Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Johannesburg City Council , Department of Non European Affairs
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Soweto (originally an acronym for South West Townships) started with a competition organized by the Johannesburg City Council in 1931 for the design of new black townships for 80,000 residents south west of Johannesburg. Orlando ( named after the Mayor of Johannesburg between 1925-1926 Councilor Edwin Orlando Leake), was the first of its kind in South Africa and was to form the core around which other townships were to develop and eventually become Soweto. There was an increasing influx of Africans coming to Johannesburg in search of work, due to factors such as natural disasters in the country and exclusion from farm land.