Kliptown is a suburb of Soweto, South Africa, which is roughly 40 km from the center of Johannesburg.
Kliptown is the the oldest residential area of Soweto. It was first created in 1891 on what was then part of the Klipspruit farm. By the early 1900s, many squatter camps had sprung up.
A second claim to fame came from hosting the Congress of the People - organized by the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats, and the Coloured People's Congress - in June 1955.
More than 3,000 representatives faced a police cordon to meet in Kliptown.
This Congress produced a declaration and adopted the Freedom Charter. These later served as the basis for the anti-apartheid movement.
© City of Johannesburg The Walter
Sisulu Square in
The field where the convocation took place in 1955 is now a now a national heritage site in South Africa.
On June 26, 2005, President Thabo Mbeki opened the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication, commemorating 50 years of the Freedom Charter.
As part of a 375 million rand upgrade for Kliptown, the Walter Sisulu Square was builit. The Walter Sisulu Square consists of a park, a market, 17 shops and offices, a multipurpose center, and a hotel.
The overwhelming majority of Kliptown's 45,000 residents, however, still live in dismal housing with little access to basic services.
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