, offering insight into Sowetan life and the history of the independence struggle. It follows the origins of Afrikaans, its introduction into black schools and how this led to the tragic incidents of 16 June 1976. Moving exhibitions contain quotes of remembrance from the day in question, including an eyewitness from Antoinette Sithole, Hector Pieterson’s sister. All around the museum, large windows look out onto the streets, pointing to…
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Regina Mundi Church
South of here, down Klipspruit Valley Rd, is the Regina Mundi Church, an important meeting point during the apartheid years and central to the struggle. The police often retaliated and you can still see bullet holes in the ceiling to the right of the main altar. The right-hand ‘community’ altar rail is also chipped from where the butt of a police rifle smashed it. In recognition of the church’s role in the struggle, several hearings of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission were heard here.
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Orlando Towers
The Orlando Towers, built originally for Orlando’s Power Station, loom large on the Soweto skyline. Once painted a drab white, one tower is now decorated with a colourful mural, the largest in South Africa, depicting, among others, Nelson Mandela, singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka, and a football stadium. The other tower displays the FNB logo (the bank commissioned the murals in 2002). The brave can now get strapped into a harness and throw themselves off a platform from the top of the towers. The Power Swing has a 40m free-fall followed by a pendulum swing, from where you get a bird’s-eye view of the Orlando dam. There are also plans to introduce a bungee jump from between the…
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Oppenheimer Tower
You can also visit the Oppenheimer Tower, erected in gratitude to the chairman of the Anglo-American Corporation, Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, who in 1956 organised a loan from the Chamber of Mines to build 14,000 homes, improving living standards for thousands of Sowetans.
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Kliptown Open Air Museum
The Kliptown Open Air Museum tells the story of how the Freedom Charter came to be drafted through photos, newspaper clippings, art and song.
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Home of Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Just down Vilakazi St, by Sakhumzi Restaurant, is the Home of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
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Credo Mutwa Cultural Village
The Credo Mutwa Cultural Village is a series of clay sculptures and buildings inspired by African folklore, and created in 1974 by Credo Mutwa, an artist and healer (though some of the buildings were destroyed after he made controversial comments about the 1976 Soweto uprising). After years of neglect, a restoration was completed in 2008.
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Avalon Cemetery
At Avalon Cemetery, you’ll find the graves of Hector Pieterson (Plot EC462) and Joe Slovo (Plot B35311), former leader of the South African Communist Party.
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Montecasino Bird Gardens
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Mary Fitzgerald Sq
Mary Fitzgerald Sq (named after South Africa’s first female trade unionist) is probably the best place to start a visit to central Jo’burg. As well as being the staging ground for a number of annual events – check Jo’burg city’s website (www.joburg.org.za) for details – it’s also a good place to people-watch at one of the area’s cafes. The square is lined by an array of heads carved by Newtown artists from old railway sleepers, and is bordered by the Jazz Walk of Fame, a Hollywood Blvd–style walkway that pays tribute to South Africa’s most influential jazz musicians. There’s also a bronze sculpture honouring Brenda Fassie, one of the country’s most popular musicians, who…
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Market Theatre
The lively Market Theatre complex, next door to Museum Africa, puts on regular shows and has a couple of restaurants and some craft stalls.
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Constitutional Court
The Constitution Hill development focuses on South Africa’s new Constitutional Court, built within the ramparts of the Old Fort, which dates from 1892 and was once a notorious prison, where many of the country’s high-profile political activists, including Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, were held. Ruling on constitutional and human-rights matters, the court itself is a very real symbol of the changing South Africa: a lekgotla (place of gathering) rising from the ashes of one of the city’s most poignant apartheid-system monuments, with cases heard in all 11 official languages. The modern structure incorporates sections of the old prison walls, plus large windows that…
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AECI Dynamite Factory Museum
The AECI Dynamite Factory Museum, housed in an original 1895 homestead 16km northeast of the city centre, charts the development of South Africa’s explosives industry (a crucial factor in Jo’burg’s development as a mining centre).
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