| Meadowlands | |
| Pushpin Map: | South Africa Gauteng#South Africa |
| Coordinates: | -26.2208°N 27.8994°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | South Africa |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Gauteng |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Type3: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name3: | City of Johannesburg |
| Subdivision Type4: | Main Place |
| Subdivision Name4: | Soweto |
| Established Title: | Established |
| Leader Title: | Councillor |
| Area Total Km2: | 11.57 |
| Population Total: | 138354 |
| Population As Of: | 2001 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Demographics Type1: | Racial makeup (2001) |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Black African |
| Demographics1 Info1: | 99.8% |
| Demographics1 Title2: | Coloured |
| Demographics1 Info2: | 0.2% |
| Demographics1 Title3: | Indian/Asian |
| Demographics1 Title4: | White |
| Demographics1 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics Type2: | First languages (2001) |
| Demographics2 Title1: | Zulu |
| Demographics2 Info1: | 32.7% |
| Demographics2 Title2: | Tswana |
| Demographics2 Info2: | 27.0% |
| Demographics2 Title3: | Sotho |
| Demographics2 Info3: | 10.5% |
| Demographics2 Title4: | Tsonga |
| Demographics2 Info4: | 10.1% |
| Demographics2 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics2 Info5: | 19.7% |
| Timezone1: | SAST |
| Utc Offset1: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code (street) |
| Postal Code: | 1852 |
| Postal2 Code Type: | PO box |
| Postal2 Code: | 1851 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
Meadowlands is a suburb of Soweto, Gauteng Province, South Africa. It was founded in the early 1950s during the apartheid era for black residents from Sophiatown.
Meadowlands, also known as Ndofaya, has its origin with the introduction of the Natives Resettlement Act, Act No 19 of 1954 with its aim to move black people out of the centre of Johannesburg from multi-cultural areas such as Sophiatown and the Western Native Townships.[1] The Urban Resettlement Board was created and the forced removals began on 10 February 1955 and would continue until the mid-sixties when most of the new township had been completed.[1] Early residents were separated into new zones of the township based on their ethnic background and identifiable by the street names.[1]
The Johannesburg City Council, at the time controlled by the United Party, did not participate in the forced removals but did provide extra land in Diepkloof when space ran out in Meadowlands when black people from the suburbs of Martindale and Newclare needed areas to settle.[2] The Johannesburg City Council did not control the area as it did with Soweto, but would be made to cover the cost of the relocations.[2] By 1968, the Natives Resettlement Board had relocated 22,500 black families and 6,500 single persons in both Meadowlands and Diepkloof and would administer both areas as they had not yet been allocated to any white municipality.[2]
The forced move away from Sophiatown inspired Strike Vilakazi to compose Meadowlands. As with many other protest songs of this period, Meadowlands was made popular both within and outside South Africa by Miriam Makeba.[3]
By 1973, now known as Diepmeadow, the administration was taken over by the West Rand Administration Board (WRAB) and by 1978, a Diepmeadows Town Council was formed to run the two townships when they decided not to join Soweto Council.[2]