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As a result of it all, the mood of Soweto last week was one of depression. The titles of plays being produced by Soweto playwrights reflect the joyless tone: "How Long?" "To Hell With Death" or "Lord Why" (which was also banned last week as provocative). A young black couple who named their newborn infant Vuyolweth, ("our happiness" in Xhosa language) were criticized by friends for picking such a joyful name in such sad times. Recent elections for seats on a new Community Council to replace the old Urban Bantu Council drew a scant 6% of Soweto's 137,000 eligible voters. David Thebehali, 40, head of the council, won with a total of 97 votes.
A political pragmatist, Thebehali argues that the South African government is now willing to give Soweto's blacks some control over life in the townships. Says he: "We have taken control of the administration of Soweto, and we are going to decide on all its financing, where and when every penny is spent, and its overall planning." Thebehali's most ambitious project is to raise a $400 million development loan in Europe and the U.S.; the South African government will not assist in helping to raise or guarantee the loan, but it has agreed not to interfere.
Thebehali's ambitions are ardently supported by Cornelius ("Connie") Mulder, 53, a smooth-talking Transvaal politician who succeeded Botha. Mulder has vowed to make Soweto "the most beautiful city in Africa" by planning two new shopping centers and hotel complexes, theaters, drive-in movies, a tennis club and stadium and at least 8,000 new six-room houses with electricity. The housing is a better offer than Sowetans have experienced up to now, but there are catches: under terms of the 99-year leases, a father could not hand down a house through his family. Also, the government retains ownership of the land, and thus still has a legal weapon to dispossess black dissidents.
Sowetans, as a result, are understandably skeptical about such grandiose schemes. Nonetheless, some of them admit that Prime Minister John Vorster's government is belatedly admitting that urban blacks have claims to a permanent role within so-called "white" South Africa. Thus, at least, some accomplishments have been realized as a result of the riots of '76. Says Lutheran Bishop Manas Buthelezi, who lives in Soweto: "Until 1976, politics was something you went into. All of a sudden, politics came to where you were—your husband was detained, your sister or brother was shot, your house was razed. A whole generation has been politicized. Black consciousness has permeated the whole of the black community. The spirit is there. To kill the spirit, you will have to kill the people."