Sisulu Square in a derelict state
IN 2005, former president Thabo Mbeki lit a flame of freedom in Kliptown to mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom Charter.
The place in which thousands of South Africans of all colours, race, creed and gender, in 1955, gathered to map out the future they envisaged for the country under the banner of the Congress of the People was declared the Freedom Square.
The area was renamed Walter Sisulu Square.
The Square, in the heart of Kliptown, Soweto, is South Africa’s first township entertainment centre, attracting national and international attention with its variety of outlets suitable for local traders, event co-ordinators and international tourists.
The Square embraces a historical background, South African culture at its best, mingled with modern urbanisation, trendsetting what South Africa is best known for: its diverse cultures and way of life, a fascination to the outside world and those abroad.
The square’s features include an open-air museum that explains how the Freedom Charter was written as a collaborative effort by thousands of South Africans of all races.
The conical brick tower at the centre of the square is a monument to the document and contains the full principles of the Freedom Charter engraved in bronze.
It is a concoction of historical rejuvenation, a futuristic conceptualisation with a dynamic experimentation of township fever.
Fast forward to today: the Square is a former shadow of itself. The place has been vandalised. It has no electricity as a result of the cable theft in the townships.
The Square has suffered the theft of metallic fixtures for scrap metal exchange and the total destruction of essential infrastructure.
Glass windows are broken, and the aluminium frames stolen.
Water pipes and electrical plugs were removed.
On a visit to the Square, the underground parking was flooded with blocked water and sewer drainages.
A political party office barely operates, as is the internationally-acclaimed choreographer Nomsa Manaka’s dance studio. |