Cycling through Soweto? Yes – it’s more than just a Township Tour!

Episode 17: Cycling through Soweto? Yes – it’s more than just a Township Tour!

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[00:00:08] André: When friends ask me, "I'm going to South Africa, what should I do?", I almost always start with, " do yourself a favour and start with two nights in Johannesburg."

After the usual shocked look, I explain that Joburg might have a bad reputation from many years ago, but that a visit to this dynamic city is an eye opener. I suggest they spend at least three hours at the Apartheid Museum- yep, three hours- and then do a cycle tour in Soweto.

Today we're chatting to Maria Malepa from Lebo's Backpacker and Cycle Tours in Soweto.

Hi Maria, it's good to have you here.

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[00:00:47] André: Briefly for those people who don't know Soweto, give us a description of the township, or actually a city now, near Johannesburg where you are.

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That has always been the challenge that we have to work against when we say the tourists should come to Soweto, because then people think that, oh, it's some form of a slum tourism experience.

And the ones who come for the slum tourism experience, they get to be disappointed, because Soweto represents, South Africa and Johannesburg in so many ways in terms of inequality. But we're not here to showcase that in that type of way.

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[00:01:57] Maria: Exactly. Yeah. And then the ones that are, you know, brave enough to kind of come and explore, despite its reputation, they are so happy that they did.

Soweto, it's an abbreviation of, South Western Township. It was an area that was created by the apartheid government during the time of forced removals, from the inner city, where they wanted to divide people according to their racial belongings.

And African people in particular, were then forced removed to various sections that then made-up Soweto. So that's southwest of the city centre of Johannesburg. That's why it's called that. And, I mean, it's 200 square kilometres in its size, and subsections of Soweto is over 40 different

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[00:03:04] Maria: Sadly, even 30 plus years into democracy, what apartheid did it really stuck through generations. Obviously in terms of the type of opportunities, both in terms of education and financial opportunities that people had, or did not have, during apartheid.

And that is still very visible. So, Soweto still, is home to the working class and partly a little bit middle class people that have gotten better opportunities, but that have decided to still stay in Soweto. But it has been very difficult for the South African population as a whole to start integrating and mixing in various, areas of living.

It's still very much segregated.

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[00:04:00] Maria: Um, yeah, so that was before I met Lebo. I wasn't there personally, but obviously having been married and lived with Lebo and been running the business with him for most of the years of its existence, I know the ins and outs of his story.

It was such a gradual organic growth where, he didn't sit down and drew up a business plan or said that "you know, I'm going to start a tourism hub or a business in Soweto". Instead, he grabbed various opportunities that were there as a young Sowetan, being the generation that had been closed off from many opportunities, doing most of his schooling during apartheid.

So, in the early: 2000

Tourism was really not on people's, mind.

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[00:05:14] Maria: Well, they were. Uh, this was early 2000. So they were, but absolutely not in the same scale as today. That's why I'm saying it wasn't really on people's minds, especially like young Sowetans, wanting to, start whatever entrepreneurial projects or financial seeking job opportunities, but Lebo saw early that there is something happening.

And then him and a few friends started putting up market stalls, by those few sites where tourists did come. I mean, it was kind of a drive through type of experience that people were offered then. So it was the Mandela house and the memorial site, for example, for Hector Peterson. People were even warned to go out of their buses, guided by white tourist guides, definitely not from Soweto.

And yeah, and then Lebo kind of started his entrepreneurial journey seeing this, and getting very frustrated, but then turning that frustration into a, you know, "what can we do, as the people of Soweto? Can we meet these travellers and tell our own story?" And that's really how it sparked.

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[00:06:18] Maria: He was lucky to have a household, there were a few other family members living there. He lived with his younger brother, but then he could eventually actually turn that home into what was first called a homestay.

n that just grew and grew. In: 2005

I met Lebo in 2005, and then when I eventually moved in 2007, it was just the two of us, running, the operations. And then slowly but surely we started employing a few people, and yeah, that's how it started.

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[00:07:21] Maria: or the full day. We have a full day.

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[00:07:24] Maria: Yes. Yeah.

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[00:07:46] Maria: Absolutely. So, obviously we start at our backpackers’ lodge, which is situated in Orlando West, so we're not too far from some of the most iconic sites like the Mandela House, Vilakazi Street, and the Hector Petersen Memorial. So very kind of ordinary neighbourhood.

