Funk it, I’m walking in Soweto at night

Seth Mazibuko (right) at Confrontation Corner. Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber

By Bridget Hilton-Barber

19 Jun 2024

Walking a city street is a great way to get a real sense of a place. But walking a Jozi city street at night? Bridget Hilton-Barber went on a night tour with #FunkItImWalking.

We step off the shuttle into a freezing Soweto night. Bright fluorescent lights shine out the name Just Badela and we scurry inside this hip restaurant, bar and gathering place.

It’s the coldest night of the year so far. Members of the community policing forum are gathered outside around burning braziers. They are an essential part of this night walk, there to protect and guide us. I briefly meet Jane, who is reassuringly tough, and her two colleagues, who say they’ve got our backs and “will walk with us to freedom”.

Inside we are grateful for the warmth, and in true Soweto hospitality style are given cocktails and platters of warm bread and ox tongue for pre-walk starters. We chin-chin and chat, and are soon less worried about walking in Soweto at night than walking in this bitter cold.

“#FunkItImWalking aims to make it safe for women to walk at any time of day in any condition,” explains Nomsa Mazwai, our dynamo tour leader, who will interpret our night walk along with local tour guide Linda Dlamini. “And along with this, we’re also promoting night tourism to Soweto.” It’s a pity, says Mazwai, that most tourists are out of Soweto by 4pm. “We want people to stay over, spend an evening. Come and listen to the stories. They are intense, many are painful. Come and commemorate the process of people healing; feel the soul of Soweto.

“Tourism is such a great job creator. There is a benefit for a whole range of people, from waitresses and winemakers to food providers to the establishments. The tourism value chain is so broad. And night tourism is a great way to enhance local development by unlocking the economic value of safety.”

linda the tour guide Soweto Local tour guide Linda Dlamini. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber)

“Tonight,” she says, “we’ll walk from here to the famous Vilakazi Street and back. It’s about 4km long and takes in significant sites along the way. We’ll follow the #FunkItImWalking banner. Let’s go.”

As the doors open a terrifying rush of cold air blasts in and we head apprehensively out, to be met by the sweetest sounds of the Phakama MaAfrica Youth Choir, who will accompany us throughout the tour, singing the most haunting, beautiful songs.

We are led from the front by a white banner that says #FunkItImWalking and at the back there is a red anti-GBV banner. Every time someone shouts, “Funk it, I’m walking!” everyone else shouts, “Let’s walk to freedom!” and off we go into the bitter night, about 30 of us, lit by a flickering combination of torches, cellphone lights, headlamps and a few warm orange streetlamps.

It’s uphill to start, of course, and we all warm up quickly. We pass very few people. Most of Orlando seems very sensibly to have gone to bed. We are huffing and puffing when we stop at our first spot, a humble shop where Winnie Mandela once sold blankets, before she met Nelson. The murals are charming, and we think about how arduous her life became and how innocent she must have been then.

Soweto Winnie Mandela The shop where Winnie Mandela once sold blankets. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber)

The story of Soweto is, of course, that of the 1976 uprisings, but it’s also very much that of Nelson and Winnie. By night it’s more dramatic, more poignant, Shakespearean. Love, politics, tragedy, betrayal, imprisonment, revolution. The streets feel like a moving stage, the shadows are evocative. A dog barks, a distant figure crosses briefly underneath a streetlamp, there’s a chink of light from behind a closed curtain, a brightly lit spaza shop stands out like a casino. And the choir sings.

walking in Soweto The #FunkItImWalking tour. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber)

We resume our walk, then come to rest again at the corner of Moema and Vilakazi streets. This is Confrontation Corner, where 15,000 schoolchildren clashed with police on 16 June 1976.

Tour guide Linda Dlamini sketches the background to the event that changed the history of South Africa. And from under a tree in the shadows, we listen to the story of local Sowetan Seth Mazibuko, who was there on the day and in his own words tells us what happened.

Dogs, stones, tear gas, rubber bullets, live bullets, mayhem. Children scattering. Bloodshed, the iconic image of young Hector Pieterson, who was shot. But so many more dead and unaccounted for. Was the blood of schoolchildren spilled in vain? And what future do the youth of Soweto have today?

The night is quiet; we all have a moment to remember. Mazibuko went to Robben Island for seven years. At 16, he was the youngest political prisoner and he endured 18 months of solitary confinement.

The choir begins a slow baritone song…

We visit Mandela House at 8115 Vilakazi Street, where we listen to an impassioned talk, watch a video and then wander through the house. Nelson Mandela lived here from 1946 to 1962, and then returned for a few years after his release from prison. There are photographs of Winnie and Nelson, memorabilia, armchairs, awards, a few bullet holes in the wall. Once again, the choir fills the night with rousing songs.

Vilakazi Street is practically deserted tonight, the brightest lights are coming from a shop window which changes from yellow to mauve like a strange disco and we take group shots and selfies in the changing colours. “Funk it, I’m walking!” we shout. “Let’s walk to freedom!” There is something delightful – and very South African – about walking together with a purpose and a song.

Vilakazi Street is famous for being the only street in the world where two Nobel Peace Prize winners lived – Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

We walk past the house where Mandela moved after leaving number 8115. This is a more security-conscious and private residence. We walk over a small hill with amazing views of the city. Do we call Soweto a city instead of a township? Will it ever be dignified?

At the bottom of the hill our beautiful choir sings a farewell song and we return to the warmth and conviviality of Just Badela. We are elated and inspired, and settle in for a delicious dinner of meat, samp, pap slices and chakalaka, and then we listen to a fiery conversation between podcaster Ntsiki Mazwai and Seth Mazibuko.

It’s fascinating to hear it from someone who lived it.

“Shouldn’t Soweto be associated with something happier?” asks a young woman in the audience. “Should the Holocaust be remembered as something happier?” fires back Mazibuko. “Let us never forget the pain. Let us never forget the price the schoolchildren paid. And let us consider whether the so-called freedom we have now is what they wanted.”

Soweto confrontation corner Seth Mazibuko (right) at Confrontation Corner. (Photo: Bridget Hilton-Barber)

Politics will always be part of a visit to Soweto, and I wish we were spending the night so that our discussions could continue.

“I wanted to make a contribution by making a sustainable, viable business,” says Nomsa Mazwai.

She’s a Fulbright scholar in development economics and has spent the past few years developing her hypothesis and model for night tourism. It could have a tremendous impact on safety, crime and employment, she points out. Mazwai did all the grunt work, worked out the rates, put out feelers to see which communities were most responsive.

“We work with community policing forums. They’ve got knowledge of the area and intel of what happens on the streets, and they’ve been a crucial partner in determining our products.”

There are four different tours on offer: a night walk in Orlando West, which we did; a tour of Credo Mutwa Park in Jabavu, including a visit to the Oppenheimer Tower, which has a panoramic view over the whole of Soweto; a night walk focusing on the history of women and liberation in Soweto, which includes homes and heritage sites and ends up at Lebo’s Soweto Backpackers; and a tour of Sophiatown. DM

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Check out the FunkItImWalking Campaign on Facebook and Instagram. Check out Soweto Night Out Tours.

You can book directly; a minimum of 10 people.

Bridget Hilton-Barber is a freelance writer and photographer.

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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