Polygamy in South Africa

On Friday, the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, got married, again. Now this wouldn’t be that big of news in most countries around the world, except that President Zuma’s new wife is his 4th current wife. The wedding is his third in just over four years and the second since coming to power in 2009 as the country’s first president with multiple wives. His new bride joins the three other wives that he already has. While this may raise some eyebrows in the West, polygamy is legal in South Africa and considered an integral part of Zulu culture. President Zuma is Zulu, and culturally polygamy has a long and important history with the Zulu.

According to Ndela Ntshangase, a lecturer in the school of Zulu studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in Zulu culture, “every family member must work for the betterment of the family”. And a way to improve a family’s status and income is to add extra members, he says, and adds that additional wives can be particularly advantageous in an agricultural society.

And polygamy offers women a degree of economic well-being they might not otherwise attain, says Protas Madlala, a South African political analyst. “Polygamy fits into the socio-economic inequalities we have.” An opposing view to this would be that the state now has to support, through the budget, Zuma’s four wives and his 21 children. Is this a proper use to funds in a country with one of the largest income gaps in the world.

Some of those who support polygamy believe a monogamous system would mean more unattached women, who would then have affairs with married men, says Ndela Ntshangase.

While these justifications for polygamy are debatable and controversial in some instances, they are the reasons that many Zulu continue to practice polygamy.

In terms of the government, President Zuma’s wives have no specific roles or responsibilities, but their benefits include travel and secretaries and they are expected to support the president at state and official functions.

The Zulu are not the only ones who believe in and practice polygamy. Muslim populations and other ethnic groups in South Africa, like the Tsonga, also practice polygamy.

The historical context is that when white Christian missionaries arrived in South Africa in the 19th century and encountered polygamous marriages, they preached that conversion to Christianity entailed divorcing one’s “extra” wives. The missionaries viewed polygamy as “uncivilized.” This form of colonialism and Westernization threatened cultural traditions that were prevalent in South Africa, especially in the Zulu culture.

The practice is becoming less popular today in South Africa, though. A survey in 2010 found that nearly three-fourths of South Africans disapprove of polygamy. Among women, 83 percent disapproved.

In a country so affected by colonialism and Westernization, it is interesting to see traditional culture still being maintained and practiced, even if it is controversial to some in South Africa and around the world.

Cheers!

Relationship Between Africa and America

In a number of the History courses I have been attending at the University of Free State, the historical relationship between America and the continent of Africa keeps coming up, whether it be slavery, the rise of African Nationalism, or the Cold War. America and the African continent have a complicated history full of contradictions.

It was in this context that one of the professors in the History department that I have been working with, Dr. Chitja Twala, asked me to speak to two of his undergraduate History classes about this relationship. The two courses, The Rise of Nationalism in South Africa and Africa and the Resistance to It and The New South Africa and the African Renaissance, c. 1976-2000, both were covering America’s relationship with Africa in different contexts. As an American, it was very interesting to hear how the country’s actions were viewed in the African, and specifically the South African, lens.

My presentation briefly went through the history of the relationship between America and the continent of Africa, starting with when America first comes into contact with Africans — slavery. This is important to understanding how America viewed Africa and Africans, purely as a source of labor. Fast forward to the mid-1800s when the U.S. was able to create a place for freed American slaves to go back to in Africa — Liberia. Liberia, with its flag similar to the American flag and with its capital, Monrovia, named after U.S. President James Monroe, maintained their independence through colonialism as one of the only two African nations who maintained their independence along with Ethiopia.

In the early 1900s, it was in the U.S. where African Nationalism first arose through the work of W.E.B. Du Bois, a Pan-Africanist who ironically never set foot on the continent of Africa. This was furthered through the work of others, like Marcus Garvey, who although wasn’t an American spent much of his career working in the country. This was the beginning of the concept of all black people around the world, due to being forcibly taken out of Africa through centuries of slavery, being Africans and working to unite together. This idea went on to ignite those on the African continent, mainly Kwame Nkrumah in present-day Ghana, to work for Pan-Africanism.

