NKOSI ALBERT LUTHULI YOUNG HISTORIANS’ COMPETITION REPORT

November 2012

BRANCH S: SOCIAL INCLUSION & PARTNERSHIPS IN EDUCATION

DIRECTORATE: SOCIAL COHESION AND EQUITY IN EDUCATION

'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'

George Santayana 1905

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 3

Background and Context......................................................................................................... 3

Competition for learners......................................................................................................... 4

Topics for learners 2012 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4

Criteria for learner adjudication………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

Competition for teachers …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7

The provincial adjudication processes ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 7

Activity Schedule for 2012: Provincial Plans…………………………………………………………………………………. 8

Provincial Elimination Rounds, 8.1 ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 8

Activity Schedule for 2012: National Plans .............................................................................. 11

2012 Nkosi Albert Luthuli Adjudication list …………………………………………………………………………………. 12

Overall impression ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 12

Adjudicators remarks …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 13

Appendix A: Reporting template ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 16

Appendix B: Learner Adjudication Grid ……………………………………………………………………………………… 18

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1. Introduction

The following is the full report of the 2012 Nkosi Albert Luthuli Oral History Competition. As

understood, the competition was started in 2005 as part of the Department’s effort to boost History

as a subject of choice among high school learners. The competition has been successful in its efforts

to do so and this year the standard of the competition was high again with learners and educators

excelling in their efforts.

2. Background and Context

The competition is open to all learners from grades 8-11 and open to all provinces countrywide.

Learners and educators have had to compete on district level and eventually provincial elimination

rounds took place, which thereafter allowed them to participate nationally. The competition is

usually held around the time of Heritage day as part of maintaining the legacy building endeavour.

The two-day national competition took place in Pretoria on 29 - 30 September 2012 and each year

the number of learners and educators increase. It was two days of oral history presentations with

eventual winners decided upon by an adjudication panel.

With 2012 as the year of the centenary celebrations and commemorations, the department has

committed itself to participate and co-ordinate the commemoration of anniversaries of events that

are of historical significance in schools. This campaign gives South African learners an opportunity to

celebrate and at the same time review the progress we as a nation has made in building a better and

more united South Africa in the strengthening of our democracy. The celebration and

commemoration of key national and international days in education is an important aspect of our

struggle against apartheid and the oppression history of which we dare not forget. While the

commemoration of the lives of key individuals who contributed greatly to shaping our young

democracy and teaching about them in our classrooms, we also look to oral history to unearth those

untold stories that hitherto have received little recognition.

The DBE has been in partnership with South African History Online (SAHO) since 2006 and thus

invited secondary school learners from Grade 8 – 11 as stated, to participate in the Nkosi Albert

Luthuli Oral History Competition. For the 7th edition of the competition this year, a total of seven (7)

learners per province were invited to the national finals. In addition, each province was required to

send three (3) of their best teachers, who also took part in the provincial rounds, as well as a

chaperone to the national finals held in Pretoria. In other words, eleven (11) people from each

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participating province were invited to the national finals, with the DBE carrying the full costs of

travel and accommodation.

All participating learners, teachers, provincial co-ordinators and adjudicators arrived in Pretoria in

the afternoon of Friday 28 September 2012. Adjudication was conducted over two days i.e. from 29

September 2012 - 30 September 2012, with the prize-giving ceremony and gala dinner staged on the

evening of Sunday 30 September 2012. The official date of departure was in the morning after

breakfast on Monday 01 October 2012.

Learners and teachers were advised to visit the South African History Online (SAHO) website for

information on oral history research at www.sahistory.org.za and the South African History Archives

website www.saha.org.za

3. Competition for learners

Learners were required to research and prepare a presentation or a documentary film or video on

one of the following topics:

4. Topics for learners for 2012

Lives of Courage: Unsung heroes and heroines

The role of ordinary men/ women in the struggle for freedom and democracy or anyone

who made a difference by bringing about change through community upliftment projects

and/or development. Learners should focus on those men/ women who were not publicly

acknowledged but who were catalysts for positive change.

