The Soweto Uprisings

Sifiso Ndlovu

Description

When the Soweto uprisings of June 1976 took place, Sifiso Mxolisi Ndlovu, the author of this book, was a 14-year-old pupil at Phefeni Junior Secondary School. With his classmates, he was among the active participants in the protest action against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. Contrary to the generally accepted views, both that the uprisings were ‘spontaneous’ and that there were bigger political players and student organisations behind the uprisings, Sifiso’s book shows that this was not the case. Using newspaper articles, interviews with former fellow pupils and through his own personal account, Sifiso provides us with a ‘counter-memory’ of the momentous events of that time.
This is an updated version of the book first published by Ravan Press in 1998. New material has been added, including an introduction to the new edition, as well as two new chapters analyzing the historiography of the uprisings as well as reflecting on memory and commemoration as social, cultural and historical projects.

Sujets

• Comparative Politics
• Political Science
• Republic of South Africa
• History of ideas
• South Africa
• Geopolitics
• 20th century
• Activism
• Afrique du Sud

Informations

• Publié par: Pan Macmillan South Africa
• Date de parution: 22 mai 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781770105027
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Soweto Uprisings


Dedicated to the class of 1976: Form One and Twos, Phefeni (Orlando West) Junior Secondary School, and my extended family, particularly my deceased ancestor Mkhulu, my maternal grandfather whose ancestral spirit is guiding me in life.


The Soweto Uprisings
Counter-Memories of June 1976
Sifiso Mxolisi Ndlovu
Updated edition with new material added
PICADOR AFRICA


First published in 1998 by Ravan Press
This edition published in 2017 by Picador Africa
an imprint of Pan Macmillan South Africa
Private Bag X19, Northlands, Johannesburg, 2116
www.panmacmillan.co.za
ISBN 978-1-77010-501-0
e-ISBN 978-1-77010-502-7
© Sifiso Mxolisi Ndlovu 1998, 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders of the various photographs. The author and publisher welcome feedback on any omissions or errors.
Editing by Wesley Thompson
Proofreading by Kelly Norwood-Young
Design and typesetting by Triple M Design, Johannesburg
Cover design of this edition by K4
Front cover photograph © Sam Nzima


Contents
Note on this Edition
Acknowledgements
Acronyms
Introduction to this New Edition
Introduction to the Original Edition
Part One
Chapter 1: The Historiography of the Soweto Uprisings
Chapter 2: Eyewitness Accounts and Counter-Memories
Part Two
Chapter 3: Remembrance as a Contested Activity
Chapter 4: The Soweto Uprisings and Memory Across Generations
Select Bibliography


Note on this Edition
In the re-publication of this work, the author has elected to retain the integrity of the original material. Thus the terminology and spellings used in the original edition have not been changed, and should be considered in the light of the time in which the author created this work.


Acknowledgements
Grateful acknowledgement is given to Luli Callinicos and Monica Seeber, the series editors of the Local History Series , of which the original edition of The Soweto Uprisings formed a part.
Many thanks to Paul Ndaba, Njabulo Nkonyane and Hezekiel Khumalo for their contributions.
The publisher would like to express its thanks to Sam Nzima, Mike Mzileni and also the Mayibuye Centre for permission to use the photographs included throughout the text, the Sowetan for permission to reproduce the newspaper articles from The World , the South African Democracy Education Trust for permission to reproduce ‘Chapter 7: The Soweto Uprising – Part 1: Soweto’ from Road to Democracy in South Africa, Volume 2, 1970–1980 (Pretoria: Unisa Press, 2006, pp 317–350), and the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum for permission to reproduce ‘Chapter 5’ from A.K. Hlongwane, Footprints of the “Class of 76”: Commemoration, Memory, Mapping and Heritage (Soweto: Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum, 2008).


Acronyms
ANC – African National Congress
ATASA – African Teachers’ Association of South Africa
AZAPO – Azanian People’s Organisation
BC – Black Consciousness
BCM – Black Consciousness Movement
BPA – Black Parents’ Association
BPC – Black People’s Convention
PAC – Pan Africanist Congress
PJSS – Phefeni Junior Secondary School
SASM – South African Students’ Movement
SASO – South African Students’ Organisation
SAYCO – South African Youth Congress
SSRC – Soweto Students’ Representative Council
UBC – Urban Bantu Council
UDF – United Democratic Front
Note
These are the years of schooling referred to in this book:
Standard Five: seven years of schooling
Standard Six: eight years of schooling
Form One: nine years of schooling
Form Two: ten years of schooling
Form Three: eleven years of schooling, etc.


