{"id":43630,"date":"2023-01-29T18:21:47","date_gmt":"2023-01-29T18:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gold-mines-and-untold-stories-sowetos-urban-hikes"},"modified":"2023-01-29T18:33:54","modified_gmt":"2023-01-29T18:33:54","slug":"gold-mines-and-untold-stories-sowetos-urban-hikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/gold-mines-and-untold-stories-sowetos-urban-hikes","title":{"rendered":"Gold mines and untold stories: Soweto’s urban hikes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Soweto is full of gritty urban landscapes and alleys which evoke its history as one of apartheid’s battlegrounds. Yet there is also a gentler side to the vast Johannesburg township, and one that local entrepreneurs are portraying to curious tourists.<\/p>\n

Every Sunday morning, Masike Lebele takes about 20 hikers for a walk in his childhood neighbourhood, opening their eyes to a vista where countryside, abandoned gold mines and deep-rooted folk beliefs all co-exist.<\/p>\n

“This was my playground,” said Lebele, a wiry 40-year-old who wore a leopard-print shirt and a floppy hat.<\/p>\n

“I was adventurous as a kid,” he said, his eyes sharp and wearing a smile.<\/p>\n

“We used to be little hunter-gatherers here,” he said, pointing to a dam by an abandoned gold mine. “We learned to swim here.”<\/p>\n

The starting point for his walk is a “shebeen” — a local tavern set up in a house that belonged to his grandmother.<\/p>\n

A recent hike on the six-and-a-half-kilometre route began in the early morning. For safety, a dozen friends accompanied the group. Walkers crossed a street littered with rubbish and old tyres, where fresh fruit and snacks vendors had set up their stalls.<\/p>\n

“This is where Soweto starts,” said Lufuno Matidza, the elegant partner of the guide, wearing futuristic glasses, large earrings and bright pink lipstick.<\/p>\n

In the distance rose the silhouette of Johannesburg’s skyscrapers — another world. A wasteland dotted with reeds descended towards a stream.<\/p>\n

“Sangomas” — a Zulu word for traditional healers — “consider this first portion a holy land,” said Masike, asking hikers to speak softly.<\/p>\n

‘Untold stories of Soweto’ <\/b><\/p>\n

A naked man sat quietly in the stream and six others in robes sang melodies. A little further on, three women wrapped in shawls had lit coloured candles, which melted on a rock.<\/p>\n

The silence was broken by a cry. “What’s that?” an anxious walker asked.<\/p>\n

“It’s a person roaring, reaching out to the ancestors,” Matidza answered laconically, without breaking her stride.<\/p>\n

The walk wove its way through a mountain of gold-coloured mine tailings, sometimes streaked with a chemical blue colour. More than a century of plundering the earth for gold has left a strange but compelling legacy in Soweto.<\/p>\n

Pollution from mine dumps is common, and erosion has created unstable galleries of compacted sand, spectacular but crumbly.<\/p>\n

“Gold is always here,” said Lebele, who said he was deeply attached to the seemingly desolate landscape.<\/p>\n

At the exit of the ochre galleries was a plateau of yellow sand.<\/p>\n

“This is where we became kung fu masters. Each group we came across we fought,” the tattooed Lebele recalled.<\/p>\n

The heights of the dumped spoil give a spectacular view of Soweto, divided by streets into grids of small homes.<\/p>\n

“This is our home,” said Matidza.<\/p>\n

As the cradle of apartheid, Soweto supports a flourishing tourism industry, boasting tours of museums, shebeens and a street where two Nobel winners — Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu — used to live.<\/p>\n

But nearly 30 years after the advent of democracy, the township is plagued by ills, ranging from poverty and unemployment to substance abuse and crime.<\/p>\n

Christo Welgemoed, 62, who lives just 11 kilometres from Soweto, said the hike was horizon-broadening.<\/p>\n

“Had I not heard of this hike on a local post, I would never have come here,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n

“We usually go into nature, streams, mountains and so forth, (but) this is more of a cultural experience than normal.”<\/p>\n

Noreen Wahome, 29, a Kenyan living in Johannesburg, said she came on the walk out of her love for the “untold stories of Soweto”.<\/p>\n

Lebele said his Soweto Ndofaya Hike was booked for weeks ahead.<\/p>\n

“People just think that mine dumps are a place of danger but… these are places of fun and exploring,” he said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Soweto is full of gritty urban landscapes and alleys which evoke its history as one of apartheid’s battlegrounds. Yet there is also a gentler side to the vast Johannesburg township, and one that local entrepreneurs are portraying to curious tourists. Every Sunday morning, Masike Lebele takes about 20 hikers for a walk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":43629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[274,315,4446,2990,275,265,1184],"class_list":["post-43630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-apartheid-legacy","tag-poverty","tag-south-africa-2","tag-soweto","tag-tourism"],"yoast_head":"\nGold mines and untold stories: Soweto's urban hikes - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Soweto is full of gritty urban landscapes and alleys which evoke its history as one of apartheid's battlegrounds. 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