#Katlehong

I used to write about food in the East Rand – the municipality just to the east of Joburg, officially called Ekurhuleni – all the time. (For a few examples, see here and here and here.) But it’s been far too long since I’ve recommended a food spot in the East, so I’m dropping in quickly to tell you about Zani Eatery in Katlehong.

Last weekend I attended my second #SpazaShopTour of Katlehong and Thokoza (see my post about the first tour), and visited the Thokoza Memorial for the first time. The Thokoza Memorial, opened in 1999, honors the people who died in this area during the violent political conflict in the years leading up to South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.

On Saturday I participated in the first-ever #SpazaShopTour, starting and ending at African Accent Spaza Shop in Katlehong.

The weather was miraculously perfect for a six-kilometer walk. We wound through Katlehong and Thokoza, visiting spaza shops and street-side cafés and historical sites, chatting with each other and those we met along the way. Bongani, our host, walked us past his family home and explained what it was like to grow up in Katlehong in the early 1990s, when a deadly war broke out as the apartheid regime came to an end.

Many of you may remember my post about the African Accent Spaza Shop in Katlehong, which I visited for the first time in June.

I’ve kept going back, for various reasons. Every time I go I wind up spending hours sitting outside the spaza shop, chatting with my friends Bongani and Nkosikhona about anything and everything. At some point the three of us started talking about organizing a tour.

This past weekend was South Africa’s first weekend under Level 3 lockdown, during which we’re allowed to move around more or less as we please within provincial borders. So like many South Africans, I got out of the house – for real – and went to the African Accent spaza shop in Katlehong.