South Africa's Stories Untold: The Hidden Social History of Orlando Stadium, Soweto's First Sport Arena and Cultural Hub 

Orlando Stadium, which opened in 1959, was envisioned as a vital hub for sporting activities in Johannesburg’s oldest and largest Black township. The first purpose-built township for Black residents of demolished racially-mixed urban settlements, Orlando grew rapidly from the late 1930s and early 40s. By the 1950s, upwards of 50,000 Black South Africans called Orlando home. From the township’s inception, a stadium was often discussed. But construction only began under the formalized segregation of apartheid, which mandated separate facilities for separate races. Inaugurated with great fanfare by the Minister for Bantu Development, MC de Wet Nel, and Ian Maltz, Mayor of Johannesburg, on 2 May 1959, and seating almost 24,000, it rapidly became a cultural and social melting pot. While originally envisioned as the official home for the Johannesburg Bantu Football Association, entrepreneurs soon reserved it for live jazz performances, politicians held rallies, and residents even booked it for weddings and funerals. This work-in-progress chronicles the hidden social histories of Orlando Stadium, elaborating the politics behind its development and control and the multivalent socio-economic role it played as the first Black sporting center in what was to become the South Western Township (SOWETO).