NKOSI ALBERT LUTHULI YOUNG HISTORIANS’ COMPETITION REPORT

November 2012

BRANCH S: SOCIAL INCLUSIONPARTNERSHIPS IN EDUCATION

DIRECTORATE: SOCIAL COHESION AND EQUITY IN EDUCATION

'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'

George Santayana 1905

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ...... 3

Background and Context...... 3

Competition for learners...... 4

Topics for learners 2012 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4

Criteria for learner adjudication…………………………………………………………………………………………………..5

Competition for teachers ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………7

The provincial adjudication processes ………………………………………………………………………………………..7

Activity Schedule for 2012: Provincial Plans………………………………………………………………………………….8

Provincial Elimination Rounds, 8.1 ………………………………………………………………………………………………8

Activity Schedule for 2012: National Plans ...... 11

2012 Nkosi Albert Luthuli Adjudication list ………………………………………………………………………………….12

Overall impression ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….12

Adjudicators remarks ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….13

Appendix A: Reporting template ………………………………………………………………………………………………..16

Appendix B: Learner Adjudication Grid ………………………………………………………………………………………18

  1. Introduction

The following is the full report of the 2012 Nkosi Albert Luthuli Oral History Competition. As understood, the competition was started in 2005 as part of the Department’s effort to boost History as a subject of choice among high school learners. The competition has been successful in its efforts to do so and this year the standard of the competition was high again with learners and educators excelling in their efforts.

  1. Background and Context

The competition is open to all learners from grades 8-11 and open to all provinces countrywide. Learners and educators have had to compete on district level and eventually provincial elimination rounds took place, which thereafter allowed them to participate nationally. The competition is usually held around the time of Heritage day as part of maintaining the legacy building endeavour. The two-day national competition took place in Pretoria on 29-30 September 2012 and each year the number of learners and educators increase. It was two days of oral history presentations with eventual winners decided upon by an adjudication panel.

With 2012 as the year of the centenary celebrations and commemorations, the department has committed itself to participate and co-ordinate the commemoration of anniversaries of events that are of historical significance in schools.This campaign gives South African learners an opportunity to celebrate and at the same time review the progress we as a nation has made in building a better and more united South Africa in the strengthening of our democracy. The celebration and commemoration of key national and international days in education is an important aspect of our struggle against apartheid and the oppression history of which we dare not forget. While the commemoration of the lives of key individuals who contributed greatly to shaping our young democracy and teaching about them in our classrooms, we also look to oral history to unearth those untold stories that hitherto have received little recognition.

The DBE has been in partnership with South African History Online (SAHO) since 2006 and thus invited secondary school learners from Grade 8 – 11 as stated, to participate in the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Oral History Competition.For the 7th edition of the competition this year, a total of seven (7) learners per province wereinvited to the national finals. In addition, each province was required to send three (3) of their best teachers, who also took part in the provincial rounds, as well as a chaperone to the national finals held in Pretoria. In other words, eleven (11) people from each participating province were invited to the national finals, with the DBE carrying the full costs of travel and accommodation.

All participating learners, teachers, provincial co-ordinators and adjudicators arrived in Pretoria in the afternoon of Friday 28 September 2012. Adjudication was conducted over two days i.e. from 29 September 2012 - 30 September 2012, with the prize-giving ceremony and gala dinner staged on the evening of Sunday 30 September 2012. The official date of departure was in the morning after breakfast on Monday 01 October 2012.

Learners and teachers were advised to visit the South African History Online (SAHO) website for information on oral history research at and the South African History Archives website

3.Competition for learners

Learners wererequired to research and prepare a presentation or a documentary film or video on one of the following topics:

  1. Topics for learners for 2012

Lives of Courage: Unsung heroes and heroines

The role of ordinary men/ women in the struggle for freedom and democracy or anyone who made a difference by bringing about change through community upliftment projects and/or development. Learners should focus on those men/ women who were not publicly acknowledged but who were catalysts for positive change.

Life stories of ordinary people in commemorating the liberation struggle in South Africa.

Since this is an oral history project, learners must elicit life stories of people in the community which illustrate how important moments and events in our history became manifest in the day to day life among ordinary people in their communities. For example, learners could ask how the slogan "freedom now, education later" affected schooling in their communities or how life was impacted by the disinvestment campaign (economic and cultural boycott).

The history of my community

Learners could do a project on the history of their communities, which may cover the history of key sites such as buildings, schools, places of worship, burial sites, monuments, statues etc. The interviews will be a major source of obtaining data for this topic.

The history of my school

The learner is expected to interview members of the community who were involved in the establishment of the school. They could also interview former learners of the school and establish how the school is linked to local history.