During the Cold War, America’s relationship differed between the government’s policy and actions and those of the people. The government’s policy, due to their beliefs in the policies of containment and fear of the Domino Theory, led to economic and military aid to countries to prevent communism from taking root in Africa and to prevent Russia’s influence on the continent. The American interest in Africa was not in interest of helping Africa but in helping themselves through prevention of the spread of communism. The U.S. believed so strongly in this ideology that it even spurred on the brutal civil war in Angola in the 1970s and 1980s, which was really a surrogate war fought through the money, weapons, and support of the U.S. on one side and Cuba and the Soviet Union on the other side. In South Africa, especially under President Reagan, this meant that regardless of the vast human rights abuses being committed through apartheid, the U.S. supported South Africa and saw them as a key ally in their containment policy against the spread of communism. The apartheid government consistently played up the communist threat, claiming the Soviet Union was the puppeteer of the African National Congress (ANC), and their fear of communism rivaled that of the McCarthy era in the U.S.

But many people did not feel the same way as the government in the U.S. In the 1960s, the Black Power movement started at the tail-end of the Civil Rights Movement. It went on to greatly influence Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa, with an almost identical philosophy, all the way down to the symbol of the raised fist symbolizing Black Power. During the 1970s and 1980s, while the government was supporting the government of South Africa and U.S. companies and banks were making record profits off of the cheap labor of apartheid, many people in the U.S. protested South Africa in whatever way they could. On college campuses, sit-ins, hunger strikes, and demonstrations were held calling for divestment from South Africa. Outside the South African embassy in Washington, DC, constant protests and demonstrations took place where hundreds of people got arrested in order to make a statement, including a number of members of the U.S. Congress, as well as artists, like Stevie Wonder, and even prominent Civil Rights activists, like Rosa Parks. In the music world, artists like Paul Simon and Harry Belafonte helped launch the international careers of several South African musicians who were either kicked out of the country or who chose to leave on their own. Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, and other South African artists became world renowned in this regard, and in doing so, helped raise the consciousness of what was happening in South Africa. This all led up to the 1986 Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act passed by the U.S. Congress over President Reagan’s veto, that finally saw the government punish South Africa for its apartheid policies through financial and trade sanctions. The anti-apartheid movement in the U.S. is much more detailed and complex, but this was the basics of what happened during the 1970s and 1980s in terms of the relationship between South Africa and the U.S.

After 1990, the relationship of America and the continent of Africa changed after the tragedy of the Black Hawk Down incident in Somalia in 1993 where 18 U.S. soldiers were killed. This led to the U.S. being very weary of any intervention in Africa, including the failure to actively take any measures to stop the Rwandan genocide less than one year later. Now, the U.S. sees incentives of engaging with several African nations for the oil due to its desire to become less reliant on Middle Eastern reserves. This has brought the U.S. into close strategic relationships with Angola and Nigeria, for example, over the last decade.

All in all, unfortunately the relationship America has with the continent of Africa can historically be summed up in the quote by Rwandan human rights activist Monique Mujawamariya, “The United States has no friends, only interests.” It must be stated that America has donated millions of dollars in aid and has helped out greatly in famine relief and in combating HIV/AIDS throughout the continent, but this has been done with strings attached in many instances.

The relationship is very complex and has changed over time. There is a lot of distrust of Africans about Americans and their motives, which is justifiable when you look at the historical relationship.

Anyways, my presentation on this topic went really well and I truly enjoyed getting to speak to university students after a few days of primarily speaking to primary school girls at Eunice.

Cheers!

Women: The Other History Makers

This morning I had the opportunity to give two presentations at Eunice Primary School, an all-girls boarding school in Bloemfontein. This was part of their Project Week, where instead of the normal schedule and classes, the school embarks on an exploration around a central theme. This year’s theme is “A Matter in Time,” so all lessons, activities, and presentations are based on the concept of time. I was very excited to be asked to be part of this week’s events at Eunice because not only is this one of the best schools in the country which has an excellent reputation, but also I was excited for this type of program that breaks up the normal routine of the school day for more interactive and creative learning.

