Kliptown

Kliptown is a suburb within the former black township of Soweto, in the City of Johannesburg in Gauteng province, South Africa, about 17 kilometres south-west of Johannesburg itself. It is the oldest residential district of Soweto, first laid out in 1891 on land that had belonged to the Klipspruit farm, which took its name from the klipspruit, a rocky stream running nearby. From 1903 the area was home to informal settlements, and today it mixes purpose-built housing with many shacks and other informal homes, including the Chris Hani and Dlamini settlements. Kliptown is best known as the site of the Congress of the People in June 1955, a gathering organised by the African National Congress and allied congresses that adopted the Freedom Charter, which set out the aims of opponents of apartheid. In 2005 unemployment in the area was reported at 72 percent, and the city council announced renewal plans including a large housing project. The area is served by Kliptown Station on the Metrorail Gauteng network.