Mbekweni and the struggle for liberation

Mbekweni has a long history of involvement in the struggle for liberation in South Africa. This picture of a march in support of the ANC was featured at the back of the leftist publication, New Era, in the Summer of 1990.

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Paarl Uprising 1962

Growing up in Mbekweni I got used to being associated with the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC/Poqo) when visiting other townships. This is because Paarl has been viewed as a PAC stronghold since the 1962 Paarl uprising that was led by that organisation. The history of the PAC struggles can not be told without mentioning Paarl 1962. That was when a mass uprising consisting of hundreds of men took place. They marched in the morning of November 22 from Mbekweni and Langabuya to town with the intent of attacking the police station and prison. The Late Minister of Justice in the ANC led government Dullar Omar recalled this event when accepting an award for Human Rights in 2004. Omar who, in 1963, was one of the lawyers who were to defend the men recalled that: “ The PAC was particularly active in Paarl. Suddenly hardly without any notice the so-called Paarl riots (the Poqo uprising) exploded on the South African scene. These poor migrant workers had had enough. They marched through

Marching against apartheid education

I am the fifth from left in this 1990/91 Education march: students linked arm-in-arm do a toyi-toyi dance during a march to the Houses of Parliament. Student leaders handed over a memorandum to an official of the State President's office calling for the creation of one education department and for the president's intervention in the improvement of facilities. — with Luvuyo Zantsi, The current deputy minister of police, Bongani Michael Mkongi ,is the tenth person from left. the late Ntuthuzelo Ngwane, Sipho Kussie, Bhabha Dantile, Bhabha Ntshobane, Mcebisi Tshandu, Patrick Lakabane and Songezo Mjongile, who was to be the Western Cape province secretary for the ANC at Parliament of South Africa around 1990/1 .

The Matric disappointment continues (01-2010)

The 2009 Grade 12 results are out and they don’t look good. There has been a 2% decline in the national pass rate when compared to the previous year. The Western Cape has declined by 2.7%. If we believe what the Minister of Education is saying then we are not doing well in an important indicator of the quality of our education system. Our education system is therefore forty percent from being excellent. The Minister has already identified what she thinks are contributing factors to the parlous state of our education. Backed by a report on the Implementation of the National Curriculum Statement she sees an urgent need to improve the quality of teaching in schools in order to achieve. Her initiative in this regard is the establishment of a Teacher Development Branch that will focus on “increasing the support to teachers in terms of strengthening teaching skills and content knowledge.” Reading through the Minister’s speech one get the sense that she views teachers as the weakest link i

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