So, you would start there, and we cycle to our campsite, which, uh, was Yeah, one of the latest projects that Lebo took on before, the pandemic broke out and also he eventually left us.

So, we cycle over there, which is really just across the road, and it has a little hill that we climb up on, and where you get a panoramic view over large parts of Soweto. So that gives you a very nice introduction to who we are as a business, as a project, and also paying tribute to Lebo and also the history of Soweto.

And then we start touring the various areas, we have close by a former migrant workers’ hostel. So, uh, workers hostels were created, again, during the apartheid era and during the gold rush of the mining industry in Johannesburg. Where, migrant labour came in from both rural areas, and also from neighbouring countries.

And they were then housed, uh in so called hostels, throughout Soweto. And this is one of them, but that has today been repurposed to house families. It is, however, an area that has been neglected in terms of development, so we do show that side as well. And we work with different organizations in this area

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[00:09:23] Maria: And then we also visit an area called Meadowlands. So, Meadowlands was, known, in the mid 1950s of being the area where, a large part of the African population were forcibly removed too. Because one of the areas in Johannesburg called Sophia Town was, literally destroyed and bulldozed by the apartheid government.

Yeah, and then we move closer to the historical sites, so it's really a mix of understanding the neighbourhoods, you know, meeting people in a natural way as you cycle, and then from there learning more about the history and seeing Nelson Mandela's house and various museums and commemoration sites.

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[00:10:06] Maria: When we do the full day, we also venture into the neighbouring township called Orlando East, which was one of the first townships that was developed, when Soweto started. We go all the way to, our so-called Twin Towers of Soweto, that's an old coal power station, that supplied electricity not to Soweto, but to Johannesburg in the 70s and 80s.

Instead, it just put a big coal cloud over Soweto, but no electricity. But it was closed as an active site.

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[00:10:40] Maria: Yeah, there's an adventure site there, so you can do bungee jumping and various activities. Yeah, so that's a little bit of what you get to see.

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[00:11:00] Maria: Basically, we don't have any of our guides that were fully trained or experienced guides before they started working with us. We try and identify, student guides or tourism students that have an interest in, learning more about the industry and want to, do it through, the perspective of Lebo’s Backpackers.

We offer them on-the-job training. We also had our own in-house training program where we used one of our, you know, senior guide colleagues, that have been working with us for a long time, to take them through, everything that has to do with the business and history. And, yeah, really just from the bottom up.

A lot of people, they come to us. Lebo’s is a brand now in the tourism industry, many young people aspire to work with us.

And that's not only the guides, because I mean, Lebo's Backpackers employ about 30 plus people, and that's obviously reception, our kitchen staff, housekeeping, and yeah, our maintenance department, everything, you know, that makes up a lodge and a tourism business. Our aim is always to provide opportunities for young people, for them to train on the job and to learn.

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[00:12:26] Maria: Yeah, so we offer about 22 beds, which is, spread, across two properties. It's the original home of Lebo, which is his great grandparents' house, and it's still a family home.

Then we have an additional property, which is just right next door. So, we've managed to create both shared dormitories, and also private rooms.

And then we have a beautiful big park just across the street. And, uh, that park is very much part of how the business started, because it used to be a dump site. When Lebo realized that he wanted to host travellers in his home, he said that there's no way I'm gonna do that with trash on my doorstep. Lebo was just always also, like, a community builder and someone who just wanted to see the betterment for his community. So he saw that by creating a business right here in my, home neighbourhood, it can actually improve the conditions for my own people. Then he started cleaning up, together with, especially, youth in the area. He started planting trees and then as the business grew, we just made it an extension

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[00:13:37] Maria: Yes, yes, exactly. So, we call it our outdoor restaurant. So, we cook traditional food, in those traditional cast iron pots that you put over fire.

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[00:13:47] Maria: You know, we do a very typical Soweto braai, which is a barbecue, you know, that I think it's just loved across the world.

We've created a little oasis for ourselves. It's a lush kind of semi tropical garden area, with this traditional kind of Lapas, as we call them. It's like grass umbrellas that you sit under.