Life stories of ordinary people in commemorating the liberation struggle in South Africa.

Since this is an oral history project, learners must elicit life stories of people in the

community which illustrate how important moments and events in our history became

manifest in the day to day life among ordinary people in their communities. For example,

learners could ask how the slogan "freedom now, education later" affected schooling in their

communities or how life was impacted by the disinvestment campaign (economic and

cultural boycott).

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The history of my community

Learners could do a project on the history of their communities, which may cover the history

of key sites such as buildings, schools, places of worship, burial sites, monuments, statues

etc. The interviews will be a major source of obtaining data for this topic.

The history of my school

The learner is expected to interview members of the community who were involved in the

establishment of the school. They could also interview former learners of the school and

establish how the school is linked to local history.

5. Criteria for learner adjudication

The following needed to be noted by learners participating:

The project must be based on oral history research;

Learners should be assisted in their choice of person/persons to

be interviewed;

Learners should be strongly guided to choose a person / persons

from their local community;

Learners should be advised to interview at least 2-3 people;

Adjudication will be weighted in terms of depth of research;

Mode of presentation will be of secondary importance;

Learners can present in any of the official languages, however,

learners making a presentation in any language other than English,

must be assisted by their teacher in giving notice to the organisers

within 7 days of the event;

Learners must submit a portfolio documenting all their research;

Except under highly exceptional circumstances, all portfolios

submitted must be in both written and electronic format

(scanned). The latter is to enable the uploading of the portfolio

onto DBE Curriculum website and the SAHO website; and

Written portfolios will be returned to learners soon after the

conclusion of the adjudication process.

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The criteria that was used for learners in the oral history competition was included in the following

two aspects:

Learners were expected to do TWO things:

(a) Give an oral presentation or video documentary of his/her oral research to a

panel of adjudicators (It is not intended to be a dramatic presentation nor

poetry reading); and

(b) Prepare a portfolio in written form. The portfolio must include the following:

Portfolios must show evidence of research;

Learners may develop posters for the portfolio;

Learners should interview a member or members of the community

and should be able to show evidence of the interviews, for example:

letters to interviewees, transcripts of interviews or tape recordings;

These should include the lists of questions posed to the interviewees

and their responses – either in written form or on a tape recording;

and

Interviews may be conducted and recorded in any of the official

languages.

Portfolios must also show evidence of reflection and should give attention to

the following:

Learners should make it clear why they chose the persons they

interviewed, show a clear understanding of the historical context in

which the individual worked and how the information from the

interview relates to the historical context or how it helps us

understand events from a personal perspective;

Learners should include a personal reflection on what they have

learnt about the possibilities for individuals to bring about change in

society, and what they have learnt personally from carrying out the

oral history research and the value of oral history research in helping

us to understand our history/past; and

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Learners must acknowledge all sources used in their portfolios.

Bibliographies should be included. Plagiarism will be heavily

penalised.

6. Competition for teachers

Teachers from secondary schools entering the competition were required to develop a

work plan on how they planned and set up the oral history project in the classroom. Each

teacher was required to give a presentation of his/her portfolio to a panel of adjudicators

and be prepared for a panel discussion on it.

Teachers were expected to include the following in their portfolio:

How the oral history project was introduced in the classroom;

The oral history project should be linked to the local community;

What explanation was given to learners about choosing and

approaching possible interviewees, preparing for and conducting

interviews and using the interview as evidence to reach conclusions

about the contribution of that individual;

What interventions the teachers made in assisting learners to

complete the project;

What the teacher felt the learners gained from doing an oral history

investigation; and

A range of examples of learners’ work.

