The Fruits of Freedom
A 38 minute BETA SP documentary
10:00:00 FADE UP TO Sunrise through verandah, assembly hymn, dorms
00:30 Titles
00:40 Lawrence Nodder,Principal,assembly Good Morning St Gregory College. If you think freedom means that you can break the rules of society & just get away with it then we have taught you a wrong thing at St Gregory College. Unfortunately this weekend has passed & there are a number of people who will be living with the consequences of what they have done.
01:06 Lawrence Nodder,his office Hello Melina. You two can take a seat. What do you think we should do, the SRC & I, to persuade you that drinking while at St Gregory College is not a good idea, & bunking out without permission is not a good idea. And being used by boys is probably the least helpful thing that you can do in your life. Never let yourself be used by other people.
01:45 V/O Nodder walking with dog V/O Lawrence Nodder is the Principal at St Gregory College, a private boarding school for black students in Natal. Founded in the last days of apartheid, it became a haven for black students whose education was still being disrupted in the townships.
02:02 Int: Lawrence Nodder,Principal I’ve been here now for two & a half years, trying to bring some stability, but also to develop appropriate educational methodology in a changing South Africa, in a new South Africa... and that’s what we try & do at St Gregory College, through involving students in all sorts of Committee work, through getting the students to take important decisions about the running of the school.
02:31 Int: Marietta SeeleAfrikans Teacher Girl in class being cheeky The black culture says the children will be very subservient. The teacher is like the parent: you will listen & do exactly as I say. And our children have learnt there’s another culture, which has been very new to them, of white’s always saying but tell me why, are you with me, negotiate... & that’s very foreign to them. And we have maybe forced our children into arguing, into negotiating & they’re going to cope better in the outside world because of that, they’re going to be able to stand on their own two feet.
Lawrence Nodder negotiates with children And then you’re allowed to choose which 2 of your geometry tests... Well I’m open to negotiation. Do you want to write on Friday?Yes.Geometry?Yes.I will discard one at your request
03:23 Int: Lawrence Nodder I don’t think in a new South Africa I could operate a school in the old style as a white Principal with predominantly black students. Or else we would get into endless conflict situations, which we wouldn’t have the skills to manage our way out of.
03:47 V/OStudents walk to shebeen, bottles delivered V/O But conflict is hard to avoid. Some of the older boys flaunt the rules by strolling out of the school gates in broad daylight down to one of the huts which surround the school. These are shebeens, where beer and marijuana are sold illegally. Their trips to the shebeen happen each day and though Mr Nodder patrols here, the pupils find it easier than ever to break the rules.
04:19 Int: Duma Pewa,Standard 10,outside shebeen I think the impact it has had on the teachers is that they have started listening to us, you know listening to what we have to say, because it is more like it is us who are in power, not the white National Party. With the changeing of the new South Africa, nationally, also here in the context of the school, it is difficult for whites especially to change from the position they were in during the old South Africa. Also in relating to us, because now we are all more or less equal. And so it is putting whites especially in a bad position.
04:58 V/O Moon, stereo, on patrol wih Nodder V/O Mr Nodder has to deal with the same adoloescent problems as any other headmaster. But in the new South Africa black children see themselves as having a lot to prove. So much so that teachers often struggle to enforce even even the school’s most fundamental rules.
Nodder in dormsboy crashed out on bed Nodder: Hi guys, how are you?Is Vusi feeling sick?Boy: No.Nodder: Is he feeling hung over?Boy: Maybe.
05:54 Classroom at night on Nodder’s patrol Boy: How many did you catch tonight?Nodder: Two. We will have a disciplinary hearing on Monday.Girl: Why?Nodder: Your dear friend Nthuthuko, from that side of the classroom, was found in the girls’ dormitory. Because I’m tired of people making these rumours...Girl: So you want to prove them...Nodder: And not knowing to what extent it’s prevelant practice, and to what extent it is just something that might happen very occasionally, OK?