Introduction to this New Edition 1
The exact details of what took place on 16 June 1976 – a day that marked the brutal death of schoolchildren like Hector Pieterson, Hastings Ndlovu, and others – remain highly contested more than 40 years after the event. This is despite the availability of first-hand eyewitness accounts and archival materials stored at various depots, repositories, and research institutions around South Africa. 2 On Wednesday, 16 June 1976, parents working in nearby Johannesburg and towns in the East and the West Rand were unaware of the events taking place in their community that would catapult consciousness of the liberation struggle across the globe. An estimated crowd of 10 000 students were gathering in Orlando West, along Vilakazi Street, next to Phefeni Junior Secondary School (PJSS) and Orlando West High School to protest against Bantu Education in general and, specifically, the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in selected schools in Soweto. Township residents had long regarded education as a means of empowering their children, and as such, students’ grievances were allied against apartheid and other racially based government policies. As a result, students, teachers, and parents, as members of a given society and also as agents of change, were at the forefront of protest and challenge during the uprisings. 3
To understand the Soweto uprisings we need to contextualise the event within the political economy of South Africa during the 1970s. The first part of this book is about the historiography and origins of the uprisings – there exist different schools of thought, which are discussed in Chapter 1: The Historiography of the Soweto Uprisings . 4 The second part of the book is about the commemoration and memorialisation of the Soweto uprisings. 5 These important issues are discussed in Chapters 3 and 4 .
Concerning historiography and the origins of the uprisings, I subscribe to the school of thought that focuses on epistemological factors. This approach is underpinned by language, cognitive, and educational factors. These causal factors are largely influenced by the use and abuse of Afrikaans for ideological purposes by the apartheid regime and the Broederbond. Throughout the colonial era, education in Africa, including in white-ruled southern Africa, was essentially predicated on using a foreign language as a medium of instruction; that is, the language of the colonial master. According to Bernard Makhosezwe Magubane, colonialism was not a momentary act of violence that stunned Africans’ ancestors and then ended. The physical struggle against African societies was only the beginning of a process in which the initial act of conquest was buttressed and institutionalised by ideological activities. The supremacy of the whites, their values and civilisation, was only won when the culture and the value system of the defeated Africans was reduced to nothing and when the Africans themselves loudly admitted the cultural hegemony of their conquerors. 6 Therefore, implementation of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction on a 50:50 basis with English in selected schools in Soweto was an ideological tool underpinned by cultural imperialism and political indoctrination. The idea was to break the hegemony of English inculcated in the minds of most African students who had received secondary education and instil in them a similar love for Afrikaans as a language. The apartheid regime hoped that making African children imbibe Afrikaans at secondary and some higher primary schools would produce a collaborationist generation, fluent in Afrikaans, who, as future leaders, would be better equipped servants to protect the interests of the ruling white minority regime. 7
In educational and cognitive terms, linguists and psycholinguists agree, however, that the use of the child’s mother tongue as a medium of instruction in the school system has significant advantages over the use of a foreign language such as English and Afrikaans. These issues were pertinent to Soweto students in 1976. Research carried out elsewhere on the African continent confirms that the use of indigenous African languages in education is advantageous in the learning process. 8 M.C. Botha, the Minister of Bantu Education, would later concede this fact two days after the uprisings, when he said: ‘The introduction of a “foreign language” as a medium in the primary school was a backward step educationally with which the department would not like to be associated: Concept formation and epistemological understanding at this stage takes place best through the vernacular.’ 9 The epistemological school of thought emphasises the importance of both educational and cognitive causal factors inside and outside the classroom. I will provide the historical context defining these important causal factors.
When the British Parliament accepted the Union of South Africa Act in 1909 without amendment, it was obvious that Africans were both indispensable and expendable. South Africa would be a ‘white man’s country’ built on an African proletariat. It is therefore apparent that when the Union of South Africa was established in 1910 all the white centres of power in South Africa were at one with regard to two matters: that the whites had to unite because they shared a common destiny; and, that they had a common responsibility to manage the ‘natives’ (Africans). Sections 26 (d) and 44 (c) of the 1909 South Africa Act provided that in the Union of South Africa only people of European descent could become senators and members of the House of Assembly. Since the provinces had legislation limiting the vote to males, only European men could