7. The provincial adjudication processes included the following:

Adjudication took place at provincial level in August – September

2012, with districts which held their own elimination rounds much

earlier, i.e. between April and June 2012;

Provinces sent adjudication dates for both district and provincial

rounds to the DBE;

The DBE sent officials to support the provincial adjudication processes

and compiled a National Report;

The DBE also contributed to the adjudication of provincial winners;

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Panels of adjudicators comprised of historians and heritage

practitioners which were appointed for the provincial adjudications;

and

Provinces identified such persons from Higher Education Institutions

and other heritage organisations such as museums.

8. Activity Schedule for 2012: Provincial Plans

Provincial conveners for Race and Values programmes organised district elimination rounds of which

their top learners advanced to the provincial elimination rounds and thereafter, as communicated by

the national Directorate, the national rounds occurred. New guidelines were created and a new

learner adjudication grid were all communicated to the provinces. Guidelines were also sent to the

provincial heads of education as well as to the Education MECs as part of the official communiqué to

provinces by the Deputy Minister in the first quarter of 2012.

There are other competing programs that were taking place at the same time as the Luthuli Oral

History Project – these included, for example, the Youth Citizenship Program (Y-CAP), the National

Heritage Council Education Outreach Program, and the provincial workshops on the Bill of

Responsibilities. Whilst these programmes also enjoyed attention and required funds; the Nkosi

Albert Luthuli Oral history attracted more learners this year.

8.1 Provincial Elimination Rounds

PROVINCE DATE VENUE OFFICIAL

Western Cape 04 August 2012

(workshop)

30 August 2012

Cape Metro AC Serote /

M Carolissen

Limpopo 03 September 2012 Capricorn High School M Carolissen

Mpumalanga 07 September 2012 Nelspruit AC Serote

Free State 21-22 September 2012 Sasolburg G Thani

KwaZulu-Natal 30 August 2012 Durban Teachers

Centre

M Lefoka

Northern Cape 06-09 September 2012 Kimberley M Carolissen

North West 08 September 2012 Moretele AC Serote

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Gauteng 07-08 September 2012 Johannesburg AC Serote

Eastern Cape 22 September 2012 East London AC Serote

The number of learners from the Western Cape province were 9 learners (5 girls and 4 boys) and 15

educators. The schools that participated in the provincial rounds were Cedar High also an Arts and

Culture school, Sarepta High, Thembelihle High, Emil Weder High, Swartland High in Malmesbury,

Forest Heights High, and the district participation ranged from Cedarberg, Overberg and the West

Coast. The topics ranged from Special monuments like Robben island where the key question was

how it changed over time and the significance of this in South Africa. The name Robben island that

comes from the name “Robbe eiland” which means seals island. Education was seen as an

importance on the island as illiteracy was still soaring on the island. The uniform of the prisoners on

the island were determined by their race, and this determined the length of the uniform, whether

shorts or long trousers for the men. Other topics included a significant monument, the holy shrine-

Kramat Cape for the Muslims, history of respective schools as well as unsung heroes in local

communities.

In the Kwazulu-Natal province, the number of schools that participated in the district were 60 and

the number of learners in the province, 200. The number of schools that participated in the

provincial rounds were 15 and 35 learners.

In the Free State province 25 learners were scheduled to come to the Free State provincial rounds

and 2 educators participated and were automatically entered into the finals. Each participant was

announced and the district and school from which they came. Photographs of participants and

proceedings were taken. Attendance registers were completed by all in attendance. The list of

names and ID numbers of the winners was provided. There were initially 3 adjudicators on the first

day, two of the adjudicators focused on the oral presentation and the one adjudicator focused on

the portfolio. On the second day 2 of the adjudicators remained, where one focused on the portfolio

and the second focused on the oral presentation. The topics were clearly described at the beginning

of each presentation. During the adjudication the learner was requested to again outline the topic.

In the Northern Cape province, 26 learners participated and 10 educators.

