Orlando (F 9)

Name: Orlando

From (read more there): http://soweto2010.co.za/html/i_overview.htm

Early development
The establishment of Soweto is, like Johannesburg, linked directly to the discovery of Gold in 1885. Thousands of people from around the world and South Africa flocked to the new town to seek their fortunes or to offer their labour. Within 4 years Johannesburg was the second largest city. More than half the population was black, most living in multi racial shanty towns near the gold mines in the centre of the town. As the gold mining industry developed, so did the need for labour increase. Migrant labour was started and most of these workers lived in mine compounds. However other workers had to find their own accommodation often in appalling conditions.

The first residents of what is now known as Soweto were located into the area called Klipspriut in 1905 following their relocation from “Coolietown” in the centre of Johannesburg as a result of an outbreak of bubonic plague. The Johannesburg City Council took the opportunity to establish racially segregated residential areas. Some residents were to be relocated to Alexandra township (near the present day Sandton). This group comprised black, Indian and coloured families and they received freehold title to their land (this was subsequently reversed by the Apartheid Government). Only black families were located into Klipspruit and the housing was on a rental basis. Klipspruit was subsequently renamed Pimville.

During the 1930’s the demand for housing for the large numbers of black people who had moved into Johannesburg grew to such an extent that new housing was built in an area known as Orlando, named after the first administrator Edwin Orlando Leaky.

In the 1940’s a controversial character James Mpanza led the first land invasion and some 20000 squatters occupied land near Orlando. James Mpanza is known as the “Father of Soweto”.

In 1959 the residents of Sophiatown were forcibly removed to Soweto and occupied the area known as Meadowlands. Sir Earnest Oppenheimer, the first chairman of the Anglo American Corporation, was appalled by the housing shortage and was instrumental in arranging a loan for the construction of additional housing and this is commemorated by the Oppenheimer Tower in Jabulani.

Current status of Soweto.

Soweto falls within the municipality of the Johannesburg Metro Council in the province of Gauteng which appropriately means place of Gold.

The original rental houses have now been sold to the tenants who received a subsidy from the government to cover the cost of the houses. Private sector housing was developed from the 1980’s funded by the various banks. Freehold title is available to the properties.

Services are provided by the Johannesburg Metro council and electricity by Escom.


Origins of the name.

Soweto obtained its name from the first two letters of South Western Township which was the original description of the area.

“Soweto is a symbol of the New South Africa, caught between old squatter misery and new prosperity,
squalor and an upbeat lifestyle, it’s a vibrant city which still openly bears the scars of the Apartheid past
and yet shows what’s possible in the New South Africa”




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Date:

Historic fact:
History and heritage
The day Hector Pieterson died
Story and photos by Lucille Davie

15 June 2006

"I saw a child fall down. Under a shower of bullets I rushed forward and went for the picture. It had been a peaceful march, the children were told to disperse, they started singing Nkosi Sikelele. The police were ordered to shoot."

These are the words of Sam Nzima, recalling the events of 16 June 1976, when over 500 people were killed as they protested over the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in township schools.

Nzima's photograph of the dying Hector Pieterson being carried by a fellow student was published around the world, and came to represent the anger and tragedy of a day that changed the course of South African history, sparking months of clashes between police, schoolchildren and protesters.

Hector, 12, was one of the first casualties of what came to be known as the Soweto Uprising.

Hastings: June 16's forgotten hero
Fifteen-year-old Hastings Ndlovu was probably shot before Hector Pieterson, although he died later. But no photographer was on hand to record the moment. Another boy, Hastings Ndlovu, is believed to have been the first child to be shot on that fateful day. But Nzima, a photographer for Johannesburg newspaper The World, was on the spot when Mbuyisa Makhubo picked Hector up and, together with Hector's sister Antoinette, ran towards a press car, into which he was bundled taken to a nearby clinic, where he was pronounced dead.

"I was the only photographer there at the time", Nzima says. "Other photographers came when they heard shots."

A few months after that, The World was banned and shut down.

Hector Pieterson Museum
When you visit the Hector Pieterson Museum in Orlando West, Soweto, you'll see Nzima's legendary photograph showing the unconscious Hector being carried by Makhubo, with Hector's sister - now Antoinette Sithole - running alongside.



Other interesting info:

"Orlando Stadium, before its [reconstruction], used to sit plus-or-minus 24 000 people; and by the time this new facility is complete it will accommodate more than 40 000 people," she said.

Built at a cost of R280-million, Mayathula-Khoza said the stadium was completed on time, within budget and without compromising on quality. A quarter of this amount came from the Municipal Infrastructure Grant; the balance came from the City's budget.

"The stadium is surrounded by a quality precinct that will ensure free and safe movement of spectators and enhance the enjoyable experience that will be created by the stadium facilities."

Well-lit footways from Orlando and Mlamlankunzi train stations had been provided, and surveillance cameras were to be extended to these footways to improve spectator safety.


Where to stay:

sites.google.com/site/saplacenames/