Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College
The Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College ( SOMAFCO ) was an educational institution of the South African African National Congress (ANC) with a diverse profile in the area of the Tanzanian city of Morogoro . The courses in the college were given from 1978 to 1992. However, it was not officially opened by ANC President Oliver Tambo until 1985.
Purpose of the establishment
The work in the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College served the education of young people as well as adults and their children who could not expect a secure education because of their political commitment or that of their relatives against the apartheid conditions in South Africa. Most of the graduates were intended to be future leaders in the ANC. In that sense the college had a general political purpose. The conceptual basis of the facility extended beyond the era of the liberation movement and included the time after the apartheid regime. In order to pursue this goal, a diverse range of subjects was offered to future leaders. This should put them in a position to immediately take on leading functions in society after a system change in South Africa. The conceptual orientation of the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College was laid down by the ANC in its Education Policy Document in 1978 .
According to the principle of community care, the educational offers in the college were also aimed at those children and young people who had to live apart from their parents due to the effects of political repression (imprisonment, exile, underground activities) in South Africa. The camp inevitably took on the character of a facility in exile for teachers from the Fort Hare University in Alice, which had come under domestic political pressure .
Initial domestic political situation in South Africa
In the 1960s, the ANC moved into exile in Morogoro before moving on to Zambia . During this time, the first South African exiles received military training from here.
When the South African government banned 18 organizations on October 14, 1977 on the basis of the Internal Security Act (1976) and the tightening Internal Security Amendment Act in South Africa, including several student and youth organizations, ASSECA (cultural association), a women's and parents' association and two organizations of journalistic / literary life, the legal basis for action for all these peaceful change-oriented associations was destroyed. The persecuted not only included activists from the “non-white” organizations, but also clergy who campaigned for the establishment of human rights for the black and colored population of South Africa. Other organizations, including some churches, were suspected of being “endangering the security of the state” and “public order” and, with the changes in legislation in 1976, their activities were now being monitored more inconspicuously for the international public.
For the University of Fort Hare, which is exposed in higher education among “non-white” South Africans, and temporarily affiliated as a college to Rhodes University within the framework of the Bantu Education legal situation, the work base now got into extremely difficult circumstances. This dramatic worsening of the domestic political situation prompted the leadership of the ANC to continue the educational offerings for the persecuted people abroad under conditions free of repression. She selected Tanzania, whose president promoted the cause benevolently.
location
A former sisal plantation with its former buildings served as the spatial basis and core area for the future university in exile . It was located in the Mazimbu settlement area . The area with an area of 1000 hectares was made available to the ANC by the Julius Nyerere government of Tanzania so that it could set up a secondary school there.
The settlement of Dakawa , about 55 kilometers north of Mazimbu on the northern slope of a mountain range, was handed over to the ANC from Tanzania to expand the project. The first teaching seminar began there in July 1982. The first residents of this part of the SOMAFCO camp were housed here in tents.
Regional historical connections
These two main areas of Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College were in a region of Tanzania that was a center of cultivation and agricultural experimentation as early as the 19th century. It is one of the early developed agricultural regions in the country and received a railway connection on December 16, 1907 in the nearby regional town of Morogoro through the Tanganyika Railway with the Dar es Salaam – Morogoro section (later continued).
The sisal cultures in Tanzania are a legacy of the German colonial administration in what was then German East Africa . In 1893, 62 sisal agave plants were imported from Florida and planted here experimentally. These cultures came to Kenya from here in 1903. As a result, Tanzania developed into a major global exporter of sisal products.
The former plantation in Mazimbu previously belonged to the Greek Anatoglu, whose land was nationalized on the basis of the Arusha Declaration of 1967. The SOMAFCO camp was set up on its land.
Beginnings of the camp
The ANC had set up organizational centers in various countries for ideal preparation and for the acquisition of teaching materials. These were in New York , Lusaka and Dar es Salaam . The main office was set up in London and was used for curriculum development and orientation discussion, resource acquisition and public information about the project.
Construction began in July 1977 in the Mazimbu settlement. The management of the work was in the hands of the engineer Oswald Dennis and the architect Spenser Hodgson. In the initial phase, many difficulties arose and the construction experienced multiple interruptions. However, the systematic construction did not begin until 1979. According to an overall development plan, lightweight structures were built on concrete foundations. These buildings were used for teaching purposes, as accommodation for the international SOMAFCO community as well as for the necessary agricultural-technical tasks.
It was not until 1985 that the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College was officially opened in the presence of Oliver Tambo.
