TOWNSHIP TOURS
‘Township Tours’ form part of a township experience in South Africa, where guided tours of the apartheid-era townships are offered by guides living in the townships, in today’s post-apartheid South Africa.
What is a Township?
During apartheid, black South Africans were, by law, not allowed to own land in certain geographical areas – often municipalities, that were earmarked as white.
Attached to these white municipalities were townships, established by local authorities, where black migrant workers were forced to live – through the enforcement of the Group Areas Act of 1950, in what was temporary, rented accommodation.
The freelance tour guides, who themselves live in the townships and advertise their tours on this site, offer an authentic experience and social interaction with residents of the township, whilst giving tourists the opportunity to learn about the degrading policy of apartheid.
Although townships are considered to be a uniquely South African concept, they were actually motivated by colonial town planning and can still be found in a number of African cities!