  1. Criteria for learner adjudication

The following needed to be noted by learners participating:

  • The project must be based on oral history research;
  • Learners should be assisted in their choice of person/persons to be interviewed;
  • Learners should be strongly guided to choose a person / persons from their local community;
  • Learners should be advised to interview at least 2-3 people;
  • Adjudication will be weighted in terms of depth of research;
  • Mode of presentation will be of secondary importance;
  • Learners can present in any of the official languages, however, learners making a presentation in any language other than English, must be assisted by their teacher in giving notice to the organisers within 7 days of the event;
  • Learners must submit a portfolio documenting all their research;
  • Except under highly exceptional circumstances, all portfolios submitted must be in both written and electronic format (scanned). The latter is to enable the uploading of the portfolio onto DBE Curriculum website and the SAHO website; and
  • Written portfolios will be returned to learners soon after the conclusion of the adjudication process.

The criteria that was used for learners in the oral history competition was included in the following two aspects:

Learners were expected to do TWO things:

(a)Give an oral presentation or video documentary of his/her oral research to a panel of adjudicators (It is not intended to be a dramatic presentation nor poetry reading); and

(b)Prepare a portfolio in written form. The portfolio must include the following:

  • Portfolios must show evidence of research;
  • Learners may develop posters for the portfolio;
  • Learners should interview a member or members of the community and should be able to show evidence of the interviews, for example: letters to interviewees, transcripts of interviews or tape recordings;
  • These should include the lists of questions posed to the interviewees and their responses – either in written form or on a tape recording; and
  • Interviews may be conducted and recorded in any of the official languages.

Portfolios must also show evidence of reflection and should give attention to the following:

  • Learners should make it clear why they chose the persons they interviewed, show a clear understanding of the historical context in which the individual worked and how the information from the interview relates to the historical context or how it helps us understand events from a personal perspective;
  • Learners should include a personal reflection on what they have learnt about the possibilities for individuals to bring about change in society, and what they have learnt personally from carrying out the oral history research and the value of oral history research in helping us to understand our history/past; and
  • Learners must acknowledge all sources used in their portfolios. Bibliographies should be included. Plagiarism will be heavily penalised.
6.Competition for teachers

Teachers from secondary schools entering the competition wererequired to develop a work plan on how they planned and set up the oral history project in the classroom. Each teacher was required to give a presentation of his/her portfolio to a panel of adjudicators and be prepared for a panel discussion on it.

Teachers were expected to include the following in their portfolio:

  • How the oral history project was introduced in the classroom;
  • The oral history project should be linked to the local community;
  • What explanation was given to learners about choosing and approaching possible interviewees, preparing for and conducting interviews and using the interview as evidence to reach conclusions about the contribution of that individual;
  • What interventions the teachers made in assisting learners to complete the project;
  • What the teacher felt the learners gained from doing an oral history investigation; and
  • A range of examples of learners’ work.

7.The provincial adjudication processes included the following:

  • Adjudication took place at provincial level in August – September 2012, with districts which held their own elimination rounds much earlier, i.e. between April and June 2012;
  • Provinces sent adjudication dates for both district and provincial rounds to the DBE;
  • The DBE sent officials to support the provincial adjudication processes and compiled a National Report;
  • The DBE also contributed to the adjudication of provincial winners;
  • Panels of adjudicators comprised of historians and heritage practitioners which were appointed for the provincial adjudications; and
  • Provinces identified such persons from Higher Education Institutions and other heritage organisations such as museums.
  1. Activity Schedule for 2012: Provincial Plans

Provincial conveners for Race and Values programmes organised district elimination rounds of which their top learners advanced to the provincial elimination rounds and thereafter, as communicated by the national Directorate, the national rounds occurred. New guidelines were created and a new learner adjudication grid were all communicated to the provinces. Guidelines were also sent to the provincial heads of education as well as to the Education MECs as part of the official communiqué to provinces by the Deputy Minister in the first quarter of 2012.

There are other competing programs that were taking place at the same time as the Luthuli Oral History Project – these included, for example, the Youth Citizenship Program (Y-CAP), the National Heritage Council Education Outreach Program, and the provincial workshops on the Bill of Responsibilities. Whilst these programmes also enjoyed attention and required funds; the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Oral history attracted more learners this year.

8.1 Provincial Elimination Rounds

PROVINCE / DATE / VENUE / OFFICIAL
Western Cape / 04 August 2012 (workshop)
30 August 2012 / Cape Metro / AC Serote /
M Carolissen
Limpopo / 03 September 2012 / Capricorn High School / M Carolissen
Mpumalanga / 07 September 2012 / Nelspruit / AC Serote
Free State / 21-22 September 2012 / Sasolburg / G Thani
KwaZulu-Natal / 30 August 2012 / Durban Teachers Centre / M Lefoka
Northern Cape / 06-09 September 2012 / Kimberley / M Carolissen
North West / 08 September 2012 / Moretele / AC Serote
Gauteng / 07-08 September 2012 / Johannesburg / AC Serote
Eastern Cape / 22 September 2012 / East London / AC Serote

