Education in Post-Apartheid South Africa : Towards Liberation Or Equity? Tsoaledi Daniel Thobejane University of Massachusetts Amherst
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-2005 Education in post-apartheid South Africa : towards liberation or equity? Tsoaledi Daniel Thobejane University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Thobejane, Tsoaledi Daniel, "Education in post-apartheid South Africa : towards liberation or equity?" (2005). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 2392. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/2392 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EDUCATION IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: TOWARDS LIBERATION OR EQUITY? A Dissertation Presented by TSOALEDI DANIEL THOBEJANE Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION May 2005 School of Education © Copyright by Tsoaledi Daniel Thobejane 2005 All Rights Reserved EDUCATION IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: TOWARDS LIBERATION OR EQUITY? A Dissertation Presented by TSOALEDI DANIEL THOBEJANE Approved as to style and content by: Maurianne Adams, Member ohn E. Higginscmf; Member Andrew Effrat, Dean School of Education DEDICATION l would like to dedicate this work to my daughter Lekgethe Damaris and her brother, Mamalema.I also thank Mangope, Nkhulu, Jim, Selatole, Johanna, Margaret and Ouma, my mother Leah Kekana Thobejane and my father Mmirika Jackson Thobejane for their love. Most of all, I am dedicating this work to all those ex-student militants and combatants from the African National Congress, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, the Azanian People's Organization and the Black Consciousness Movement of .Azania who laid down their lives on the altar of freedom to free South .Africa from the chains of Apartheid subjugation ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 would like to thank Professors Robert Miltz, Robert Sinclair and David Evans tor their mentorship. I also thank Professors Sangeeta Kamat, John E.Hmginson, and Maurianne Adams for their understanding and support. I would like to thank Professors Gretchen Rossman, Ash Hartwell, Sally Habana Hafner, George Ursh and all the students at the Center for International Education. 1 acknowledge the help of Dr.Mohamed Good from the housing department at the Lniversity of Massachusetts- Amherst and Mr. Daniel Koroma for their understanding. 1 thank Mrs. Julia Mohlala, Mahlomola Maboke, Dr David Bell, Mrs Bev Bell, Dr. Collins Cavell, Professor Mangaliso Mzamo, Dr.Mohamed Elgadi, Jose Perez, Jennifer Martin, Peter Tamas, Heysoll Gomez. Erin Hayes, Smruti Vartak. Avadhoot Gokhale, Uri Strauss and Ahmed Hassan for their help during my stay in Amherst. 1 also acknowledge the help of Abner Ledwaba, Makompo Kutumela, Kgalabe Kekana, Shadow Kgosana, Simon Ledwaba, Benson Kekana and Johny Mkhanda. v ABSTRACT EDUCATION IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: TOWARDS LIBERATION OR EQUITY? MAY 2005 TSOALEDI DANIEL THOBEJANE, M.S., SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY Ed.D, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETS AMHERST Directed by: Prof. Sangeeta Kamat The manuscript examines the educational history of Blacks under apartheid, the educational philosophies ot different strands of the anti-apartheid movement, and the nature of education reforms in a post-apartheid South Africa. It also analyzes the implications of these reforms lor a specific group of marginalized South Africans, former student militants, that is, Black African youths who participated in the anti-apartheid struggle between 1 970 to 1992. It is deeply tragic that a majority of this population do not benefit from the educational and economic policies of the new South Africa, and remain poor and unemployed. Based on interviews, surveys and focused group discussions with former student militants in the Northern Province of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, this manuscript examines the gap between the educational vision of the anti-apartheid movement and the nature of the present reforms. It also focuses on the my research that shows that although based on principles of racial equality, the impact of the reforms can only be understood in the broader context of neoliberal economic reform. This research highlights the contradictions immanent in constructing a deracialized, egalitarian education system that can benefit the Black majority at the same time as the state prioritizes economic growth vi and competitiveness to succeed in a global economy. The research questions whether the goal of ‘education for liberation' can truly be attained and the historical oppressions and inequities of the apartheid regime eradicated by education reform that is based on liberal ideals of a non-racialized equal society. