So ‧ wet ‧ o /səˈwetəʊ/ BrE AmE
a large ↑ township that was established near Johannesburg in South Africa for black people to live in, because they were not allowed to live in Johannesburg under the old system of ↑ apartheid although they were allowed to work there. In 1976 a student protest against the use of the Afrikaans language instead of English in schools became a ↑ riot and almost 200 people, including many children, were killed by the South African police and army. As a result, Soweto became an important centre for opposition to the white government.