Date: 19/07/2006
Source: Department of Education
Title: Pandor: Exhibition Opening in Commemoration of 16 June 1976 Student Uprising
Address by the Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, at the exhibition opening in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the 1976 student uprising, Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg
THROUGH THE CAMERA'S EYE
Mr Peter Magubane,
MC Mr Christopher Till,
Guests,
It is an honour for me to open this exhibition at the Apartheid Museum marking the thirtieth anniversary of the 1976 student uprising. It is appropriate that this exhibition is housed in the Apartheid Museum where the complexity of the apartheid state in South Africa in the twentieth century is so vividly and graphically portrayed.
This exhibition highlights the struggles of our youth, three decades ago, when they rose up against the oppressive weight of apartheid.
Apartheid was a system that promoted degradation and subservience for the black majority. It was a system that attempted deliberately to create an education system that was unequal and discriminatory. It was a system that bred negative education practices and created the difficult legacy we still confront today.
The student uprising, starting in Soweto and then erupting throughout the country, was one of the major turning points in the struggle for freedom and democracy in South Africa.
Peter Magubane’s images bring back to life the moments of the days of 1976, capturing the raw courage of those learners who rallied around the call to resist oppression. The images vividly capture the brutality of the apartheid state – the tear gassing, the shootings, and the killings. This exhibition displays much of the iconic imagery that has formed the basis of the history of the struggles of the youth of 1976.
But the images also serve to remind us that the events of 1976 and beyond were about individuals – often nameless – but recorded forever in these images captured by a truly dedicated and remarkable South African.
I pay tribute to Mr Peter Magubane who so courageously put himself into incredible danger to record for posterity the revolt of our youth in Soweto.
What is truly remarkable is that Mr Magubane had previously faced the wrath and brutality of the apartheid state. In 1969 he was tortured, detained for 586 days in solitary confinement, and then faced banning for five years. In March of 1971 he was arrested again, spent 98 days in solitary confinement, and was then jailed for six months.
And yet when the Soweto uprisings occurred, he was back on the streets. Of that remarkable role in showing the world what was happening in South Africa he simply says: “I think that I was there as a messenger and as a messenger, I did my job”.
His photographs have documented the struggle for liberation in South Africa. He has published a dozen books of photography, and given innumerable exhibitions. His photographs of Nelson Mandela being taken to the treason trial in 1956, of the 69 coffins of the victims of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, of the 1976 uprising and beyond, are our vivid recordings of South Africa’s struggle for freedom.
Peter Magubane has forged an impressive career that spans over half a century and he has deservedly received numerous prestigious international accolades for his contribution to the world of photography.
This exhibition encapsulates around Peter Magubane’s gift to the South African people. Without these images and those like them, it would be difficult for South Africans, particularly those for whom Soweto and other townships were like a foreign country – somewhere out there - to begin to understand the daily lives of oppression of the majority of South Africans. Peter Magubane says the following about his contact with young protestors in 1976. These young people tried to stop him from taking photographs:
“Listen let me tell you something: a struggle without documentation is no struggle at all. You have to rethink, if you get mowed down by the police and there is no documentation, no one, your parents wouldn’t know and the world wouldn’t know. I beg you, let us all in … Let us document your struggle…..”
Again Peter Magubane sums up his legacy:
“I work with a camera, I don’t work with a pen. I believe in documenting. You know, not so many people are able to document their own histories. It is important that you document your own history if you can.”
Our young people are often accused of ignoring the past, rejecting the pain of confronting the brutality of the South African past as they enjoy the fruits of our democracy.
The Department has focused on the need to revive the interest among our youth in our history. We have ensured that South African history is at the centre of our new curriculum. We are ensuring that children do learn about the past.
We are encouraging young people to begin to write their own histories, for example, through the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Young Historians’ Competition that started last year.
We welcome the increasing number of books written by South Africans that strive to capture the histories of ordinary people in South Africa, whether as formal social histories or as fiction. The commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of the youth uprisings has stimulated a great interest in capturing the memories of many of those who lived through those days – the teachers, individual policemen, the families left behind and the youth themselves.
This momentum should not be lost. We do see a revival of public interest in our past. Our learners should be encouraged to investigate and write about the histories of their schools, past teachers and learners. They should learn about when and how their schools were started. They should begin to interrogate whether their schools have risen to meet the challenges of our new democracy.
I am worried that the histories of many of the schools that were centres of excellence before and during the early years of apartheid will be lost. They remain shining examples to the schools, principals, teachers and learners of today of how, in the midst of deep adversity, they achieved academic and all round excellence. Learners came out of those schools well equipped with admirable qualities and skills to take on the challenges of the apartheid state.
It is also by interrogating those histories that our learners and teachers will begin to see ways of how to take up the challenges of today. I would like to see that those schools are given the true recognition that they deserve.
I congratulate the Apartheid Museum for mounting this remarkable photographic exhibition of one of the major turning points in the history of our struggle for democracy.
