Vilakazi Street

Vilakazi runs through the heart of Orlando West, the historic Soweto neighbourhood developed in the 1930s to house black mineworkers and their families. The street is named after Benedict Wallet Vilakazi, the Zulu poet, novelist and Wits University academic who was one of the first black South Africans to earn a PhD. Today it is a pedestrian-friendly strip lined with restaurants, craft sellers, music spots and the Mandela House Museum at number 8115.

Nelson Mandela moved into 8115 Vilakazi Street in 1946 and lived there with first Evelyn and later Winnie until his arrest in 1962. Winnie kept the family home alive under banning and surveillance for the 27 years of his imprisonment, and the small four-room house is now a national heritage site and museum — see our dedicated Mandela House page for the detail of that visit.

Two blocks away, Desmond Tutu's family home still stands at 14210 Vilakazi Street. Tutu was not yet a public figure when he lived here in the 1970s, but the house is on the official walking trail and is marked with a plaque. Tutu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, remained engaged with Soweto for the rest of his life and his connection to the street is now one of its proudest stories.

Beyond the two famous addresses, Vilakazi Street has become a lively eat-and-shop strip. Sakhumzi, Nambitha and several smaller restaurants line the pavement with shaded long tables for traditional Soweto lunches; a steady rotation of musicians, gumboot dancers and choirs plays through the afternoon; and craft sellers offer beadwork, prints and recycled-wire art. Many guides on the street are Orlando-born and add depth that is hard to get from a guidebook.

Practical info: Vilakazi Street is open public space, walkable at any time of day, with a busy lunch period from around 12:00 to 15:00. The two adjacent must-do museum visits — Mandela House and the Hector Pieterson Memorial — each charge a small entry fee. We anchor every Wanderer Soweto Tour on Vilakazi and pair it with Freedom Square and a longer drive through Orlando, Meadowlands and Diepkloof.