Eunice is a very nice school in terms of its facilities and resources — night and day when compared to schools in the townships that I have visited so far, like at Dr. Blok Secondary School or Kaelang Secondary School. These three schools really show the vast disparity in terms of educational opportunities and resources for students in South Africa. Eunice is a private school, so if your parents can afford to send you there, you get a truly top-notch education in a school that has seemingly endless resources and very modern facilities. If you can’t afford a private boarding school like this, however, then many students, especially in the township, must go to the local public school, like Dr. Blok or Kaelang. These schools, although only a few miles from Eunice, pale in comparison. Not only is there a massive disparity amongst the population of South Africa in terms of wealth, but also there is a massive disparity when it comes to educational opportunities. I have heard many people, critical of many aspects of current South Africa, including affirmative action, tell me that black Africans should have nothing to complain about since there are equal opportunities now in the country and they can get an education just like anyone else. But the problem with this line of thinking is that the people making these statements have clearly not been to a school like Kaelang where although there are some amazingly dedicated teachers and talented and determined students, the school’s resources and facilities are vastly inferior, with equipment like computers and teaching materials either out-dated or simply non-existent. There is an educational gap in this country, in terms of school facilities and resources, wider than the Grand Canyon, and it is all the more apparent when you visit a school like Eunice.

But in terms of my presentation, knowing that I was speaking at an all-girls school, I thought the best topic to talk about in my presentations for the girls in grades 4-7 (ages 10-13) was influential women throughout history. My presentation was entitled “Women: The Other History Makers,” and I discussed the role that women have played in shaping the world, from historical figures like Empress Wu Zhao, Joan of Arc, and Emmeline Pankhurst, to modern women like Wangari Maathai, Aung San Suu Kyi, Malalai Joya, and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. My hope was to help these young girls see that women have changed the world in order to inspire them and to provide some examples of strong female role models that they can look up to. I also focused more in depth on women in South African history who have been influential, including Charlotte Maxeke, Helen Suzman, Lilian Ngoyi, and Winnie Mandela. Before I started, I asked the girls who some of the influential women in history are, and they surprised me and knew a number of prominent women. They named Oprah, Mother Theresa, Queen Elizabeth I, Emily Hobhouse, Princess Diana, Winnie Mandela, Helen Zille, Michelle Obama, and Eleanor Roosevelt, just to name a few. I always ask my students in Vermont to name a few influential women in history at the start of the semester, and they struggle to name more than 4 or 5, so it was impressive that these young girls in primary school already knew a number of influential women in history. What was great about these girls is that they were a great audience, being more than willing to answer questions and add to discussions. Each presentation was to over 200 students, but we had a great discussion about why women aren’t more represented in history textbooks and why it is important for young girls to learn about women throughout history. I ended the presentation with the India.Arie’s music video “Video”, and the girls not only loved it, but also made the connection as to why I ended with this song and to its connection to these amazing women that we talked about in the presentation.

I will be back at Eunice on Thursday and Friday giving two more presentations for their Project Week, but this time it will be for the even younger girls (Grades 1-3 on Thursday and Kindergarten on Friday). I have never given a presentation to students this young, so it will be a big learning experience for me, but I am looking forward to it and think it will be a lot of fun.

Cheers to the great students at Eunice Primary School!

Eunice Primary School in Bloemfontein

My presentation to the girls at Eunice

Exploring the History of Cape Town

Cape Town is most known for the beauty that lies in its beaches, its mountains, and its wineries. It truly is an incredibly beautiful city, from the top of Table Mountain to the tip of the Cape of Good Hope. But what struck me so much about Cape Town was the vast history of the city. Being the oldest city in the country, I expected there to be a lot of museums and memorials to significant individuals and events that have taken place there over the past centuries, but Cape Town’s historical legacy still took my breath away.

