Vilakazi Street is where almost all Soweto tours come to an end. There is sufficient cause. It is arguably the most well-known street in Johannesburg’s enormous Soweto slum. How many localities can say that two Nobel Prize winners lived on the same street as one another? Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu both called this home. Tutu, as he is more affectionately known, actually continues to reside here with his wife Leah, and when he visits, it’s said that he wanders the streets.
The home of Nelson Mandela is now a museum. The Mandela House Museum is open every day of the week for public tours. But Vilakazi Street is more just that. Hector Peterson was slain by police during the student uprising on June 16, 1976, which is now recognized as Youth Day, just a block away. On the intersection of Moema and Vilakazi Streets, there is now a memorial and museum dedicated to Hector Peterson.
The street is named for Dr BW Vilakazi, a poet, novelist, and scholar who wrote in many indigenous languages. In addition, he was the first black person to teach at Wits, the University of the Witwatersrand, even though he had to work as a “language assistant” due to institutional policies that forbade black lecturers. Later, armed with a PhD in literature, he contributed to the creation of the isiZulu dictionary as well as the written forms of siSwati and isiZulu.
Due to Vilakazi street’s popularity, it now has a few well-known eateries, Namitha and Sakhumzi, that cater to tourists and charge prices to match. However, Vilakazi street is also the location of the only community television station in the city, Soweto TV, which is broadcast from a classroom at the neighbourhood primary school.