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[00:14:11] Maria: And with tours, we do tuk-tuk tours as well. We do the walking tours and, uh, with the food offering now, we also offer, people to come and cook with us.

So, they cook with our chef, they get to learn more about the South African and Soweto food history. because we also have, our own food garden. people come with us, and pick whatever, herbs or veggies that are, ready to be harvested for the day and then we cook a meal together.

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To those listeners who are thinking, " but is it safe for me to cycle through Soweto? I mean, the townships are dangerous."

This is what people have heard throughout their lives. What do you say to those people? Who say, “but is it safe?”

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We adapt to so many other things in a finger snap, you know. If we were to talk about which technology we used 15 years ago and then compared to today, we've developed so much, and yet when it comes to certain perceptions of areas of the world, countries, continents, regions, people, we get to be so stuck in, I would say even ancient you know, perceptions.

So, I think I just want to start off there, because I would have loved to not have to answer that question, having lived here now for 18 years and being part of the growth. To answer the question, yes, it's safe, because what also makes it safe and authentic and absolutely not the type of slum and poverty

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[00:16:11] André: Yeah.

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[00:16:48] André: That brings me to the next question that I actually had. Whenever I've suggested to people to do a tour of the townships, people say, "but I don't want to be a voyeur. Uh, I don't want to feel like I'm, you know, do the people want me there? I can't just drive through there or walk through there and look at people's houses".

How do you address those questions? I'm sure you have that as well.

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We want to also be part of unifying our country, by coming in an area that maybe you're not necessarily from, or seeing your own area from a different perspective. It's really just about exploring and experiencing.

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[00:17:51] Maria: And we don't want to really go and visit people's homes, unless we get an invitation. Because sometimes we do get that question from tourists, to say "oh, can we visit someone's home? Can we go to a school?" But we can't just do that. You know, maybe one of our, guides can still invite you to his or her home, if he or she is comfortable with that, but we are also not invasive and, and we don't want to do that, because I think that if you're from France or Germany or Sweden, would you do that in your own country?

And often the answer is no, but some people have the perception that when you come to an African country, you can just go and view people's, you know, living conditions. Our cycle tours is very much on the ground, we cycle, we stop, we engage with people. We support local businesses, the street markets, the local little eateries, and I think that, that makes the difference.

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I think, if something, happens in a city like Berlin or Paris, people say, "okay, that was bad". And the next year they're traveling back there. But for some reason, we have a very long negative memory of Africa, which is one of the reasons why it's taken so long for people to get over this whole, "is it safe" issue with a place like Soweto?

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[00:19:43] André: That’s very true.

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[00:19:53] André: Maria, can you give us one or two funny or heartwarming stories from yourself or your guides?

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I mean, you know how us Europeans are, we want to know everything beforehand and, what's the schedule and, how long time are we spending at each stop, and what's the story there, and what's the experience.

But when you come here, if you don't have an open mind, you're going to lose out, because then all of a sudden, you know, we cycle through a certain neighbourhood and let's say it's a Saturday. It will be a lot of different community events. So, for example, not long ago, there was a wedding, and then they cycle through there.

That's not our stop to go there, but then people were just like, " no, come, come, join our wedding". And then all of a sudden, you know, the whole tour is invited into a wedding. And, uh, you know, and then they get to, be part of the singing and be part of the celebrations and, where else would that happen?

Not in many other places, because this is really more of a life changing experience, and just putting yourself out there and immersing yourself with the environment around you.

And if you do that, you'll have such experiences.

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You have amazing experiences when you just, just let it happen.

I like to end my interviews with questions about favourites. Who's your favourite South African person and why?

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[00:22:17] André: Yeah, she's amazing.

Maria, thank you very much for your time, and thank you for chatting to us today.

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[00:22:24] André: And I hope that I have managed to inspire you, dear listeners, to see more of South Africa and to include Soweto in your travel plans.

Today we spoke to Maria about her life in Soweto, running Lebo's Backpackers and cycle tours, that she ran together with her husband Lebo. Everyone that has done the cycle tour in Soweto has told me how glad they are that they did it. What I find so important about it, is that it helps you understand the history of South Africa, and that it helps explain why people in South Africa interact with each other in the way that they do.

I would love to hear from you, if you have ideas of who else you'd like to hear on this podcast, send me an email on podcast at africawithandre.com and see you next time.