I was shocked to be standing inside the Old National Assembly chamber in Parliament, where every single piece of apartheid legislation was passed as this was where the National Party ruled the country from. So much hatred, discrimination, and racism in one room. But in this same room, opposite where the ruling National Party sat, was the seat where Helen Suzman courageously debated each of those pieces of legislation and made sure her voice was going to be heard in the opposition. Right down the hall, in the new National Assembly chamber, a completely different feeling came across as this is where F.W. de Klerk announced in February 1990 that not only were the African National Congress (ANC) and other political organizations legalized again, but that Nelson Mandela would be released from prison after 27 years. This is also the same chamber where Mandela addressed the Parliament for the first time as President in 1990.

In the District Six Museum, I got to meet Joe Schaffers and Noor Ebrahim, two gentlemen who were former residents of District Six, which was a community in Cape Town that consisted of Indians, Coloureds, Africans, Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Hindus. It was this diversity which was seen as a threat to the apartheid government, so they declared it a “white area” in 1966. This meant every single resident was served with an eviction notice and they were forcibly removed to ethnically-specific areas in nearby townships. This was ethnic cleansing at its most obvious. Fifty-thousand people were forcibly removed from District Six, including Joe Schaffers and Noor Ebrahim. District Six was then demolished by the government in the very same way that other communities, like Sophiatown, were. Getting to hear the personal stories of people like Joe and Noor who experienced it firsthand was a very powerful experience and gave me a much better understanding of the forced removals and their true impact on the people.

The Cape Town Holocaust Center provided the history of Nazism and the Holocaust, but it was through the lens of the country that had a movement that was comparable in many aspects to Nazism — apartheid. The museum was clear in saying that while there were some major similarities, apartheid was not genocidal in intent or in effect. But the similarities are shocking. Both were ardent nationalists fervently opposed to communism and liberalism. Both believed strongly in racial purity. Both used symbols to identify “others,” passes in South Africa and the Star of David in Nazi Germany. Both stripped the citizenship of the “others” in their countries. Both strictly enforced legislation that included anti-semitism, ethnic cleansing, creation of ghettos, prohibition of interracial sex and marriage. Both were hyper-militarized states and the church was complicit in trying to justify both ideologies (Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa and the Lutheran and Catholic Church in Nazi Germany). Apartheid was a racist, anti-Semitic, fascist ideology, which is exactly what Nazism was. There are major differences in terms of the creation of extermination camps and the genocide of the Holocaust, but in terms of the ideologies, the similarities cannot be ignored. The Jewish Museum next door also provided an interesting history of the Jewish population in South Africa. Jews started coming to South Africa in the early 1800s once the British had controlled the Cape, and by 1936 there were about 90,000 Jews in South Africa. Some of the most prominent white members of the anti-apartheid in South Africa were Jews, including Helen Suzman, Dennis Goldberg, Albie Sachs, Harold Wolpe, and Johnny Clegg. The Jewish contribution to the anti-apartheid movement is marginalized, and this museum tried to shed some light on the important role these individuals played in opposing apartheid.

The Iziko Slave Lodge highlighted the role of slavery in South Africa’s history. Started by the Dutch East India Company in the late 17th century, slavery to South Africa was not part of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. In South Africa, the Dutch brought slaves in from other African nations in southern and East Africa, especially Madagascar and Mozambique, as well as from the Indian Ocean region, including India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. Slave auctions took place throughout Cape Town, with one of the most prominent spots being right outside of this museum. In the late 1700s, there were more slaves than colonists in the Cape. This all ended when the British outlawed the slave trade in 1807, and since they controlled the Cape by then, that meant slavery was outlawed eventually. But it was from this that South Africa has such a richly diverse population of races, ethnicities, and religions.

Robben Island, a short 30-minute ferry ride away from Cape Town, was one of the world’s most well-known prisons. In one long hallway of small, cramped cells, some of the greatest minds and leaders in the country languished for decades. They broke rocks, labored in the lime quarry, and gather seaweed on a daily basis merely because they opposed apartheid. Political prisoners like Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Robert Sobukwe, and Nelson Mandela. This island was, for me, a combination of sadness and inspiration; sadness to be standing in a place where so many years were lost merely for standing up for equality and democracy; inspiration because it is inconceivable how someone like Mandela could have been locked away for so long and still come out of prison preaching negotiations and reconciliation.