Structures and working methods
The Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College was named after Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu , an ANC activist from the ranks of the armed arm of this liberation movement, the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
Mohammed Tikly began his service in 1982 as the first formally appointed director of the college . He accompanied this task for several years and shaped the later profile. He had already taken on responsibilities at the ANC in British exile 20 years earlier. With his extensive international connections, he was the central figure for the early development of the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College. Tikly managed the facility until 1987 and then took on new responsibilities in Lusaka for the ANC. He was followed by Alpheus Mangezi , who had received his training at the Swiss Mission Church in Lemana in the northern Transvaal. He gained special experience in psychiatric care work in the slums of Glasgow and during Nigeria's civil war. After his departure, Andrew Masondo , a graduate of the University College of Fort Hare and the Witwatersrand University and later military training in the Soviet Union, took over the management of the educational institution in 1987 . His authoritarian and military style of leadership aroused criticism of his work as a principal . In the early 1990s he left the post and became head of the ANC representation in the Zambian capital Lusaka.
internal structure
The educational institution consisted of three areas that developed gradually:
- Primary school and nursery : The Charlotte Maxeke Children's Center in Mazimbu, six kilometers from Morogoro (opened in 1984, construction financed by the Swedish Teachers' Association)
- Secondary school : Teaching in this area began in 1978. In this institution, young people were trained in the subjects of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, history of resistance, English, writing skills, geography, literature, agricultural studies, integrated science, technical drawing, Teaches social studies and art. This school career served as preparation for further vocational training (studies or vocational training).
The composition of the teaching staff always proved to be differentiated, which was both problematic and very promising. There were European and South African teachers. Among the latter, the younger people were impressed by the resistance activities against Bantu-Education (apartheid education) of the South African state. The older South African teachers, however, were very much influenced by the Christian ethos from the earlier South African mission schools and the University of Fort Hare with traditional-liberal approaches. However, these mission schools have been destroyed by the gradual implementation of apartheid legislation. Some teachers brought their own experience from the liberal universities of Cape Town and Witwatersrand . The African teaching staff included people from Nigeria , Zambia and Tanzania. The European educators came mainly from Great Britain , Sweden , the Netherlands , the GDR and the Soviet Union . The school always lived from a worldwide network of supporters and sympathizers. This was evident in the composition of their teaching staff and created a cosmopolitan atmosphere among the teachers as well as among the pupils and students .
Only English was accepted as the language of instruction . In addition, many languages, such as French , Portuguese , Danish , Afrikaans , Xhosa , Zulu , Swahili , Sotho , Tswana , Bemba , Nyanja and mixed forms were spoken on campus . In external relations, communication with the people of Tanzania was maintained using Swahili.
For the necessary teaching equipment, the facility had printed teaching materials from South Africa from the South African Committee for Higher Education (SACHED). A scientific library was available for the higher education courses.
- Dakawa Development Center: In 1980 the government of Tanzania handed over 300 hectares of land with the Dakawa settlement to the ANC. The Dakawa Development Center was set up there, serving adult education and rehabilitation measures. There was also a hospital built with Dutch support with 16 beds and a clinic. In the vicinity of this settlement, various small-scale industrial and craft units as well as agricultural facilities for training and self-sufficiency of the college were established. These included a textile factory, a joinery and furniture factory, a shoe factory and technical service areas, such as a tailoring, delivery service, car mechanic, electrical engineering, welding and repair departments. Finally, the Dakawa Vocational Training Center , Dakawa Arts Center and sports facilities were also located here . After a few years the Dakawa Development Center consisted of several sub-settlements, which together required their own communal management and it was difficult to manage from Mazimbu. This realization prevailed in 1989. As a consequence, the election of a mayor was proposed. Some projects at this location were only implemented after they were returned to the Tanzanian state.
Administrative development
With the establishment of an education department at the ANC, the administrative sector of this organization followed the growing demands of qualified training practice. This board of directors included an examination committee and a grant committee . In addition, a curriculum development group was established and communication links with other ANC departments were developed. In 1983 a team of experts from UNESCO visited the college, which thereby granted a supportive influence.
As early as 1985 UNESCO reacted again and financed an evaluation team on site. One result of the evaluation was the recommendation that the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in London should endeavor to obtain admission to the General Certificate of Education .
Structural infrastructure
Both settlements had functioning electricity and water supplies as well as a sewage network. The functional areas and almost 1000 apartments were connected by a road network. These considerable expenses were made possible by the preliminary work of a planning department at the ANC with South African and foreign experts. Necessary work was, if the camp residents were not sufficient, implemented by using Tanzanian workers from the region.
End of Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College
Prominent ANC members attended college in the later years. According to Walter Sisulu , Nelson Mandela attended the ANC educational institution in March 1990 .
In the last few years, increasing commitment has been devoted to educating and preventing the AIDS epidemic.
On July 9, 1992, the ANC handed the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College over to the Tanzanian government. Oliver Tambo and the Tanzanian President Ali Hassan Mwinyi were present at the festive ceremony scheduled for this . The total value of the facility at the time of delivery was estimated at $ 600 million.
Mazimbu
The Sokoine University in Morogoro (Sokoine University of Agriculture) operates since 2000 in Mazimbu with the facilities of the former SOMAFCO main area the Solomon Mahlangu Campus Mazimbu than its largest tributary campus .
From 1992 until this point in time, the 1000 hectare site was associated with the university and could be used by it. In doing so, she had to take into account the functionality of the previously existing training structures. During this period, these consisted of the previous three-stage school education and adult education. There were 40 classrooms available, four lecture halls, an art studio, a library, six laboratories and three computer rooms. An administration building, a meeting place, six boarding school units, social community facilities and sports facilities as well as 300 employee houses belonged to this complex.