The topics of the provincial rounds in the Northern Cape province ranged from women in mining, to

the history of towns, unsung heroines like the “herkenning aan die klokleiers” which means the

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“acknowledgement to the ‘klokleiers’ and the history of respective schools. Written submissions

were fairly good quality but learners from the same school were inclined to use the same format,

same topics and don’t have that much difference in the manner in which they conducted their

research. The districts varied from Namaqua, John Toalo Gaetsewe, Frances Baard , Pixley Ka Seme,

and Siyanda. Photographs were taken in all the district elimination rounds as conveyed by the

province as well as during the provincial eliminations. Attendance registers of participants were

taken as evidence. All ID numbers were provided by all who participated. The schools included SA

Van Wyk High School, Boesmanland High School, Port Nolloth High School, Aggeneys High School,

Olebogeng High School, Bankhara High School, Mogomotsi High School, Banksdrift High School,

Richmond High School, Blinkklip High School, A.J. Ferreira high and Paballelo High School.

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9. Activity Schedule for 2012: National plans

All the participants arrived at the Sheraton Hotel, Pretoria on Friday 28 September, handing in of all

written portfolios by learners and educators – provincial officials and chaperones to facilitate this.

Three panels of adjudications had their respective meetings where written portfolios of educators

and learners were assessed and marks allocated. Written portfolios count for 60% of assessment of

the whole overall adjudication including the oral presentations.

Chandre Johnson from Cedar High in the Western Cape won the first prize and chose the topic of an

Unsung hero in her community. She chose one individual from Ravensmead which used to have the

name Tiervlei in the past. Her unsung hero she referred to was an ordinary man named Athony who

moved to Mitchells Plain, during the Apartheid years. He was removed with his family from their

home and had to go live in Mitchells Plain because of the Group Areas Act and he worked for the

organisation MIPSCO. He was an active young man but used to travel to smaller surrounding places.

He had decided to go to Grabouw with his friends and that was when the road accident occurred.

This individual started drinking, and he lost his friend. He became wheelchair bound and from this he

became a hero in the community. He used substances but eventually stopped and then started

working for the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities. He then started the

RAMP project with Trevor Manual, started in Mitchell’s Plain and had ramps built in the

communities. Through this tragedy he became a hero and he even has a picture with Nelson

Mandela. Chandre also indicated that her reflection was about gaining knowledge about time-

management, computers, and the project was nice for her to be involved in.

Luke Buys looked at the establishment of the United Democratic Front. He referred to the Rocklands

Mitchells Plain and the UDF monument that was erected there. The importance of this monument

represented the birth of the UDF Nationalist government and he referred to Alan Boesak who spoke

at this first launch of the UDF. Mr Daniels which was one of his interviewees said Alan Boesak was

very powerful. He made great reference to the youth leadership and the student uprisings which did

not end peacefully. He elaborated further on Cape Town coming “alive” during these years and

made reference to the women’s organisations that also played an active part. The Kitchen

parliament that was established, the tripartite alliance. “The black Christmas” was also referred to

where so many protests and killings took place which resulted in the name being given as people lit

candles and didn’t celebrate Christmas that is why it was called that. The monument is a very good

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example of this reminder of the rich history and he indicated that the memory should not be

forgotten. He also made a statement “Behind every successful man is a successful woman”

2012 NKOSI ALBERT LUTHULI ADJUDICATION LIST

Professor Sekibakiba Lekgoathi, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Ms Khanyi Ngcobo, Department of Arts & Culture

Dr Wayne Alexander, Iziko Museums (City of Cape Town)

Mr Malesela Lebelo, South African History Online

Dr Steve Phatlane, UNISA

Dr Molapo Rachidi, University of Venda

Mrs Nuraan Allie, University of Cape Town

Ms Obenewa Amponsah, Steve Biko Foundation

Mr Omar Badsha, South African History Online

Ms Kitty Scott, Bakubung Economic Development Unit

Mr Yunus Momoniat, South African History Online]

Ms Ellen Tshabalala, Cape Empowerment Ltd and Moral Regeneration Movement

Mr Bongane Mkhize, Freedom Park

Ms Lisa Barbara Scott, University of Pretoria

Ms Sipokazi Sambumbu, University of the Western Cape (History Lecturer at The University of the

