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
Cape Metro
AC Serote /
(workshop)
M Carolissen
30 August 2012
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
M Lefoka
Centre
Northern Cape
06-09 September 2012
Kimberley
M Carolissen
North West
08 September 2012
Moretele
AC Serote
8
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 shrineKramat 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 timemanagement, 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
The total numbers must also give an account in terms of gender
AND EDUCATORS
and types of schools i.e. quintiles and actual names of schools
PARTICIPATING AND
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
For all provincial winners (7 learners and 3 educators), officials
CERTIFICATES OR
must obtain copies IDs or birth certificates. This is in addition to
NATIONAL IDENTITY
the 1 chaperone per province
DOCUMENT
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
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APPENDIX B
LEARNER ADJUDICATION GRID:
Total
Mark allocated
WRITTEN PORTFOLIO = 60%
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
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
Mark allocated
TOTAL MARKS
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