06:25 Int: Pearl ThelejaneStandard 9Girls dorm That is the fashion, it’s the trend. I haven’t really been down to the boys dorms sneaking at night, but I’ve been there in broad daylight. I’ve been there, the coast is clear, I walk in there and listen to music. Pearl: The teachers are trying to be all strict, but I think they should quit, because nobody’s really listening to them.
Int: Pearl Thelejane continues With freedom comes responsibility, definitely, because if you are forced to do stuff which you don’t feel free to do, you’re never going to learn anything, you’re never going to have self discipline, you know what I mean
Nodder catches young couple kissing Nodder: Hi there. Is that Sabakhle? No? OK we’re just providing the electric light that was missing.No I don’t like them in dark corners, but I’d much rather have them in those little corners than copulating under the bushes somewhere.
07:28 Int: Marietta Seele You must remember, there’s a lot of us who are old fogeys who can be very authoritarian at times & dictorial. Lawrence will always bring that balance back & make you think. He will always take the children’s side & then it makes you think again, look hang on we’re running away here, we’re being like our parents used to be, let’s get the children involved.
07:59 Int: Dr R SitholeZulu Teacher It’s difficult for them to all of a sudden know what to do & how to deal with them, because they haven’t grown up with them. Well those are the fruits of apartheid & it’s still going to take quite a long time before a white person understands a black person fully.
08:21 Int: Lawrence Nodder As a white principal I’m slightly out of the main line of authority in the country, & that maybe has eroded my position a little, I can live with that. And maybe for the teachers as well it has eroded some of the authority that they might have had.
08:47 V/OStudent Representative Council Meeting V/O White authority is out of date, so the school promotes self-governance, in the form of a Student Representative Council, or SRC. In this fledgling democracy, proper use of power is slowly learnt ... here children debate punishments for peers who were up to no good at the weekend.
09:21 Int: Lawrence Nodder The SRC has agreed that I have a right to manage the school & that they have a right to be consulted. I would have to back down if they can demonstrate that I have not consulted them, that is an understanding we have. And I have from time to time tried to take a short cut and been brought short by the SRC.
09:47 SRC meeting, children discussing punishments This weekend was a very heavy weekend.Two girls were found in the dorm.Two?One.It’s Shirley.What about Thandi?Thandi was caught drunk.And Melina was caught drunk.
She couldn’t walk, she didn’t know where she was, she didn’t know what her name was.
She was caught with the guy. They were sitting on top of the bed.Shirley said she covered herself with the blanket..
What kind of punishment can we give to Shirley, can we think of giving to Shirley, before we are called in the office tomorrow? Because if it’s a surprise then we won’t think of any other punishments & Shirley will be suspended.
So it’s gaiting & hard labour if I can remember well.I mean here’s what I meant. Nthuthko’s is different. He was found sitting alone. So he’s going to get easy labour, not that hard. But Shirley’s going to be in uniform in the morning taking away the rubbish to the dustbins, in uniform, scrubbing that front floor because it needs to be scrubbed.
FADE TO BLACK
10:56 V/OChildren walking to nearby farm school V/O Black children are given a rare opportunity at St Gregory’s to govern themselves. An hour’s walk away, almost in another world, is a farm school called Hattingshope. It’s far more typical of black education. Anna, a volunteer, teaches in both schools.
11:26 Int: Anna Mercin Volunteer Teacher at St Gregory College I also teach over at the local farm school, which has nothing to do with St Gregorys & I teach 3 classes, 3 English classes & a Geography class.
Anna giving out papers at Hattingshope
V/O2 classes taking place in the same room V/O The apartheid regime channelled most of its resources and funding into white schooling. Here space is so limited that English & maths are taking place atthe same time. And the children at Hattingshope are far less outspoken that the wealthier students at St Gregs.
12:07 Cornelius Marasiwalking with friend and teasing girls Cornelius, once a student at Hattingshope, recently won a scholarship to St Gregorys. Like most of the farm schoolchildren who come here, he is flourishing.
