Beyond the legacy of 1976: Morris Isaacson High School, popular memory and the struggle for education in central Soweto

ABSTRACT

Morris Isaacson High School in Jabavu, Soweto, has often been described as the epicentre of the June 1976 Uprising. It has become a focal point for memorials and annual commemorations. Few South Africans know anything else about the school. This paper argues that, while the school did in fact play an important role in the Uprising, it has a longer and possibly more important history as an educational institution catering to often extremely poor, working class families in the heart of Soweto. I discuss Morris Isaacson in historical memory, including an analysis of the filming of Sarafina! and conclude that in educational terms, Morris Isaacson has been much neglected. Astute leadership and committed alumni in recent years have managed to leverage the school’s political fame to attract state and private sponsorship. But this material assistance has not entirely resolved the school’s problems, which are mostly rooted in the deeper deprivation of its neighbourhood.

KEYWORDS:

• Soweto high schools
• Bantu Education
• Sarafina!
• 1976 Soweto Uprising
• historical commemoration
• school boycotts

Note on contributor

Professor Clive Glaser is a lecturer in history at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He has published widely on the history of youth politics, youth culture, crime, and sexuality in South Africa. He is the author of Bo-Tsotsi: The Youth Gangs of Soweto, 1935 – 1976 and co-author of From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882–1990 vol 5: Challenge and Victory, 1980–1990.

Notes

1 The extent of ANC involvement is contested. Some former participants have highlighted secret ANC cells operating in Soweto schools before 1976. See, for example, Nozipho Diseko (1991) and interviews of Sikosi Mji for the South African Democracy Education Trust conducted by Neo Ramoupi, Pretoria, 14, 15, 20 and 26 November 2007. The consensus among scholars of the Uprising is that the ANC was a peripheral actor, caught off-guard by the student action. For a useful overview of this dispute, see Nieftagodien 2014:22-25.

2 See Star, 16 and 17 June, 1997; Citizen, 17 June, 1998.

3 See Sowetan Sunday World, 17 June, 2001; Business Day, 15 June, 2001.

4 Citizen, 17 June, 2006.

5 City Press, 18 June, 2006: ‘June 16 Remembered: Marchers relive the day Soweto pupils took apartheid head on’. MIHS kicked off a series of commemorations on 29 May 2016, when local politicians arrived to address a special assembly and pay ‘tribute to the heroes of that generation’. See Star, 30 May, 2016.

6 Star, 17 June, 2010.

7 Naledi High School’s contribution is best laid out in Mkhabela 2001, especially Chapter 5 and 6. See also, for example, Sowetan, 14 June, 2006: ‘Time to reveal facts’ by Mlungisi Ntsele; Daily Sun, 15 June, 2016: reminiscences from Jabu Kumalo; Sunday Times, 18 June, 2017: ‘The truth behind the Soweto 1976 Uprising’.

8 The events of the Uprising are well documented. Aside from Ndlovu 1998; Nieftagodien 2014; and Mkhabela 2001 noted above, see: Hirson 1979; Kane-Berman 1978; Karis & Gerhart 1997; Lodge 1983; Mashabela 2006; Pohlandt-McCormick 1999. See also The New Age, 14 June, 2013: ‘The turning point of 1976’ by Zwelinzima Sizani; and Sunday Star, 8 June, 1986: ‘One day that changed the face of South Africa’ by Jon Qwelane; City Press, 11 June, 2006: ‘Class of ’76 looks back with pride’.

9 Note that in 1971 there was an interlude when Percy Mokwele briefly took over as headmaster. As an outsider brought into the school, he was never fully accepted, and Mathabathe, who had been acting headmaster for several years before Mokwele arrived, formally took the reins in 1972.

10 See Rand Daily Mail, 24 July and 30 July, 1980.

11 Business Day, 8 June, 1993; Sunday Times, 31 January, 1993: ‘Proud school running on empty’.

12 Sunday Tribune, 5 January, 1992; Citizen, 10 January, 1992. See also Los Angeles Times, 18 March, 1992: ‘Sarafina! shoot serves as a lesson: Whoopi Goldberg learns firsthand of the complex politics and class structure in South Africa during visit to film Mbongeni Ngema's musical’ by Scott Kraft <http://articles.latimes.com/1992-03-18/entertainment/ca-3913_1_south-africa> All three articles commented on Goldberg’s initial hostile reception from some political groups, which argued that she was breaking the cultural boycott.

