From The Guardian
The SMS you will get if you drive through the South-Western Townships, also known as Soweto, is as certain as death and taxes. The message – and sometimes a phone call – from your car tracking company will notify you that you are now in a “high-risk area”.
This is the side of Soweto most people have come to expect: a place with poor infrastructure, high unemployment and crime. In areas such as Jabavu, the employment rate sits at just 34%. The median monthly income for those who work in the area is R2,400 (£118). Yet a few kilometres away from some of the township’s poorest parts lie Diepkloof Extension and Pimville, home to Soweto’s richest. Modern luxurious homes (many valued at well over R1m), German cars parked in their garages, sit behind high walls – reminiscent of Johannesburg’s traditionally white suburbia.
For Soweto’s richer young residents, the car wash is also the chance to show off the wealth they rarely speak about
One of the owners of these homes is Thabo Moagi, founder of Rockwell Communications. Born and bred in the township, Moagi doesn’t see why he need live anywhere else. “Soweto has everything I need,” he says. “The people. The shops. The culture.”
Moagi is also the founder of the hip-hop event series Authentic Sundays. In just five years it has become Soweto’s biggest urban event, attracting the attention of major brands, South Africa’s biggest artists, and young people from across Johannesburg.
Pimville, where the 27-year-old has his home and business offices, also boasts a golf course, a mall and a stadium – all recent developments catering for its wealthy inhabitants. But Moagi likes to hang out at the PDL car wash. In the townships, car washes offer people an opportunity to socialise and network, and have become a cornerstone of township culture. For Soweto’s richer young residents, the car wash is also the chance to show off the wealth they rarely speak about.
Read more at The Guardian