In many respects Desmond Makhanya (72) is the living memory of Adams College.
When he attended the school in the late 1940s and early 1950s he was the fourth generation in his family to be educated at the mission school. His great grandfather, his grandmother and his mother were all alumni.
At Adams they rubbed shoulders with the brightest minds from across Africa. Shona was taught to provide for the Zimbabweans and Swahili was about to be introduced before a change in the guard halted this.
Makhanya recalls how many of these former students from across the continent returned to their countries to take up top positions in society.
But, the international character from the school changed when the previous government placed its ethnic stamp on it, renaming Adams College the Amamzimtoti Zulu Training School.
Despite these changes, the college remains one of the most famous schools in South Africa because of those who attended and taught there.
Makhanya was a teenager when Chief Luthuli visited the school in 1952 just before the defiance campaign. He caused quite a stir as he spoke to the students about the struggle.
Other politicians who attended the college were the late Stella Sigcau, former minister of public works, Chief Mangosutho Buthelezi and Foreign Minister Nkozazana Dlamini-Zuma.
After the introduction of the Bantu Education Act, Adams College had to be reigned in. The principals and the teachers were sent from Pretoria.
Makhanya recalls a Van Heerden, a Strydom and a Bezuidenhout before Dawid van der Spuy joined and stayed for 25 years.
Under Van der Spuy learners continued to excel, winning maths and science olympiads and drawing up to 17 000 applications a year.
Given Adams College’s rich past, Makhanya is delighted about the Historical Schools Project.
‘It will preserve the school for the next hundred years,” he said. ‘We have high expectations. We feel now is the time to turn around the whole area.”