place

Dobsonville

Johannesburg Region DSoweto Townships

Dobsonville is an suburb in Soweto.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Dobsonville (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Dobsonville
Main Road, Soweto Mofolo North

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
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Wikipedia: DobsonvilleContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N -26.223888888889 ° E 27.863611111111 °
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Address

Dobsonville Community Hall

Main Road
1863 Soweto, Mofolo North
Gauteng, South Africa
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Dobsonville Stadium
Dobsonville Stadium

The Dobsonville Stadium, formerly Volkswagen Dobsonville Stadium and also referred to as Dobsie Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Soweto, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. The venue is managed by Stadium Management SA (SMSA). It is mostly used for football matches, but is also equipped with an athletics track. It is the home ground of Moroka Swallows, a football club which played in the Premier Soccer League until relegation at the end of the 2014–15 season. It was also utilised as a training field for teams participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, after being renovated in 2009 and brought up to FIFA standards. It also carries one of the best water drainage systems in the country. Dobsonville Stadium was originally built in 1975 with a capacity of 20,000 and can now accommodate 24,000 spectators, with improved facilities that include a media tribune, a press conference area, improved change rooms, gyms and a main stadium suite along with additional suite areas that can be utilised for corporate events and gatherings. Dobsonville was established as a playing field in 1957 when people from Roodepoort West were resettled in the area. There were a number of football grounds but the venue off Main Road was the most popular in that period. While it is always associated with legendary Soweto side, Moroka Swallows, who have the club's memorabilia and history inside the venue - Dobsie Stadium has hosted a number of international class events that include the 2009 African Youth (Under-20) Championship football tournament, the 2010 Gauteng Future Champs as well as a number of South African national football fixtures that include Banyana Banyana (the SA National Women's Football Team) and the SA National Men's Football Team's (Bafana Bafana) international fixture against Mauritius in their 2016 African Nations Championship qualifier in July 2015.

Regina Mundi Catholic Church (Soweto)
Regina Mundi Catholic Church (Soweto)

Regina Mundi (Latin for "Queen of the World"), designed by architect Anthony Noel Errol Slaven, is the largest Roman Catholic church in South Africa. It is located in Rockville, Soweto, a populous black urban residential area within the city of Johannesburg. Due to the role it played as a place of gathering for the people of Soweto in the years before, during, and after the anti-apartheid struggle, it is often referred to as "the people's church" or "the people's cathedral". The church is located in the middle of Soweto, in Rockville, in the neighbourhood of Moroka; it was built in 1964, replacing Moroka's former parish church. While the A-shaped exterior of the building is quite ordinary in design, its main feature is the vast interior, that can accommodate as many as 5000-7000 people. The stained-glass windows are decorated with scenes of Mary's life and were donated by Poland in 1998. One of the most prominent artifacts in the church is the painting entitled "The Madonna and Child of Soweto", mostly referred to as "The Black Madonna", depicting a black Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus (also black). The painting was created by artist Larry Scully in 1973, as a part of a campaign to raise funds for the education of black South Africans. The painting was then bought by a benefactor and donated to the church. A highly symbolic element of the painting is a large eye right under the Black Madonna. According to journalist Mpho Lukoto of newspaper The Star, the pupil of the eye represents the township of Soweto; two forks directed towards the pupil from the sides represent the violence that was used against the people of Soweto during the apartheid era, and the cross in the center of the pupil represents the Church that illuminates the people with hope. After the end of apartheid, a large park was built before the church, with a fountain and memorials, including a "peace pole" donated to the church by Japanese Christians. The church is still a popular place for the people of Soweto and it has also become a prominent tourist attraction in the area.