Famous the world over, Soweto (South Western Township) is remembered as one of the key places of the anti-apartheid rebellion in the 1970s-1980s. The extremely violent repression on 16 June 1976, after a demonstration by young people in the township against the teaching of Afrikaans, was the first of many riots. The Hector Pieterson Museum commemorates the event. To visit the town, home to Nelson Mandela and still a striking mix of success, poverty and unemployment, hire a guide.