Alexander Sinton Secondary School
Alexander Sinton Secondary School | |
---|---|
Address | |
Thornton Road, Crawford South Africa | |
Coordinates | 33°58′33″S 18°30′45″E / 33.9759°S 18.5125°E |
Information | |
Motto | Vel Primus Vel Cum Primis ("If not the best, amongst the best") |
Established | 1951 |
Founder | Alexander Sinton |
Status | Open |
Principal | Michael D Peterson |
Number of students | 1,100 |
Website | sintonhs |
Part of a series on |
Apartheid |
---|
Alexander Sinton Secondary School, also known as Alexander Sinton High School, is an
Founder
The school was named for its benefactor Alexander Sinton, who bequeathed money to found the school in 1951.[4]
1976 uprising
During the youth uprising of 1976 protesting the imposition of the Afrikaans language as a mandatory medium of instruction in schools, the students at the school and Belgravia High School nearby in Athlone boycotted classes on 16 August during a period that saw marches, random acts of arson and battles between students and the police.[5] In 1976 Nabil ("Basil") Swart, a teacher at the school, was arrested after helping a student who had been shot during the protests. Swart was released on bail after being detained for a weekend.[6]
1985 protests
The school defiantly re-opened on 17 September 1985 when the principal, Khalied Desai,[8] led teachers, uniformed students and parents who sang protest songs.[1] The police were aware of the students' plans,[6] and arrived quickly. The students threw stones, built barricades and the police replied with armoured vehicles, tear gas, rubber bullets and the arrests of nearly 200 people.[1][9] Teachers and parents supported the students and their protests against injustice.[6] After the arrests were made, the police were surprised to find that they themselves were effectively prisoners, as the exits from the school were blocked by vehicles brought there by protesters outside the school.[1] The police had difficulty taking away the people they had arrested.[1] The New York Times noted that the action taken by coloured teachers and students at the school was remarkably different to the boycotts taking place at black schools.[1] Swart was again jailed for two weeks in 1985 for helping to re-open the school.[6]
The state of emergency was extended to include Cape Town on 25 October 1985, giving the police and army greater powers to deal with instability in the area.[10] Swart was again jailed for eighteen months in 1986 for his involvement in the school unrest.[6]
Trojan Horse Incident
On 15 October 1985 three male youths, aged 11, 15 and 21,[8] were killed by the police nearby in Belgravia Road in Athlone in what was called the Trojan Horse Incident.[2][11][12] Students and activists had gathered where they regularly had battles with the police and were stoning vehicles.[2][11][12] Most of the people in the crowd were from the school.[13] Police officers who had been hidden in crates on board the back of a truck opened fire on stone-throwing protesters.[2][11][12] The police had deliberately provoked the protesters to allow them to shoot – the truck was driven down the same road twice as the police did not get the anticipated reaction the first time, i.e. stones being thrown at them.[11][12][14] A CBS television crew witnessed and filmed the incident and images thereof were broadcast to the world.[2][11]
An inquest found that the police had behaved "unreasonably", but despite a private prosecution no sentences were imposed on the people involved.[15] A Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing was held into the incident in 1997, after the end of the apartheid era.[8] A memorial marks the spot where the incident took place. It shows a silhouette of the Trojan Horse vehicle and the people who shot the three young people. The memorial also officially includes graffiti sprayed on the fence that includes the message "Stop State Violence".[16]
Other controversies
In 2012, the then principal Fazil Parker was involved in a dispute with the Department of Basic Education after he was given late notice that his teachers needed to mark national exams. The teachers considered the request unreasonable and did not comply with it, resulting in Parker being summoned to a disciplinary hearing.[17]
Notable alumni
- Ronald Harrison, artist and activist who created the Black Christ painting banned in South Africa.[18]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Attempt to Reopen a School is Barred". The New York Times. 18 September 1985. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-919930-75-6.
- ^ "Alexander Sinton High School". Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
- ^ a b Our School Archived 23 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Sinton.co.za, retrieved 17 August 2014
- ^ Western Cape Student Uprising, SA History online, retrieved 19 August 2014
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Truth and Reconciliation Commission Human Rights Violations Submissions – Questions and Answers, Date: 02-06-1997, Name: Basil Swart, Case: Athlone". Department of Justice. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- JSTOR 220972.
- ^ a b c "'Trojan Horse' killers still a mystery". Mail & Guardian. 27 March 1997. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-7914-7845-5.
- ^ Rule, Sheila (26 October 1985). "Pretoria Expands Emergency Order". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-919930-69-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4020-0743-9.
- ^ Olshan, Judd D. "The Trojan Horse Incident" (PDF). State University of New York College at Cortland. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
- ISBN 9781134889464. Retrieved 21 August 2014.
- ^ Trojan Horse Incident, SA History, retrieved 17 August 2014
- ^ Memorial to the Trojan Horse Incident in Cape Town, Ruin79, Flickr, retrieved 21 August 2014
- ^ Teachers can’t cope with 'extra workload', Ilse Fredericks, Nov 2012, IOL online, retrieved 17 August 2014
- ISBN 0864866879.
External links
- Video – The Trojan Horse Massacre, Cape Town South Africa, October 1985, Chris Emerson, CBS, 15 October 1985
- Memorial to the Trojan Horse Incident in Cape Town
- The people armed, 1984–1990, South African History Online