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World

Soweto, the story of South Africa’s transformation

A former center of resistance to apartheid that struggled with poverty, Soweto, South Africa's largest township, has become a dynamic, sprawling community -- a symbol of the country's own transformation.

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SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA: Visitors attending an arts and craft festival at the new Soweto Theatre in Jabulani, Soweto South Africa, May 4, 2013. Soweto is South Africa's largest township and it was founded about one hundred years to make housing available for black people south west of downtown Johannesburg. The estimated population is between 2-3 million. Many key events during the Apartheid struggle unfolded here, and the most known is the student uprisings in June 1976, where thousands of students took to the streets to protest after being forced to study the Afrikaans language at school. Soweto today is a mix of old housing and newly constructed townhouses. A new hungry black middle-class is growing steadily. Many residents work in Johannesburg, but the last years many shopping malls have been built, and people are starting to spend their money in Soweto. (Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson/)
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SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA OCTOBER 25: Members of a string orchestra rehearse in a community hall in Pimville Community center in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, Oct. 25, 2006. About fifty boy and girls play string instruments a few times a week and they sometimes perform in the township. Soweto is South Africa?s largest township and it was founded about one hundred years to make housing available for black people south west of downtown Johannesburg. The estimated population is between 2-3 million. Many key events during the Apartheid struggle unfolded here, and the most known is the student uprisings in June 1976, where thousands of students took to the streets to protest after being forced to study the Afrikaans language at school. Soweto today is a mix of old housing and newly constructed townhouses. A new hungry black middle-class is growing steadily. Many residents work in Johannesburg, but the last years many shopping malls have been built, and people are starting to spend their money in Soweto. (
Per-anders Pettersson
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SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA: Designers Lethabo Tsatsinyane, age 29 and Sibu FDB, age 29, stands next to a Nelson Mandela mural outside Regina Mund Catholic church in Soweto, South Africa, May 26, 2012. Soweto is South Africa's largest township and it was founded about one hundred years to make housing available for black people south west of downtown Johannesburg. The estimated population is between 2-3 million. Many key events during the Apartheid struggle unfolded here, and the most known is the student uprisings in June 1976, where thousands of students took to the streets to protest after being forced to study the Afrikaans language at school. Soweto today is a mix of old housing and newly constructed townhouses. A new hungry black middle-class is growing steadily. Many residents work in Johannesburg, but the last years many shopping malls have been built, and people are starting to spend their money in Soweto. (Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson)
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SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA: Girls play on a trampoline on a street corner in Soweto, South Africa, Jan. 17, 2012. Soweto is the largest township in South Africa, located about 10 kilometers southwest of downtown Johannesburg. The population is estimated to be around 2-3 million. (Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson)
Per-anders Pettersson
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