12:26 Int: Cornelius MarasiStandard 5 There is discipline there at Hattingshope. The teachers from there are using a stick. When you do the bad thing they’re going to beat you. But here they don’t use a stick, the teachers from here.
12:47 Classroom, Candice Botha teaching Standard 5 Are you working with them? Cornelius where’s the paper?I don’t know.You’ll have to start again.
You’re wasting my time... You’re wasting my time. You’re supposed to write it again.
Cornelius! All I can hear is your voice.
Answer the question. Why do we eat food?... so we can get energy... what kind of food do you like?
..Junk food
Cornelius, all I can hear is your voice. Work together quietly.
13:46 Int: Philemon GabelaStandard 5 Philemon: The white people they don’t use a stick. They tell you and explain to you.Question: So how do they punish you here?Philemon: They tell you to write lines or water the garden.
14:07 School siren ringsHistory classEsther Dlengezele gives talk on black workers When black people realised who were working at the mines that they were being exploited because they were working long and heavy and dangerous work for a small amounrt of money they decide to leave the mines.
14:23 Kay CraigHistory Teacher So the pass system: the black had to carry his pass with him and that proved in the towns that he was employed. Does that answer your question? So it all boils down to control, control of the workers.
14:53 V/OStudents watching video about black harassment V/O South African schoolbooks have traditionally focused on a white version of history. Today history classes are dominated by recent black political events.
Voiceover from videoStudents watching video about black harassment In a typical night’s patrol with the flying squad of Soweto, this man was arrested, bullied, harrassed and imprisoned, for failing to produce his ID documents.
The students devour anything they can get which celebrates and illustrates their victories over apartheid. Often sent here by their parents to avoid the political violence in the townships, it has still been impossible for them to have remained unafffected by the struggle.
15:47 Sabelo Mbhele reading poem ‘Prayer for the Unborn’ I am not yet born. Console me, I fear that the human race may with tall walls wall me, with strong drugs dope me, with wise lies lure me, on black wrecks wreck me, in bloodbaths throw me. I am not born.
Actors acting out poem You take the car, you take the security system & you shoot the guard dead!
16:15 Int: Reggie PutiniStandard 10 In 1993, after the assassination of comrade Chris Hani, as you might know, there was this rumour that they have found a hitlist. So I decided to write my own hitlist & the teachers were involved. The first one was the Principal, the second one was the geography teacher.
16:39 Int: Marietta Seele It was just before the elections, I walked into the class & Reggie had a gun. And he pointed the gun & he said, the war has begun.
16:47 Int: Reggie Putini When the country was er, people were spilling blood & when they said there was going to be a civil war so I told her that I was ready for civil war. So if I see any Boer, then tough for that Boer, that was the point.
17:02 Int: Marietta Seele And I actually didn’t know what to do. And my husband always said, never show fear. Well, I walked to Reggie, grabbed the gun & threw it on the locker & said ‘Yes, & so has Afrikans’. And the class was absolutely shattered, you could have dropped a pin.
17:20 Voice of Duma PewaMan with dog skipping behind him With freedom, as we all know comes responsibility... & one’s responsibility to show that one uses one’s freedom quite intelligently is by using your freedom in a way that will not affect the next person & so as we all know, South Africa is a rainbow nation, so the question of culture has been a big issue.
17:49 V/OFade to trees blowing in wind V/O In the past there was overt antagonism towards the white teachers. Today though, students find themselves both fascinated by Western culture as well as proud that they are finally allowed to celebrate their own African roots.
18:11 Int: Pumelele TwantwaStandard 5.History trip to Fort Durnford The museum was great. Those huts, they call them nguni huts....there inside the hut there’s something like a half moon shape and that’s where the king used to put mealie meal, beer and meat for the spirits, to make the spirits happy. And that’s where he used to put his animals, in the kraal.
18:38 Pumulele You know, in the school I came from, there were black teachers who taught us about white people. But when I come here I find that white teachers teach us about black people, which is peculiar.