Western Cape (UWC) doing South African history)

Ms Bonita Bennet, Employed at the District Six Museum

Mr Stan Henkeman, Employed at the Institution for Justice and Reconciliation as a Programme

Manager doing programmes on discrimination, racism and related fields

Ms Andrea Luxton, Northern Cape Provincial Government Security & Records Management

10. Overall impression

The Deputy Director-General, Ms Gugu Ndebele gave the plenary address on the opening of the

national competition, together with The science of studying History (and oral History): what is its

relevance to modern life, by Professor Sekibakiba Lekgoathi from the University of the

Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The order of the day consisted of 10 sessions of which each session

had 3 different adjudicators adjudicating from 10h:00 till 13h:00 and it resumed from 14h:00 till

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17h:00 again. Adjudicators finalised winners from each session and those winners from the session

partook in the finals on Sunday- 17h:00 till 17h:30.

The plenary sessions were held with all the learners and educators and the session winners were

announced. Day three started from 09h00 which had the Session 1 and every 20 minutes followed

each session winner till all session winners were heard. The adjudicators met to determine 1st, 2nd

and 3rd prize winners in the learner section. On 03 October 2012, the Award Ceremony and Gala

dinner was held at the Sheraton Hotel, Pretoria and there was also an entertainment group,

Voortrekkerhoogte High School drummers, the singing of the National Anthem and the Keynote

address by Deputy Minister, Mr Enver Surty, MP. There were 3 winners from the learners and 3

winners from the educators and the vote of thanks done by the Deputy Director-General Ms GT

Ndebele.

11. Adjudicators remarks

Certain provinces were well prepared where other provinces did not fare so well as the learners did

not internalise the information most of the time and therefore read the most part of their

presentations. This diminished the value of the oral presentation element of the whole presentation.

Learners tended to use words that they did not understand. The event was well organised and the

time keeping was impeccable. The learners all received medals and the winners received both

medals and trophies. This was done in the Free State, Western Cape and Northern Cape which brings

a very educational aspect to the competition provincially as all learners feel their participation is

really worthwhile. Not all provinces handed out trophies to those who did not make it to the

national finals but none the less, the standard and level, as well as the initial participation was very

good and the number of learners increased.

Officials commented on the written submissions and indicated that all participants’ work in their

written submissions from the Western Cape were very well researched. Adjudicators indicated that

learners had more information about their oral history part in their portfolios as opposed to their

oral presentations. The adjudicators alluded to the fact that learners should bring out the oral

history part more in their presentations as did Dr Serote when giving his overall opinion at the

Western Cape provincial rounds. The adjudicators indicated that there were a couple of typo errors

in the presentations of the learners and it should be corrected. The adjudicator stated that the truth

is very important. A learner stated that her sources were contradictory, another learner stated the

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whole research experience gave them more confidence and the adjudicators stated they should

continue building on those types of experiences. The remarks that were given included that the

people being interviewed, has to be more than your secondary sources as those people are your

primary sources.

The adjudicators posed questions to the learners to assess the level of understanding of their topic.

The learners responded and were given the opportunity to provide clarity on any unclear areas of

their presentations. The prominent sentiment from the adjudicators is that the learners needed to

use their own language in their presentations. The other comments were around more involvement

on the part of the educators with assisting the learner at every phase. Each adjudicator was fair and

balanced as each adjudicator looked at each portfolio separately and thoroughly and had discussions

during as well. Attentive listening to the various oral presentations was at the order of the day. Oral

presentations had a good component of actual oral research, especially the interviews that were

conducted and here and there, learners highlighted their interviews they conducted. More than half

of the learners had their recordings on their phones which stipulated their interviews and their

research around the relevant interviewees were correctly selected.

