22/05/2015
BOOK RESUME
This coffee table book, aptly titled JUNE 1976 COMMEMORATIVE DIALOGUE, serves as a powerful memoir that sets several facts straight. It’s written much along the lines of JULIE FREDERIKSE’ S NONE BUT OURSELVES, which is ranked among the most authentic accounts of how the struggle for the liberation of Zimbabwe was won.
“While the role that Morris Isaacson played leading to the June 16 events and on the day is well known, the role that Naledi High played especially its unique role of the events of June 8th in the Soweto high school pupil’s resistance of apartheid architect Hendrik Verwoerd ’ s gutter education; has not received the same wide publication. Journalist have in the recent past pitted these two historical facts as contradictions. Some couched their questions in such a way that the public are led to believe that the two schools are at loggerheads on the role that each played in the June 16, 1976 events.” Phala Modise, Morris Isaacson Alumnus. The book, written by Eunice Rakhale-Molefe, forms part of a series of commemorative dialogues aimed at; firstly, demystifying and bringing to light the above mentioned omitted facts. Secondly, marking Naledi High School’s 50th anniversary of existence as one of the 8 heritage schools of Soweto. Thirdly, to highlight the milestones that have been implemented as part of turning the heritage schools as institutions of academic excellence.
Rakhale-Molefe ’ s elaborate narrative is enhanced by interviews with the school ’ s alumni including former North West premier Popo Molefe, Nelson Mandela Children ’ s Fund chief executive Sibongile Mkhabela, the fund ’ s spokesman Oupa Ngwenya, former director-general in president Thabo Mbeki ’ s office Frank Chikane and Provincial Chief Director in the Department of Basic Education and Training’ s Zanele Mthembu. Others include Enos Ngutshane, the man whose letter to the Bantu education department rejecting Afrikaans as a medium of instruction sparked the June 16 1976 insurrection, and retired Sowetan news editor Willie Bokala. They all speak frankly, albeit nostalgically, in the book June 1976 Commemorative Dialogue, and are all working hard behind the scenes to return Naledi High School to its former glory as an academic, sporting and cultural powerhouse.
Predictably, the book starts with the recollections of incumbent principal Kenneth Mavatulana, who poignantly says in part that: “A school is an institution that is about academic performance and unless we have addressed the school’s performance, we cannot truly celebrate.” All the book’s interlocutors present enthralling anecdotes about how bad things were in the early 1970s and how the families and the entire communities’ lives were adversely affected. Readers will appreciate the writers ’ noble and surprisingly mature liberation struggle roles which they played as innocent youths who were reacting to an otherwise oppressive, suppressive and divisive regime.
The book has to be read with a thoroughly objective eye because it is not your conventional coffee table book that is keenly edited, boasting an exquisite layout and a magnificent spread of history-marking photographs. It serves a much more noble purpose. It tells of how Naledi High School is an institution worthy of respect as a June 1976 heritage school – the list of which includes MADIBANE, MEADOWLANDS, MORRIS ISAACSON, MUSI, ORLANDO EAST, ORLANDO WEST AND SEKANO NTOANE HIGH SCHOOLS + BELLE NOW MBUYISA MAKHUBO PRIMARY.
Victor Mecoamere
Deputy news editor nation building manager at Sowetan