19:03 V/OTeacher and pupil talking V/O White teachers do get a tentative thumbs up, but some students admit that they only accept them out of expediency. Integration between blacks and whites sometimes still seems a long way off.
19:15 Debate in boys’ dorm It might be the new South Africa, but don’t forget where you come from.Exactly.
Obviously we’re going to like the same things. For a white boy it would be easy to say, hey, I like that car, my pop’s going to get me that car. Whereas us, I like that car, I’m going to get it one day which is maybe 10 or 20 years time when we work.
We still have the prejudice in us..Always judging, automatically judging...That’s why whenever we have some some problem, we always say, white boy!
Question: Wouldn’t you like to have some white boys here at school?Answer: Hell no.Question: Tell me why? Are you guys different from the white boys?Answer: Yes we are. The lifestyle is different. Even the music is different. Everything is different.
FADE TO BLACK
Children carrying water
20:04 Marietta Seele in Afrikans class I think no where more than at St Gregory College are we aware of water. Am I right? Or must we say the lack of water.Because we’re battling for water I think we’re very much aware of water resources, of dams, of boreholes that have dried up.
V/ODrilling for water V/O In the Afrikans class they are discussing the shortage of water - it’s a perennial problem in the school. The students have little idea of the deeper connotations. In the 1930s the school was a white school when many teachers and pupils died as a result of bad borehole water. It’s something the teachers don’t mention to their superstitious children.
20:54 Marietta Seele: Afrikans teacher I think you’ve got to learn, there’s no water. So you have your little early morning wash in this little puddle of water. And you’re going to have to learn to use that puddle to also wash your undies .. is that not conserving water? You’re going to have to use that to scoop up & put in the toilet.
21:20 V/O Eucharist Service V/O When the school reopened over fifty years after the tragedy, it was with a deeply religious outlook. At the same time the principal Lawrence Nodder aims to be at the vanguard of a new and democratic South African education system.
21:39 V/OMartin Luther King cutaway, Zulu class V/O But Martin Luther King would not have sanctioned the fact that there are only two black teachers at St Gregorys. Not on the face of it overly progressive. One of them is Zulu teacher, Dr Sithole thinks the Western influence in the school is already too entrenched.
21:55 Voice of Dr R Sithole,Zulu teacher Most of them are losing their mother tongue, the beauty of their mother tongue, which you see in the implications of their language.
22:07 Int: Cornelius Marasi She’s too strict, Dr Sithole. If you do a bad thing or you come to class with your shirt out she makes you dig the garden. But the white teachers they don’t mind.
23:39 Int: Dr R Sithole Their parents have the same attitude that if their child is taught by a white person, they will be able to speak English well. But what is permissible in white culture is not generally permissible in black culture, for instance falling in love just publicly, whereas children at this stage could actually be punished if they were found to have fallen in love.
23:19 Voice of Lawrence Nodder,children in dorms making a joint I think for a lot more of the children there’s some sort of existential ‘finding out who we really are’, and in many ways a rejection of the values of the parents. There’s no doubt about it in my mind that teachers should normally be role models in the lives of young people. I think people are being very confused about this issue of white teachers & black students, & I think it’s still confusing.
23:52 Int: Mfanelo Zamisa,Standard 10Boys in toilet smoking joint White teachers don’t actually know how we behave, but black teachers do. How can I express this? It’s just that they don’t know how we behave. And we’re quite familiar with how they want us to be, so in front of them we pretend to be this & when we go the other way, we are what we are.
24:11 Int: Esther DlengezeleStandard 10 White teachers, I like them a lot. Because they are the people who are qualified, they are the people who know the work. They give us less strikes, So they don’t give us as much hell. And the thing is we have to exploit them because they know everything. And until we’ve done that we mustn’t leave them, we mustn’t let them go, we mustn’t tell them to go and teach white kids, because white kids know all that stuff so they have to teach us because we don’t know all the stuff they’ve been exposed to yet.
24:35 Int: Lawrence Nodder If I could find a suitably qualified black teacher who I think could fit into the ethos of the school, then I would appoint them.