The overall impression of the written submissions were up to standard and the neatness of the

portfolios, together with the presentation of it was of a fairly good standard. Interviews were typed,

with answers and questions and a lot of photos were provided. What lacked perhaps, was more

primary sources like newspaper articles etc. Oral submissions or the oral presentations were all as

indicated very inclusive around the research conducted through their respective oral sources.

Presentations weren’t overall good but the very few that stood out included the information they

received from their interviewees. All in all the whole panel of adjudicators had consensus around the

learners that stood out and those that did not fare so well. The scoring was also on par in the sense

that all 3 adjudicators scored around the same for their top 7 learners. Adjudicators just indicated

that the very oral aspect should be the primary focus of the Oral history competition, in the sense

that more primary sources should be used and it should be reiterated in the oral presentation itself.

The overall message from the adjudicators were that history gives you the tools to interrogate the

past and the different information is conveyed through your sources; thus “listen to your sources”.

The final remark from adjudicators were that teachers, learners and parents are all equally

important in the oral history process.

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APPENDIX A

DEPARTMENT OF BASIC EDUCATION

NKOSI ALBERT LUTHULI ORAL HISTORY COMPETITION

REPORTING TEMPLATE

NUMBER OF LEARNERS

AND EDUCATORS

PARTICIPATING AND

NAMES OF SCHOOLS

The total numbers must also give an account in terms of gender

and types of schools i.e. quintiles and actual names of schools

DISTRICT PARTICIPATION Officials must specify the names of the districts from which

participating learners and educators come, in addition to names

of schools

PHOTOGRAPHS Photographs must be taken in all the district elimination rounds

ATTENDANCE REGISTERS Attendance register of participating must be taken as evidence –

where the official does not have a register, they must obtain

copies of the provincial register

COPIES OF BIRTH

CERTIFICATES OR

NATIONAL IDENTITY

DOCUMENT

For all provincial winners (7 learners and 3 educators), officials

must obtain copies IDs or birth certificates. This is in addition to

the 1 chaperone per province

ADJUDICATION Officials need to prepare a narrative about the quality of

adjudication, for instance, whether it was fair and balanced, and

that learners and educators were not in any way prejudiced by

adjudicators. Also, officials must indicate whether adjudicators

assessed portfolios and oral presentations based on the

stipulated criteria. We will also require to a short biography (half

a page) about each adjudicator and their credentials)

TOPICS Officials must reflect on how learners interpreted the topics and

went about conducting their research

WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS Officials must comment on the quality of the written

submissions and assess whether learners matched up to the

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stipulated criteria in terms of written presentations

ORAL SUBMISIONS Officials must comment on the quality of the oral presentations

and assess whether learners matched up to the stipulated

criteria in terms of oral presentations

ADJUDICATORS REPORT Officials must consolidate comments from adjudicators as part

of their report on the adjudication process. These comments are

usually made at the end of the oral presentations as a summary

of how they think the participants faired.

RECOMMENDATIONS Usually, adjudicators remarks will assist in this but you are also

welcome to make your own recommendations as to how you

saw the event

OTHER

APPENDIX B

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LEARNER ADJUDICATION GRID:

WRITTEN PORTFOLIO = 60%Total Mark allocated

Criterion (1) Well formulated questions relevant to the project 10

Criterion (2) Use of a variety of sources of evidence and information 10

(Type of evidence presented e.g. Transcripts, photos, maps etc).

Criterion (3) Knowledge and understanding of the historical period 10

Criterion (4) Impact of the subject matter on the history of the school 10

Criterion (5) Outline and sequencing of the portfolio 10

Criterion (6) Creativity in developing the portfolio 10

ORAL PRESENTATION = 40% Total Mark allocated

Criterion (1) Audibility, structure and cohesion 10

Criterion (2) Pace, fluency and tone 10

Criterion (3) Body language, gesture and eye contact 10

Criterion (4) Creativity, including use of audio-visual aids 10

Criterion (5) Reflection on lessons learned from the research process 10

TOTAL MARKS

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