/ 15 March 2008

First pledge was shelved

As controversy simmers over the draft pledge for schools released by Education Minister Naledi Pandor, a much older oath of allegiance emerged from the South African archive of ideas.

This pledge was composed eight years ago to promote the values of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But it died a quiet death after objections from both inside and outside the department of education.
The 2000 pledge, drafted during Kader Asmal’s watch as education minister, was dropped partly because the prevailing opinion at the time was that such a pledge would be too reminiscent of the way the apartheid government forced obedience to the state.

Some officials in the department also blocked the idea because it would have entailed much work and was not considered a priority.

Fast forward eight years and much has changed – and not just the wording. This time the pledge was pushed through the education department at the direct request of President Thabo Mbeki.

Objections this time centre less on the concept of schoolchildren reciting a pledge of allegiance to country and Constitution and more on the pledge’s wording – in particular the first line, which reads: “We the youth of South Africa, recognising the injustices of our past, honour those who suffered and sacrificed for justice and freedom.”

The 2000 version opened more simply with: “I promise to be loyal to my country, South Africa.”

Some argue that the opening lines could be divisive and imply that injustice no longer exists in South Africa.

Parents’ lobby groups, meanwhile, are concerned that most children will stumble over the “big words” and vaguely phrased ideals.

The 2000 version of the oath was drafted by Asmal and diversity scholar Wilmot James. It was drawn up in consultation with a small working group of thinkers that included academic Hermann Giliomee, author Antjie Krog, then minister of arts and culture Pallo Jordan and Human Rights commissioner Pansy Tlakula.

The group made the argument for a pledge in a chapter of a working report released in 2000, writing: “We (also) believe that the ritual of declaring a pledge of allegiance or vow at weekly school assemblies will serve as a reminder of the fundamental values to which South Africans in a democracy aspire.”

The proposed pledge was widely distributed among interested groups at the time. But while many of the report’s recommendations were put into action – flagpoles and flags were given to many schools – the pledge didn’t make it from paper to reality.

Asmal told the Mail & Guardian: “I was pushing so many things (in 2000/01). Rather than pushing the one thing (the pledge) I was pushing (broader) initiatives.”

He remains in favour of a pledge, though he thinks the wording of the new version could be more open, to encourage children to believe that, whoever they are, they “share a single national identity”.

Director General of education Duncan Hindle, who was deputy ­director ­general when the previous pledge was crafted, said that public comments would be taken into account before the new oath was finalised.

The 2008 oath will be gazetted for feedback, Hindle said – and might even contain elements of the 2000 proposal.