At the end of this year, for the first time in the history of South Africa, there will be one national History examination for the Senior Certificate. Grade 12 History learners will be examined on critical aspects of our history, including the history of apartheid.
For the first time, the period from 1948 to 1976 will be a compulsory theme in Paper 1 of the examination which deals with South African history. This means that all learners will have to answer either an essay question or a source-based question on this theme.
The Department of Education has recently published guidelines to assist learners in preparing for this exam. Three possible areas for essay questions have been identified for this theme.
1. The movement towards and the establishment of the Republic of South Africa.
2. Legislation and segregation: the concept of apartheid and the nature of resistance from 1948 to 1959 (passive resistance):
– The building blocks of apartheid or legislation introducing apartheid, including the Mixed Marriages Act, Population Registration Act, Pass Laws, Bantu Education Act and Separate Amenities Act
– Resistance to apartheid between 1948 and 1958, including the Programme of Action, Defiance Campaign, the Freedom Charter, the Treason Trial, and the Women’s Movement (Anti-Pass Campaign).
3. Intensified resistance and repression during the 1960s and the changing nature of resistance in the 1970s leading to the Soweto 1976 student uprising, including:
– The formation of the PAC
– Sharpeville and Langa protests
– The move to armed struggle: the formation of MK and Poqo
– The Rivonia Trial
– The Johannesburg Station Bomb
– The development of the Black Consciousness Movement
– The causes and course of the Soweto uprising and its spread to other centres
– The consequences of the uprising
– The repression of opposition.
Source-based questions could be set on any of the three areas identified above. In addition, the following two topics have been highlighted for source-based questions only:
– The policy of separate development, and
– South Africa’s foreign relations.
Interpreting and evaluating different sources of information is one of the main skills that will be examined in the Grade 12 History examination. It is important to stress that sources are not neutral. They convey choices made both by the people who played a part in the history and by the historians who chose to write about that history. Learners need to be trained to identify historical bias in sources.
At last the Grade 12 History syllabus is beginning to grapple with the realities of our past. For the first time, the lived experience of black South Africans is coming through in the textbooks.
However, some gaps still remain. One area of omission in both the syllabus and in textbooks is the history of African women. The importance of mining in South Africa has led many historians to focus on African male migrants and their experiences in the city.
But women were central to the process of urbanisation. The National Party created a sense of hysteria around the presence of African women in the cities. This was a significant factor in getting white voters to support increasingly segregationist policies.
Anyone who wants to understand South Africa today must understand the history of segregation and apartheid. Studying apartheid raises questions such as: Why did apartheid happen in the first place? How do we explain why people behaved in such inhumane ways? Why did it take so many years to overcome the system?
Teaching and learning about apartheid challenges our minds and touches our hearts. Learners will discover many painful truths about our country and debate a number of different perspectives.
But more than this, learning about apartheid is an important process. It gives us a glimpse not only into the darkness of our past, but also into the courage, determination and creativity of ordinary people who eventually defeated apartheid.
It is nevertheless sobering to remember that most people – both black and white – were not active participants in political events. This means that they chose not to take a stand, often because they feared the consequences. The challenge is to use this history to empower learners to become active members of South African society today.