Maishe Maphonya | |
---|---|
Born | 1951 Alexandra Township |
Died | 2021 |
Nationality | South African |
Maishe Maphonya (1951-2021) was a South Africa a political activist, playwright, director and poet. Maponya was born in Alexandra Township but his family was forcibly relocated to Diepkloof, Soweto in 1961. [1]
Maponya was born in poverty under apartheid era in Alexandra Township, later his family was forcibly removed to Diepkloof, Soweto. His love for reading and writing was sparked at an early age, this is also when he became politically conscious and began to write poetry and stage productions that reflected the conditions of Black people in South Africa. [2] [3]
Soweto is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships. Formerly a separate municipality, it is now incorporated in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, and one of the suburbs of Johannesburg.
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Alexandra, informally abbreviated to Alex, is a township in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and is located next to the wealthy suburb of Sandton. Alexandra is bounded by Wynberg on the west, Marlboro and Kelvin on the north, Kew, Lombardy West and Lombardy East on the south. Alexandra is one of the poorest urban areas in the country. Alexandra is situated on the banks of the Jukskei River. In addition to its original, reasonably well-built houses, it also has a large number of informal dwellings or "shacks" called imikhukhu.
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Diepkloof is a large zone of Soweto township in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is also sometimes referred to as Diepmeadow, if considered as a single township with the nearby Meadowlands. Diepkloof was established in 1959 to accommodate people being removed from Alexandra.
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