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES xi CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF APARTHEID AND THE PROBLEM OF RECONSTRUCTION 1 Introduction 1 History of Apartheid Education 1 History of resistance to Bantu Education 5 Resistance to Bantu Education (1950-1994) 12 Cultural aspects of education 16 Political differences 16 Other Social Movements’ views on education 17 Post Apartheid policy on Education 19 II. MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE EX-STUDENT MILITANTS 27 Introduction 27 Personal experience 27 The President’s message 35 The TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission)' s report in relation to the ex-student militants 38 Proposed programs 40 Significance/Relevance of the study 44 Broad Research questions 44 III. MARXIST AND NEO-MARXIST THEORIES AND THE ANTI-APARTHEID STRUGGLE: IMPLICATIONS FOR REFORMS 47 Review of literature 47 49 The dialectics of Marx in relation to the ex-student militants 51 Freire's critique of the education system under an oppressive status-quo 54 The binaries of race and class: Black Consciousness and White Racism 55 Gramsci’s ideology in relation to the ex-student militants viii Amilcar Cabral, Frantz Fanon and colonial education 55 Educational models in other countries 59 IV. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: A QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE INQUIRY Introduction ^3 Approaches to data collection Sample selection ^4 Immersion into the research 55 Dilemmas in the research process 70 One-on-one interviews ~]\ Focus group 73 V. CHALLENGES FACED BY THE GOVERNMENT 75 Presentation of data and analysis 75 Profiles of Participants 75 Biographic Profiles of Participants 76 Analysis of data 81 On the failure to include the ex-student militants into the economic mainstream 82 On the need for adult basic education and training (ABET) 87 Self-sufficiency and Self-motivation on the part of the ex-student militants 91 Lessons learnt from data 95 VI. A QUANTITATIVE APPROACH TO DATA ANALYSIS 97 Introduction 97 Key demographics of the respondent population 97 VII. THE VOICES OF THE MARGINALIZED 109 Introduction 109 On the economically marginalized 109 The need for basic education and training 112 The problem of economic integration 1 14 Problems of Self-sufficiency and Self-motivation 1 15 Conclusion 1 17 Summary 125 Glossary 127 BIBLIOGRAPHY 129 IX LIST OF TABLES Table 1 . Per Capita expenditure on education in South Africa 1 o 2 . Liberation Movements’ views on a democratic form of education 14 3. Crime statistics in the country 45 4. Issues that prompted school going 104 5. Issues that prompted non-schooling 105 6 . The government and improvement of the education system 105 7. Factors that inhibited attainment of formal education 106 8 . Detained while in the struggle for liberation 106 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 . Demographic characteristics of the population under study ...99 2. Age distribution .102 j. Percentage ol Respondents in Limpopo and Mpumalanga.. .103 4. Factors that inhibited attainment of Fligher education.... .107 5. Suggestions for poverty alleviation .108 xi CHAPTER 1 HISTORY OF APARTHEID AND THE PROBLEM OF RECONSTRUCTION Introduction In this chapter, I outline the rationale ot Bantu Education that was available for South African Blacks from 1953 to 1992. The challenges of constructing a new education system in post apartheid South Africa cannot be fully grasped without a proper understanding of the pervasive impact of Bantu Education on the majority for a period of 40 years. I then discuss the educational vision and goals of the important organizations in the liberation movement such as the African National Congress, the Azanian People's Organization and the Pan Africanist Congress that continue to shape educational debates in the present reform context. My interest here is to locate the struggle of the ex-student militants and their future within this larger context of national debates on the history of the struggle for liberation. History of Apartheid Education In 1953, the then Minister of Native affairs, Mr. Hendrick Verwoerd pronounced ‘T would rather see South Africa white and poor than to see it rich and mixed"(Seepe, Donaldson, 1999). In the words of the deputy minister of education. Mosibudi Mangena, Verwoerd made sure that black people in the country remained hewers of wood and drawers of water. Since the Minister's utterances, the South African socio-political landscape was never to be the same again. South Africa became polarized between rich and poor, white and black. Whites were entitled first class citizenship while 1 “coloreds" and - Indians" were