And lastly, the history and vibrancy of the townships of Langa and Gugulethu were incredible. Both played important roles in the struggle, as Langa also took part in the March 21, 1960 anti-pass civil disobedience, just like Sharpeville and many other areas, and just like Sharpeville, the police opened fire on the protestors in Langa, killing 6 innocent people on that day. Also in Langa, in 1976, just weeks after students in Soweto rose up, students in Langa protested against an unequal education system, and just like in Soweto the police opened fire on the students. Nearby Gugulethu is famously remembered for the Gugulethu 7, which were 7 young men who were mercilessly shot down in the township in 1986. Just a few blocks away from the Gugulethu 7 Memorial is the memorial to Amy Biehl, an American university student who was in South Africa on a Fulbright scholarship when she was brutally murdered in 1993. The cruel irony is that Amy Biehl was a dedicated anti-apartheid activist and had been working in the townships, but her attackers merely saw a white woman and took out their anger and frustration on her. Langa and Gugulethu are full of life and energy today, and from the people to the music to the sheep livers and charred sheep heads cooking on the side of the street, I saw a whole new side to Cape Town that I loved.

Cape Town had me in awe, of course for its obvious beauty, but also for its rich history that the city seemed to be just oozing with. From Langa to Robben Island, from Parliament to District Six, Cape Town is a wildly diverse area that is amazing.

Cheers to Cape Town!

with Joe Schaffers and Noor Ebrahim, both former residents of District Six

Robben Island - former maximum security prison

Happy Human Rights Day!

March 21st in South Africa is a national public holiday known as Human Rights Day. Schools are closed, banks are closed, most businesses are closed, all in honor of Human Rights Day. But the name is a new change to what the day originally is remembered for in South Africa, and that is the Sharpeville Massacre. On March 21, 1960, there was a planned nationwide anti-pass campaign where black people were to go to the nearest police station and demand to be arrested. They were purposefully not carrying their passes in protest at the pass laws, and this act of civil disobedience was designed to fill the jails and force the government to take action in repealing the pass laws, one of the most humiliating and degrading of the apartheid laws. Thousands of people ascended on police stations across the country demanding arrest, including in the township of Sharpeville, about 45 minutes south of Johannesburg. In Sharpeville, the police opened fire on the unarmed protestors outside the police station, killing 69 people, most of whom were shot in the back as they were running away. Included amongst these 69 victims were 12-year-old James Bessie and 13-year-old Maria Molebatsi. But it didn’t end in Sharpeville. Later that day, in the township of Langa, just outside of Cape Town, police also opened fire on anti-pass protestors, killing three people. In over 40 years of unspeakable brutality and oppression, what happened on March 21, 1960 stands out as one of the worst atrocities of the apartheid government.

This atrocity changed South Africa and signaled many massive changes that took place regarding the apartheid regime, the anti-apartheid movement, and the international community. Sharpeville signaled the end of the non-violent strategy by the ANC and Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) as they saw almost 50 years of a committed non-violent strategy having not only not produced any major changes, but also that the government’s use of force required new tactics on the side of the liberation movement. Sharpeville led to an intensification of the struggle and the creation of the armed struggle by the ANC and the PAC, a significant shift in fighting apartheid. Sharpeville also led to the ANC, PAC and other prominent anti-apartheid organizations being banned by the government, driving these organizations underground and into exile. These organizations would not be legal again until 1990. Sharpeville ultimately drove most of the leaders of the struggle either into exile or, like Nelson Mandela and others, to be sentenced to life-imprisonment. Sharpeville also awakened the international community to the reality of apartheid and started the international condemnation of apartheid through sanctions and boycotts. In a sense, what happened 52 years ago today forever changed South Africa.