The number of learners from the Western Cape province were 9 learners (5 girls and 4 boys) and15 educators. The schools that participated in the provincial rounds were Cedar High also an Arts and Culture school, Sarepta High, Thembelihle High, Emil Weder High, Swartland High in Malmesbury, Forest Heights High, and the district participation ranged from Cedarberg, Overberg and the West Coast.The topics ranged from Special monuments like Robben island where the key question was how it changed overtime and the significance of this in South Africa. The name Robben island that comes from the name “Robbe eiland” which means seals island. Education was seen as an importance on the island as illiteracy was still soaring on the island. The uniform of the prisoners on the island were determined by their race, and this determined the length of the uniform, whether shorts or long trousers for the men. Other topics included a significant monument, the holy shrine-Kramat Cape for the Muslims, history of respective schools as well as unsung heroes in local communities.

In the Kwazulu-Natal province, the number of schools that participated in the district were 60 and the number of learners in the province, 200. The number of schools that participated in the provincial rounds were 15 and 35 learners.

In the Free State province25 learners were scheduled to come to the Free State provincial rounds and 2 educators participated and were automatically entered into the finals. Each participant was announced and the district and school from which they came. Photographs of participants and proceedings were taken. Attendance registers were completed by all in attendance. The list of names and ID numbers of the winners was provided. There were initially 3 adjudicators on the first day, two of the adjudicators focused on the oral presentation and the one adjudicator focused on the portfolio. On the second day 2 of the adjudicators remained, where one focused on the portfolio and the second focused on the oral presentation. The topics were clearly described at the beginning of each presentation. During the adjudication the learner was requested to again outline the topic. In the Northern Cape province, 26 learners participated and 10 educators.

The topics of the provincial rounds in the Northern Cape province ranged from women in mining, to the history of towns, unsung heroines like the“herkenning aan die klokleiers” which means the “acknowledgement to the ‘klokleiers’ and the history of respective schools. Written submissions were fairly good quality but learners from the same school were inclined to use the same format, same topics and don’t have that much difference in the manner in which they conducted their research. The districts varied from Namaqua, John Toalo Gaetsewe, Frances Baard , Pixley Ka Seme, and Siyanda.Photographs were taken in all the district elimination rounds as conveyed by the province as well as during the provincial eliminations. Attendance registers of participants were taken as evidence. All ID numbers were provided by all who participated. The schools included SA Van Wyk High School, Boesmanland High School, Port Nolloth High School, Aggeneys High School, Olebogeng High School, Bankhara High School, Mogomotsi High School, Banksdrift High School, Richmond High School, Blinkklip High School, A.J. Ferreira high and Paballelo High School.

  1. Activity Schedule for 2012: National plans

All the participants arrived at the Sheraton Hotel, Pretoria on Friday 28 September, handing in of all written portfolios by learners and educators – provincial officials and chaperones to facilitate this. Three panels of adjudications had their respective meetings where written portfolios of educators and learners were assessed and marks allocated. Written portfolios count for 60% of assessment of the whole overall adjudication including the oral presentations.

Chandre Johnson from Cedar High in the Western Cape won the first prize and chose the topic of an Unsung hero in her community. She chose one individual from Ravensmead which used to have the name Tiervlei in the past. Her unsung hero she referred to was an ordinary man named Athony who moved to Mitchells Plain, during the Apartheid years. He was removed with his family from their home and had to go live in Mitchells Plain because of the Group Areas Act and he worked for the organisation MIPSCO. He was an active young man but used to travel to smaller surrounding places. He had decided to go to Grabouw with his friends and that was when the road accident occurred. This individual started drinking, and he lost his friend. He became wheelchair bound and from this he became a hero in the community.He used substances but eventually stopped and then started working for the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities. He then started the RAMP project with Trevor Manual, started in Mitchell’s Plain and had ramps built in the communities. Through this tragedy he became a hero and he even has a picture with Nelson Mandela. Chandre also indicated that her reflection was about gaining knowledge about time-management, computers, and the project was nice for her to be involved in.

Luke Buys looked at the establishment of the United Democratic Front. He referred to the Rocklands Mitchells Plain and the UDF monument that was erected there. The importance of this monument represented the birth of the UDF Nationalist government and he referred to Alan Boesak who spoke at this first launch of the UDF. Mr Daniels which was one of his interviewees said Alan Boesak was very powerful. He made great reference to the youth leadership and the student uprisings which did not end peacefully. He elaborated further on Cape Town coming “alive” during these years and made reference to the women’s organisations that also played an active part. The Kitchen parliament that was established, the tripartite alliance. “The black Christmas” was also referred to where so many protests and killings took place which resulted in the name being given as people lit candles and didn’t celebrate Christmas that is why it was called that. The monument is a very good example of this reminder of the rich history and he indicated that the memory should not be forgotten. He also made a statement “Behind every successful man is a successful woman”