Since the final transfer to Sokoine University, the facilities have been used by around 1,500 students. For Tanzania, this university is of great economic importance because it embodies a traditional profile in agricultural topics. The primary school, the children's center and the hospital continue to work under the direction of other Tanzanian agencies.
Dakawa
The situation for the continuation of the complex in Dakawa was more difficult and differentiated than in Mazimbu. After the end, the school facilities in the Dakawa settlement were transferred from the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College to the Ruth First Orientation Center and are now (2009) all subordinate to the Tanzanian Ministry of Education. The Ruth First Education Orientation Center now runs a secondary school that was ranked among the six best of its kind in Tanzania in 2001 (out of a total of 124 institutions). There are also places for 150 students at their upstream primary school. Some economic facilities were not preserved. The structural change was particularly noticeable here. The greater distance to the regional center of Morogoro and the emigration of most of the South African people had a particularly negative effect.
The whereabouts of the documents and other historical evidence
The archival records and other important historical evidence from the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College are now held in the ANC Archives on the campus of the South African University of Fort Hare. In September 1992 they were taken directly from Tanzania to their current storage location in a container. As a result, they have been preserved to a great extent. The archive is divided into 17 departments. The collection holdings include, for example, administrative documents, extensive correspondence, curricula, certificates, examination papers, artistic works in the form of graphics and sculptures as well as audio documents and images. The archive holdings are kept and processed in a modern way according to international archive standards.
Retrospective, effects
The Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College created a functioning educational perspective for a certain part of the politically active group of people during the liberation struggle from apartheid politics in South Africa. However, it was unable to provide a realistic bridging concept for the differentiated ethnic and multicultural society of the country after the overcoming of apartheid in 1994. The cosmopolitan influences at the camp and its intensive external relations could not be transferred to the education system of South Africa, which was freed from apartheid structures. The huge tasks to improve the living and work situation in the residential areas of the black and colored population, taking into account a very large number of torn families, required different educational concepts after 1994. Under these circumstances, the educational work of the ANC between 1978 and 1992 in the exile of Tanzania remains a specific historical, also very deserving and almost elitist stage on the way to realizing the principle of equality for the entire population in South Africa.
Hashim Mbita, Secretary General of the OAU Liberation Committee said of the camp: "SOMAFCO is a 'late child' in the relationship between Tanzanians and South Africans." This organization played a crucial role in locating the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College.
The Tanzanian state played an important role in the safety of this educational institution, especially the complex in Mazimbu. South Africa had repeatedly exerted political pressure on states with an ANC representation and tried to use its services to implement specific measures abroad. As a result, there was permanent fear of a military air command of the South Africans from the territory of Malawi . For this reason, units of the Tanzanian Defense Force (TDF) were commissioned to secure the area around the college by means of patrols and, if necessary, to protect its students and teachers outside the premises. For this reason, visiting the college was regulated by guests and required official approval. The security officers feared attacks by South African agents, for example a poison attack on the drinking water supply from the Ngerengere River, which runs not far from the camp .
Cemeteries have been established in Mazimbu and Dakawa for those who died in college. The official representative of South Africa in Dar es Salaam is entrusted with the task of protecting and preserving these places of remembrance of the dead and the former camps as today's national memorials.
literature
- Peter Kallaway: The History of Education under Apartheid 1948–1994: The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be Opened . Peter Lang Publishing Inc., New York 2002, ISBN 1-86891-192-6
Individual evidence
- ^ SOMAFCO Trust, About us, accessed November 9, 2009
- ↑ Manfred Kurz: Indirect Rule and Violence in South Africa . Hamburg (Institute for Africa Customers) 1981, pp. 105-108
- ↑ Gunther Franke (ed.): Useful plants of the tropics and subtropics. Volume II Grain, Fruit-Producing Plants, Fiber Plants . Leipzig (S. Hirzel Verlag) 1984, p. 350
- ^ Nelson Mandela's Tanzania trips revisited . on http://www.nelsonmandela.org ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ Pethu Serote: Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College: A Unique Educational Experience South African in Tanzania, 1992 (PDF, 550 kB) accessed October 29, 2009
- ^ Sokoine University of Agriculture. Welcome to Solomon Mahlangu Campus (SMC). at www.suanet.ac.tz ( Memento of the original from January 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ^ Background of the Sokoine University of Agriculture. at www.suanet.ac.tz ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ Bertil Högberg: Mohammed Tikly . Interview with Mohammed Tikly on July 25, 2005, online at www.liberationafrica.se (English, accessed March 25, 2020)
- ↑ Somafco: The bridge between South Africa and Tanzania ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed October 30, 2009)
Web links
- Brief description on www.sahistory (English text)
- Brief description on the ANC homepage (English text)
- SOMAFCO Trust, brief description (English text)
- Archive holdings at the University of Fort Hare ( Memento from July 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English text)
- personal experience report from Sherry McLean (English text)
- personal experience report by Carl-Olof Selenius (English text)
- Download (English text)
- Biography of Solomon Mahlangu (English text)
Coordinates: 6 ° 47 ′ S , 37 ° 30 ′ E