On the campus of the University of the Free State, the focus was not so much on the Sharpeville Massacre, but of human rights. One of the commemorations on campus of Human Rights Day was focusing on the rights not of any racial, ethnic, or religious group, but of sexual orientation. South Africa’s constitution is one of the most advanced and progressive anywhere in the world. In an effort to reverse the wrongs of apartheid, it ensures that human rights, gender equality and gay and lesbian rights are all properly protected. The post-apartheid constitution includes a clause making discrimination based on sexual orientation illegal. And in 2006, same-sex marriage was officially legalized in South Africa – the first country to do so in Africa. On paper, South Africa’s approach to gay rights is remarkable. Yet deep-set notions of masculinity, patriarchy, tradition and religion all show that the reality is very different for gay South Africans. During “LGBT Week” here on campus, there was a film and a discussion around gay rights, and from some of the comments that were made, this is the first campus discussion of this type to take place here. Many people commented that they never thought gay rights would be discussed on campus like this at UFS due to its ultra-conservative reputation of the past. The point was to make the LGBT community visible and to start the discussion on what exactly are human rights. It is interesting that gay rights are enshrined in the Constitution but still so taboo that even discussions like these are so rare. It was a very eye-opening look at the massive gulf between what the law says and what the reality of society in South Africa is. The discussion ranged from the lack of visibility of the gay community here to wondering what people can do to raise awareness in their communities and amongst their friends about gay rights. It was interesting to hear these discussions in a country with such a rich tradition of fighting for people’s rights and freedoms during apartheid.

Happy Human Rights Day!

Sharpeville memorial - the Garden of Remembrance

University of the Free State - LGBT Week

Creating 21st Century Thinkers in South Africa

The University of the Free State has a new course that is mandatory for all first year students where the concept is for students to gain more than just a diploma at university, but an education. It is based on a number of questions where students are to engage in discussions and to think critically about their own thinking. It is not based on answers but on started to think about society in a deeper way. The topics range from science to medicine to religion, but the one that most appealed to me was on history. The topic was, “how do we confront our violent past?”

The rector and vice-chancellor of the university, Dr. Jonathan Jansen, presented the first class, which was fascinating. The main issue he presented was centered around two individuals with similar stories: J.P. Coetzee and Solomon Mahlangu.

J.P. Coetzee was a young Afrikaner who joined fight in the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) as a commando. He joined to fight for the freedom of his people, the Afrikaners, against British imperialism. During the war, he was captured and charged with treason and the attempted murder of British soldiers. He was publicly executed by hanging by the British in 1901. He was the youngest commando executed at the age of 16. Coetzee said before his execution, “My conscience is clear…I was fighting for the freedom of the Afrikaner people.”

Solomon Mahlangu was a young black man in South Africa who joined the fight for the freedom of his people in the anti-apartheid movement against the Nationalist government in the 1970s. He left the country after the 1976 Soweto uprising when he was 19, crossing the border to Swaziland where joined the armed wing of the ANC, Umkhonto weSizwe (MK). After receiving training, he was deployed back to South Africa to carry out an MK operation against the apartheid government. Solomon, age 21, was caught and charged with furthering the aims of the banned ANC and killing two white civilians during a gun battle with police in Johannesburg in 1977. He was charged with murder and executed by hanging in 1979 by the apartheid government. Solomon was 23 years old. He was the first MK cadre to be hanged by the apartheid government. Before he went to the gallows, he said, “My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom.”

Both of these young people were executed for fighting for their rights and the rights of their people. But would you consider them freedom fighters or terrorists?

Dr. Jansen merely ended the class with the following questions: Should J.P. and Solomon enjoy the same moral and political status as freedom fighters in South Africa today? Should the government build monuments to both young men today? Should both of them be treated as heroes in school textbooks?

It was a fascinating way of handling the past in South Africa and thinking about it critically, and I loved the approach that Dr. Jansen took in bringing up what could easily be such a contentious issue.

