New Theme Park Near Soweto Seeking to Bridge S. Africa’s Racial Gap

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —  On the outskirts of Soweto, rising like a mirage amid ridges of gold-mine refuse, is the first Disneyland-style theme park intended primarily for blacks.

Whites, too, are welcome at Shareworld, and a small but steady stream of them have come since the complex opened last November. It is one of the few places in this racially stratified country where white families can be seen swimming, playing and picnicking in a predominantly black environment.

The centerpiece of Shareworld is an artificial sea, with concrete islands, a 2,000-foot sand beach and wave-making machines powerful enough to accommodate Africa’s first-ever inland surfing competition.

Other outdoor attractions include water slides, a roller-skating track and a collection of farm animals. Inside “Share City”--built to resemble a Mediterranean fishing village--are a discotheque, a gymnasium, educational exhibits, a computer center for schoolchildren and an eight-theater cinema complex.

All this represents a major advance for Soweto, the country’s largest black township, which previously had two cinemas and five public swimming pools for more than 2 million people.

“There’s no question that Soweto is something of an recreational desert,” said Shareworld’s executive director, Reuel Khosa. “This place came in as an oasis.”

On the business side, Shareworld is believed to be the largest enterprise in the country controlled by black shareholders, 880 of whom own 60% of the stock.

The remaining shares are owned by a management company headed by Khosa, a black, and Jonty Sandler, a white developer. They serve on the board of directors along with seven of the blacks who bought shares.

The complex cost about $14 million to build, but Sandler says management will resist the temptation “to make a fast buck” to recoup the investment.

Admission to the water park, the most expensive of the various sections, is 5 rand (about $2.50) for adults and 3 rand (about $1.50) for children. Special bus and taxi services bring blacks to the park from depots in Soweto and from downtown Johannesburg, about 10 miles away.

At peak periods during the Christmas holidays, Shareworld drew more than 30,000 people a day, several times more than Gold Reef City, a white-oriented theme park nearby.

Shareworld’s owners hope to attract 1.5 million visitors this year. Their prospects are rated as good by the Financial Mail, the country’s leading weekly business magazine.

“It is very difficult to see Shareworld not succeeding,” the magazine said. “There is no serious competition, and it is not blighted by any known political curse.”

The Johannesburg-Pretoria region has South Africa’s largest concentration of whites--about 2 million--but they are outnumbered by at least 5 million blacks in the area. Thus far, Shareworld’s white patronage is probably less than 10%, but its advertising attempts to appeal to both races in accordance with its motto: “Living and learning together.”

“Our goal here is to bring together people of all racial groups,” Khosa said in an interview. “We’re trying to construct a miniature future South Africa. . . . We are under no illusions as to the enormity of the challenge.”

City Press, a newspaper for blacks, described the opening of Shareworld as “a victory for all those South Africans who still believe that there is hope in South Africa.”