The Ongoing Legacy of Trafalgar High School

By Oyisa George   

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Trafalgar High school logo

Trafalgar high school is based in the heart of District six it was established in 1912 after it was found that the Cape school board had gross neglected ‘non-European’ education. This year the school has marked 110 years of existence. The school was the first high school for coloured and black people. When the school opened it had 60 students and 5 educators. A small classroom at Trafalgar high school was a groundbreaking place where the basics of the Freedom charter were discussed and plans for post-apartheid South Africa were made.

According to Principal Nadeem Hendricks, room 23 was a political desk, now known as a blue-painted English classroom. It was at this school that the foundation of Freedom Charter was established. In Trafalgar high school they focused their discussion on alternatives to the apartheid structure. As mentioned this was the first school built for black and coloured pupils in Cape Town, District Six around the school the group played a leading role in protests against apartheid policies, including the Area act, which provoked among residents of the city.

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Founder of Trafalgar High school, Abdullah Abdulrahman

 By 1911, education or coloured pupils as limited to the mission schools, which catered only for primary education. The need for secondary schools was actively advocated by Abdullah Abdulrahman and Harold Cressey, presidents of the African Political organization. The city council had to give the go-ahead and Cressey was appointed Trafalgar's first principal. When Trafalgar high school first opened, the school had a roll of 60 pupils and a staff of 5 educators. More than 700 pupils are present in Trafalgar high school today.

According to Nadeem Hendricks, people of colour were not supposed to be aware of political injustice and human rights abuses, according to the Apartheid system. Trafalgar high school evolved as a centre for intellectual growth. It became a hub for political discussion and debate, and everyone flocked to Trafalgar high school.

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Leader of the Outspoken Teachers League of South Africa, Benjamin Kies

Due to his leadership of the politically outspoken Teachers league of South Africa, Benjamin Kies was permanently barred from the teaching profession in 1957. Sedick Isaacs, a maths and physics educator at Trafalgar high school received a 12-year prison term on Robben Island in 1964 for sabotage. Kies's main contribution as an activist was the creation of the political tactics of not working with the system and tools or exploitations and oppression.

He had a key role in the creation of the Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM) and the Anti-Coloured Affairs department (Anti-CAD) committee both of which were crucial in developing this contribution between 1945 and 1944. In his capacity as a thinker, he collaborated with lifelong comrades to develop and articulate the theory and practice of non-racialism.

The central thesis of non-racialism was the concept of ‘race’ was a creation of forces of hegemony and dominance to ensure the enslavement of those who were labelled as ‘non-white’. Benjamin Kies was also a student at Trafalgar High school a school for students labelled coloured in Cape Town.

These people contested the building’s facilities and separate development policies. They could only carry out this action in this one building. The idea was to move the school from its present location while the District six area was uprooted. However, with Harold Cressy High, the school was adamant about staying where it was because of its legacy and refused to move.

According to Nadeem Hendricks, the State security branch observed the school during it political activity.

The cables above the door in the principal’s office are leaning up against the wall and have red paint on them now. The State utilized these wires to eavesdrop on talks. The creation of explosives for political use took place in the biology lab at Trafalgar high school.

As a result of everything mentioned above, the Trafalgar high school pupils developed political awareness and were active members of their communities and labour unions. Despite lacking some basic amenities, Trafalgar high school has produced notable individuals throughout its history, including the politician and former minister of Justice Dullah Omar, the anti-apartheid activist Cissie Gool, judge Siraj Desai and the composer Abdullah Ibrahim.

Like any other school, Trafalgar High school was deeply affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as learners were missing out on school teachings mostly in 2020 as this was still new to everyone. They had to shift things and adapt to the new norm which is online learning.

 

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VC Dr Max Price, former Trafalgarian and student Lameez Fredericks, Trafalgar High School history teacher Salma Southgate, winner of the Stella Clark Teachers’ Award, with headmaster Nadeem Hendricks and Assoc Prof Rochelle.

 In 2016 Trafalgar High school history teacher, Salwa Southgate was awarded the UCT Stella Clark Teachers’ Award. Salwa Southgate an educator at Trafalgar High school in the old District Six is aware of how powerless she is to improve the challenging circumstances facing her students, but it’s another thing if they change their views. Salwa, a history teacher at the 110-year-old school where Cissy Gool, Dullah Omar, Richard Rive and Reggie September are among the notable alumni has been teaching for 3 decades, she currently serves as principal of Trafalgar High school.

Lameez Fredericks who is a former Trafalgar pupil who nominated Ms Southgate wrote in her nomination: “Coming from a previously disadvantaged school like Trafalgar, it is easy to get sucked into the idea of never being good enough to succeed in life … Mrs Southgate is one of those extraordinary individuals that always strives to go above and beyond for her students. She doesn’t just teach history; she gives life lessons and watches out for her students as if they were her own. She respects her students and motivates them and I believe it was because she constantly pushed us to get a tertiary education that made the majority, if not my entire matric class of 2015, apply for undergraduate studies here at the University of Cape Town.

It’s these kinds of words that a student, vulnerable to the toxic environment of mediocre work and nonchalant attitudes (that usually surround previously disadvantaged schools), needs to hear.” In her response to the award, Ms Southgate paid tribute to her pupils and to those who’d made the acknowledgement possible, saying that for too long teaching had been regarded as a Cinderella profession. “When learners come into my class, I raise their expectations of themselves … There’s lots of love in the classroom: they feel safe.”

 

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Ammaarah Creighton, former Trafalgar student who passed matric through difficult times.

 

Another former pupil of Trafalgar High school did exceptionally well in her matric. Ammaarah Creighton wrote her 2019 matric exams as she and her family through a trying year of homelessness and nearly little money. The former Trafalgar High school pupil defied all odds to earn a bachelor’s pass that granted her the opportunity to get enrolled at a university.

 

She was approached by a private higher education institution MANCOSA and presented her with an offer of a study bursary just as her desire of continuing tertiary education seemed remote due to her inability to pay the university tuition. Even better for an 18-year-old at that time, Ammaarah, MANCOSA offered her part-time work as she pursues a bachelor of Business Administration degree. 

 

Trafalgar High school really produces notable individuals through difficult times. Just like its Motto “Per Angusta Ad Augusta (Through Difficulty to success).” You truly earn through hard work.