13 The Guide to Musical Theatre <http://guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_s/sarafina.html>, entry on Sarafina! stage play.

14 Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarafina!_(film)>

15 Sowetan, 1 February, 1993: ‘Bleak future for black education’ by Sonti Maseko. See also Sunday Times, 31 January, 1993: ‘Proud school running on empty’.

16 Vrye Weekblad, 19 February, 1993: ‘Op pad na nog ’n ramp’.

17 Sowetan, 18 August, 1994: ‘The unchanged face of DET’.

18 Interview with Trevor Noah quoted in Wikipedia entry on Sarafina!: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarafina!_(film)>

19 See, for example: entry on Sarafina! in The Guide to Musical Theatre (note 13 above); Ebert 1992; Wikipedia entry on Sarafina! (note 14 above); SA History Online entry on Leleti Khumalo <http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/leleti-khumalo>

20 On Tiro, see, among others, Glaser (1998) and Tiro (2019).

21 Gauteng Department of Education (GDE), Morris Isaacson Secondary School Matric Results, 1996–2017.

22 The Star, 15 June, 1995: ‘Proposal to rename school sparks outcry’; Sowetan, 13 June, 1995: ‘New name for school rejected’.

23 Sunday Times, 18 June, 1995: ‘The Class of ’95 questions the wisdom of ’76’.

24 Business Day, 15 June, 2001: ‘Struggle now about jobs, say pupils’.

25 Sowetan, 23 July, 2004: ‘Revival of Morris Isaacson’.

26 City Press, 1 August, 2004: ‘Struggle continues for alumni’.

27 Sowetan 23 July, 2004; GDE MIHS matric results, 1996–2017.

28 City Press, 11 June, 2006 (note 8 above). Omry Makgoale, when interviewed by the press, gave the number of 32 students in ‘5A’. He told me in a personal communication (23 May, 2018) that there were in fact 33. Only two were girls, who were very rarely encouraged into the maths and science stream.

29 Star, 20 March, 2008: ‘Schools have a common ambition’.

30 Morris Isaacson High School Governing Body (MIHS SGB) files, 1989–2011, acknowledgement letters to donors: E. Mashile to Kevin Swart, Glass South Africa; E. Mashile to Siso Msimang, Emerald Green Power; E. Mashile to Michael van Harmelen, Barlow World Plascon; E. Mashile to Stewart Murray, Mitck Industry (all dated 27 July, 2005); interviews: Mashile 2016; Ms A 2017; Ms B 2017; Peterson 2016.

31 Interviews: Mashile 2016; Ms A 2017; Peterson 2016; MIHS SGB: letter from F.J. Mputhi, MIHS SGB Chairman to Parents, 21 February, 2001; letter from N. Peterson and L. Serero on behalf of the MIHS North-South Student Exchange Committee to SGB, 28 February, 2005.

32 Sowetan, 9 October, 2008: ‘Schools revamp to spur leaders’.

33 Interview, Mashile 2016; Citizen, 13 November, 2011: ‘A home for music’.

34 GDE MIHS matric results, 1996–2017; interviews: Mashile 2017; Steven Khanyile (MIHS principal), conversation with the author, 21 May 2016.

35 GDE WSE Report on MIHS, May 2009. Shirley Makutoane told me that the school has been running a successful feeding scheme for many years, but it requires a lot of voluntary work on the part of staff.

36 Sunday Independent, 12 June, 2011: ‘Soweto’s struggle school loses its prestige’; interview, Mashile 2017; conversation with Khanyile (ibid). See also MIHS SGB: letter from Moroka Police Station to the principal, MIHS 14 September, 2014 about drug and alcohol awareness; letter from E. Mashile, N. Peterson & L. Serero on behalf of MIHS to Radio 702, 13 May, 2005.

37 Mail & Guardian, 18 June, 2009: ‘Let the past be the past’; City Press, 11 June, 2006: ‘Life is struggle after struggle – as current learners find’; Sunday Independent, 12 June, 2011, ‘Soweto’s struggle school loses its prestige’.