And we salute you, Peter Magubane for a lifetime of commitment in telling the history of our struggle through the camera’s eye and in enriching our understanding of the past through your work.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Education
19 July 2006
Source: Department of Education
Title: Pandor: Exhibition Opening in Commemoration of 16 June 1976 Student Uprising
Address by the Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, at the exhibition opening in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the 1976 student uprising, Apartheid Museum, Johannesburg
THROUGH THE CAMERA'S EYE
Mr Peter Magubane,
MC Mr Christopher Till,
Guests,
It is an honour for me to open this exhibition at the Apartheid Museum marking the thirtieth anniversary of the 1976 student uprising. It is appropriate that this exhibition is housed in the Apartheid Museum where the complexity of the apartheid state in South Africa in the twentieth century is so vividly and graphically portrayed.
This exhibition highlights the struggles of our youth, three decades ago, when they rose up against the oppressive weight of apartheid.
Apartheid was a system that promoted degradation and subservience for the black majority. It was a system that attempted deliberately to create an education system that was unequal and discriminatory. It was a system that bred negative education practices and created the difficult legacy we still confront today.
The student uprising, starting in Soweto and then erupting throughout the country, was one of the major turning points in the struggle for freedom and democracy in South Africa.
Peter Magubane’s images bring back to life the moments of the days of 1976, capturing the raw courage of those learners who rallied around the call to resist oppression. The images vividly capture the brutality of the apartheid state – the tear gassing, the shootings, and the killings. This exhibition displays much of the iconic imagery that has formed the basis of the history of the struggles of the youth of 1976.
But the images also serve to remind us that the events of 1976 and beyond were about individuals – often nameless – but recorded forever in these images captured by a truly dedicated and remarkable South African.
I pay tribute to Mr Peter Magubane who so courageously put himself into incredible danger to record for posterity the revolt of our youth in Soweto.
What is truly remarkable is that Mr Magubane had previously faced the wrath and brutality of the apartheid state. In 1969 he was tortured, detained for 586 days in solitary confinement, and then faced banning for five years. In March of 1971 he was arrested again, spent 98 days in solitary confinement, and was then jailed for six months.
And yet when the Soweto uprisings occurred, he was back on the streets. Of that remarkable role in showing the world what was happening in South Africa he simply says: “I think that I was there as a messenger and as a messenger, I did my job”.
His photographs have documented the struggle for liberation in South Africa. He has published a dozen books of photography, and given innumerable exhibitions. His photographs of Nelson Mandela being taken to the treason trial in 1956, of the 69 coffins of the victims of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, of the 1976 uprising and beyond, are our vivid recordings of South Africa’s struggle for freedom.
Peter Magubane has forged an impressive career that spans over half a century and he has deservedly received numerous prestigious international accolades for his contribution to the world of photography.
This exhibition encapsulates around Peter Magubane’s gift to the South African people. Without these images and those like them, it would be difficult for South Africans, particularly those for whom Soweto and other townships were like a foreign country – somewhere out there - to begin to understand the daily lives of oppression of the majority of South Africans. Peter Magubane says the following about his contact with young protestors in 1976. These young people tried to stop him from taking photographs:
“Listen let me tell you something: a struggle without documentation is no struggle at all. You have to rethink, if you get mowed down by the police and there is no documentation, no one, your parents wouldn’t know and the world wouldn’t know. I beg you, let us all in … Let us document your struggle…..”
Again Peter Magubane sums up his legacy:
“I work with a camera, I don’t work with a pen. I believe in documenting. You know, not so many people are able to document their own histories. It is important that you document your own history if you can.”
Our young people are often accused of ignoring the past, rejecting the pain of confronting the brutality of the South African past as they enjoy the fruits of our democracy.
The Department has focused on the need to revive the interest among our youth in our history. We have ensured that South African history is at the centre of our new curriculum. We are ensuring that children do learn about the past.
We are encouraging young people to begin to write their own histories, for example, through the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Young Historians’ Competition that started last year.
We welcome the increasing number of books written by South Africans that strive to capture the histories of ordinary people in South Africa, whether as formal social histories or as fiction. The commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of the youth uprisings has stimulated a great interest in capturing the memories of many of those who lived through those days – the teachers, individual policemen, the families left behind and the youth themselves.
This momentum should not be lost. We do see a revival of public interest in our past. Our learners should be encouraged to investigate and write about the histories of their schools, past teachers and learners. They should learn about when and how their schools were started. They should begin to interrogate whether their schools have risen to meet the challenges of our new democracy.
I am worried that the histories of many of the schools that were centres of excellence before and during the early years of apartheid will be lost. They remain shining examples to the schools, principals, teachers and learners of today of how, in the midst of deep adversity, they achieved academic and all round excellence. Learners came out of those schools well equipped with admirable qualities and skills to take on the challenges of the apartheid state.
It is also by interrogating those histories that our learners and teachers will begin to see ways of how to take up the challenges of today. I would like to see that those schools are given the true recognition that they deserve.
I congratulate the Apartheid Museum for mounting this remarkable photographic exhibition of one of the major turning points in the history of our struggle for democracy.
And we salute you, Peter Magubane for a lifetime of commitment in telling the history of our struggle through the camera’s eye and in enriching our understanding of the past through your work.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Education
19 July 2006
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