“Coloured” in South Africa

This afternoon I went on a school visit to a high school in Heidedal, the Coloured area of Mangaung. Coloured was an apartheid-era term that has frustratingly stuck around in post-1994 South Africa. It basically refers to people of mixed descent, but more specifically people descended from slaves brought to the country from various parts of the world, the indigenous African populations, and the European settlers. The Cape’s European merchants, soldiers, and farmers wiped out, drove off, or enslaved the indigenous population. Relations between settlers and the Khoikhoi and San were common in the late 17th and early 18th century. With the importation of slaves from India, Indonesia, Ceylon, and Malaysia, combined with southern and East Africans that drifted through the early colony and were enslaved, the heterogeneity of the Coloured people intensified. In 20th century South Africa, the Coloured People became one of the four main racial categories recognized by the South African government, distinct from the whites, black Africans, and Indians. South Africa did, and still does, look at Coloured and black people as different. So in other words, Barack Obama would be considered ‘Coloured’ in South Africa, not black.

During apartheid, the racial hierarchy was whites, then Coloureds, followed by Indians, and then black Africans. Coloureds spoke Afrikaans and although oppressed under apartheid legislation, they received more privileges in employment, education, housing, and basic rights than Africans and Indians. Therefore, many Coloureds identified more with whites than with Africans. This continues today with the 4.5 million South Africans (9% of the population) who are Coloured. They typically speak Afrikaans, their sections of the townships are more developed than other sections, their schools are in better condition than African schools, including sporting facilities that include rugby and cricket (typical Afrikaner sports), and they politically they mainly don’t support the ANC but the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA).

During apartheid, the townships were divided ethnically as part of the government’s “divide and rule” strategy, with Zulus, Xhosas, Sothos, Tswanas, and other African ethnic groups designated in separate sections of the township. There were also Coloured sections of townships, and Heidedal is the Coloured section of the Mangaung township in Bloemfontein. I visited Dr. Blok Secondary School in Heidedal, and immediately I noticed the difference from Kaelang, the African school in the townships that I visited a few weeks ago. Kaelang had no sports facilities and therefore no extracurricular activities, but Dr. Blok had fields and facilities for rugby, cricket, soccer, and netball, and as we were arriving, the girls soccer team was getting ready for a match that afternoon with their bright green new jerseys. This was a scene that you’d never see at Kaelang. Although apartheid has been abolished for almost two decades, differences remain very apparent. Heidedal is more developed than the African sections of the township like Batho or Bochabela, the language of instruction in schools is different (Afrikaans mainly in the Coloured schools, English mainly in the African schools), sporting facilities at schools are different, and the schools themselves are different.

There are a few commonalties, however. Schools in the township (whether the Coloured or African sections) still grossly pale in comparison to white schools in the city or in the suburbs in all aspects. Also, students are students, regardless of what schools they are in or what their ethnicity. My advisor, Dr. Moreeng from the University of the Free State, and I went to Dr. Blok Secondary School to speak to History students in Grade 11 and 12 about the importance of learning history. Many of the students felt that history was boring, something that is unfortunately quite universal amongst students around the world. But we were speaking with them about the importance of studying the past and how it will greatly benefit them in any career they go into due to the skills you develop in History courses. It was a great experience to be able to speak with these students and to hopefully motivate them to continue to work hard in their History classes and to understand why it is so important to learn it.

The students were able to ask me a few questions at the end of my short presentation, and they asked me some great questions, including one young man who asked me, “Are there initiation schools in America?” He was referring to some informal schools mainly for boys to attend to become a man through everything from being left along in the wilderness for days and having to survive on your own to circumcision. These are an important part of many African communities and it was interesting to think about how to respond to this question. No, we do not have these types of initiation schools in America, but we do have important rites of passage that signify becoming a man or a woman that are important in our society. I love these types of questions because I learn just as much from them as the students as it causes me to really think about my own culture and society in America in new ways.

Cheers to the students from Dr. Blok Secondary School!

Netball court at Dr. Blok Secondary School

Dr. Blok Secondary School