During the apartheid regime people were separated on the basis of race and were not permitted to work or venture into other areas without a permit. This meant that the schools were also completely segregated. At one point there were only three schools in Cape Town despite the fact that the majority of the population was completely uneducated and more than 50% of people were unemployed. Therefore, there was overall no development for impoverished people.
In the 80s the government had a sudden zeal to build more schools. At the same time, there was an influx of people toward white areas as there was more money to be made. The white areas were typically developed and close to the city. This created a problem as there were consistently far more children than the government could keep up with and the government could not keep up. This once again put poorer students, families, and communities at an even greater disadvantage.
Thandokhulu was founded in 1990 in Khayelitsha but had no building to operate out of despite the government promising to construct a schoolhouse for it. In the mean time, Thandokhulu shared facilities with another school operating in Khayelitsha. The most orderly way to run both schools on the same grounds was through a platoon system in which the eight to twelve year olds went to school in the morning while the older students attended class in the afternoon to early evening. This system did not work partly because it took away learning time from all students as well as the inconvenient system of keeping children as late as five P.M. The classes were also completely full with a terrible ratio of students to teachers.
As conditions worsened, the government continued refusing to build another schoolhouse despite constant pestering by the community. Meanwhile, there were four well known white schools on the Cape Peninsula that had been vacant for over five years. The fact that the space was readily available while Thandokhulu and other Xhosa speaking schools had no place to operate angered the community. When discussed, the white communities in Mowbray and surrounding areas “could not entertain the idea” of having a ‘black’ school near them (Mr.Tsoli of Thandokhulu).
In 1992, left with no other viable options, Thandokhulu got the support of community organizations such as UDF and SANCO and it was decided that on a certain day they were going to invade the white school grounds. Parents were notified and readily got involved and the learners were all beyond excited. On the day of the raid, students, parents, teachers, and even the general public squeezed into buses that were organized by the community and drove to the site. Mr. Tsoli said that the were people hanging out of windows and climbing on top of the buses, all trying to be a part of this mini revolt against the current inequalities.
The police had been notified that they were coming and were ready and waiting for the mob of people to arrive. The principal and teachers tried to negotiate with the police but they would not let them onto the grounds. By this point there were so many people involved that all of Mowbray and surrounding areas had come to a standstill: shops were closed and there was at least one helicopter scoping the scene. All of a sudden, the learners began uprooting the fence and poured into the school; there were people everywhere in complete chaos. The police then let loose dogs on the mob, students and young children included. They ran, ending the day’s events but they came back again the next day.
This blatant defiance was an embarrassment to the government as everyone knew what was happening as the story was being covered in the news. The common public knew the reason for the uprising and saw the plea of the school as a legitimate cause. The government then said they would not pay the teacher’s salaries and would remove their pensions. Despite this threat, the Thandokhulu staff and students organized their school in Mowbray. They went to other schools to get enough supplies and furniture in order to hold classes in the new building which originally only had two classrooms.
At this point, the government realized how out of hand the situation had gotten and, “had a change of heart," deciding that they did in fact deserve a school of their own and began building one in Khayelitsha. Their reasoning as to why they could not stay in Mowbray was that there was too much lead for the children in the area due to the freeway and that it was too far for learners to travel everyday. Despite a new school being built for them, Thandokhulu refused to leave and demanded to keep their current location in Mowbray. They stayed there for the rest of the school year and the Matric pass rate in 1993 was as low as 13%.
Throughout the move from Khayelitsha, Thandokhulu had received a lot of exposure within the greater community and at the same time, racial issues were beginning to get slightly better as the ADESO negotiations had begun. A lot of individual people began donating supplies and money to the school. A TV presenter built another building, creating more space for classrooms. A woman from the US wrote to many people and companies asking for money in support of the school. She raised enough money to build a library and got over 25,000 dollars worth of books donated. This raised awareness and another R 10,000 was given to buy books and enough money was donated to build two more classrooms as the old ones were falling apart.
Slowly, the Matric results began to increase and with it, the government was more and more willing to fund the school. When the school hit an 80% pass rate, the government gave R 100,000 which paid for the computer lab. These rates steadily continued to rise and reached an all time high of 95% two years ago.
