Township life, take two, Mamelodi

Trip Start Mar 18, 2007
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Trip End Aug 16, 2007


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Flag of South Africa  ,
Thursday, July 12, 2007

And so, Saturday meant returning to Pretoria, the closest thing to home I have in South Africa.  I can actually drive places without a map.  So, with a carload of people and bags packed to the roof, we dropped off the bags and headed to a braai for some lunch.  It was great.  You go in, pick out your meat (the big three, steak, chicken, boervors), throw on some communal spice, and take it out back to throw on the big on-site braai.  As it's nearly cooked, you go back in and grab a couple plates of pap (maize porridge).  Then, you sit around a table, scooping up pap or tearing off pieces of meat, hands only.  It's... great.

And with a full stomach, we rolled out east to Mamelodi, the Soweto of Pretoria.  It's got a little bit less diversity and character when compared to Soweto, and doesn't have those developed bits, but it was interesting.  It has drawn the spotlight some in the past few weeks, as some temporary developments were deemed unfit for occupation, and demolished by the government... but, of course, they had no alternative lined up, resulting, expectedly, in riots and chaos.  My friend, Jim, who I work with, and who lives in Mamelodi, actually couldn't come to work one day due to the riots, as there was no mini-bus coming to Mamelodi.

Anyway, it was a nice day, mostly spent sitting around at Jim's house.  This time we sat in his yard and watched the township move around us, instead of us moving through the township.  And we had another game of soccer in the street... when there weren't cars, of course. 
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Comments

matsheko
matsheko on May 29, 2008 at 11:51AM

Extension 4
You should go to Extension 4 in Mamelodi. It is a very interesting part of Mamelodi. I live in Extension 6...

tumelong
tumelong on Jul 27, 2009 at 12:36PM

township visit
i think you must come and visit ext12 on weekends. it is a nice place to be when you are party animal.

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