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I came to Gauteng due to work and found myself staying in South Africa’s biggest township, Soweto. In this place every one minds his or her own business.
Crime is too high and the police are not doing enough to eradicate it because most of these criminal activities are done by senior police; but that the topic for another day.
Every town has its life style; here in Soweto there is a life style which I am not happy about and cannot approve.
Let’s look at the following:
1. SOWETO DRIVE
This is a type of driving where every driver looks at his/her car. In this township you do not have to follow the traffic rules and signs but other road users. Should you follow the traffic rules you will find yourself without insurance, for your car will be involve in an accident every day.
Here when the robot turns red it means you still have five (5) seconds to cross; should you stop when the robot turns red when you are 18 meters to the stop bar, you be hit from behind. I don’t know how many times I had to skip the red robot because of fear of the car behind me coming at a high speed. In fact before the cars from the other direction pull off, you are free to skip the red robot in Soweto.
Parking a car in someone’s driveway is normal in this township; when you want to go out you will need to ask the driver who is next door negotiating lobola to move his car. Parking on streets is normal in Soweto and no one will ask why, even traffic police will not ask why.
Taxis can stop in the middle of the road exchange passengers or give each other change.
2. PEDESTRIANS
Kids in Soweto are left to play in the streets without any person looking at them. In almost every street you will find playgrounds built in the middle of the street by teenage boys playing soccer without even worrying about cars. Some will be playing skipping on the nearby with small children playing marble games using bricks; when a car comes, they move away and leave their bricks on the street.
My wife found a two year old baby playing with her sisters on the street; when the older children saw the car coming they ran out of the street leaving the baby alone on the street. She had to stop and take the bay to her mother who was not even aware that her two year old baby was on the street.
I used to ask myself as to why parents are so careless; how they can leave their children play on the street until I figured it out. Parents cannot teach their kids that which they do not know. People in this township do not walk on the sides of the road but in the middle of the road where cars should be driving.
To make the matter worse, they do not on the right side of the road, but on the left side of the road with cars coming from behind. When you hoot they tell you to use the other side of the road; you will be told this by an old man who was supposed to be a teacher to children.
3. PAYING FOR SERVICE
When you want to fight with Sowetans and want to see them united, ask them to pay for the service you are giving them. They do not want to pay for electricity, water and sewage; in fact they do not want to pay for any service provided by the government.
I live in this township but do not have the township in me, it turns to be a big challenge adapting to it.
One would say even whites or people from other township do all these things.
I cannot say the same thing about Alexandria, Tembisa and Diepsloot and white suburbs I do not stay there and have never experienced life in those areas.