24:47 Int: Dr R Sithole Their parents brought them mainly to white teachers so that they could learn English specifically. So I think they should be happy that they are taught mainly by white teachers.
FADE TO BLACK
25:07 V/O Rehearsal for ‘Miss St Gregory’s’ beauty contest V/O It’s rehearsal time for Miss St Gregory’s, a beauty contest and the biggest, hottest event in the school calender. Esther, President of the Student Council is running the show. She was voted in to mediate with the staff and keep the students informed. Everyone counts on her to fight for their cause.
25:36 Int: Esther Dlengezele Candidates do campaign and from the speeches they give and the posters they make, the students elect them. I didn’t do any posters, I’m not very artistic, I just had a speech and that’s how I got elected. Being honest, the students only choose the SRC for one reason. To go into the office, to talk for them and to get out. I’m the only one who’s always called to the office, Esther this and Esther that. I’m the only one who’s always updated on everything.
25:58 V/O V/O Esther and Mr Nodder are having trouble deciding on a suitable date for the Miss St Gregory’s contest. It’s always a riot, so none of the staff are keen to police the event.
26:15 Esther with Nodder in his office Nodder: So we’ve got 3 Saturdays left this term. One of them is actually not a Saturday, so we’ve really got 2 Saturdays left. The 9th is out and as far as I’m concerned the 16th is also out.Esther: If it’s not at night then they don’t want a Miss St Gregory’s.Nodder: It will have to be a weekend when I’m on duty. I will be prepared to that when I’m on duty.Esther: When is that?Nodder: It’s a matter of finding a date.Esther: I’ve got a class now.Nodder: Yes. History?Esther: Yes history and I’ve missed my tea break.
Esther outside office You can see he’s all grumpy, but we’ll see how things go after the student body meeting.
FADE TO BLACK
26:56 V/OParty during the day V/O These students have the unprecedented confidence to break white teachers’ rules. And they are the elite of South African blacks, the future leaders.
V/OFarm school boy walking to school V/O For some of the poorer pupils on scholarships, who started out at farm schools like Hattingshope, those children from richer families are abusing their freedom and throwing away something millions of South Africans will never have: a good education.
27:34 Int: Cornelius Marasi Those people who are playing with alcohol & drugs they’re wasting their parents money, but like us, those people who come with a bursary, we work harder because we know we are not rich in our homes
28:01 StaffroomAnna Mercin Those girls in those dorms, & I’ve said this to you before & I’ll say this very firmly again, cannot survive without water. It is not to the school’s credit to say oh the school’s done really well because we haven’t broken up before now. It’s a shame that they should have to be putting up with this. They just can’t keep themselves & their clothes clean.
Staffroom Some things never change, like the day to day headaches of running a remote school on parched Natal soil. But South African society remains in constant flux as black, coloured and white continue to search for their role in the new staus quo. Unlike the principal, most of the teachers are employed locally, and are grappling more than anyone with today’s changes, after a lifetime of apartheid.
28:52 Fade to SunsetEsther writing resignation letter V/O With freedom comes responsibility is how one of the school’s most quoted mottos goes. But Esther has had enough of the responsibility of running the SRC, as she feels she is the only member who is shouldering any responsibility.
29:12 Int: Esther Dlengezele Esther screams in frustration I’ve reached a decision where I’m resigning as President & as a member of the SRC committee, because I feel I’m jeopodising my social life & my academic life. I have pressures on me which are unbelievable. People are constantly dependent on me and not using the rest of the SRC body.
29:40 Esther with Nodder in his office Esther: It’s about my resignation from the SRC as member and President. I was expecting pressure but I just feel that the pressure in the SRC’s not being shared and I’m the only one who’s actually feeling that I’m in the SRC. I’m not the SRC, but that’s the way everyone’s been seeing me that I’m basically every single thing that goes on around there. People shouldn’t just elect an SRC because they feel like having elections, or they just have to have elections.Nodder: Have you spoken to the other members?Esther: Yes they’re confused, they don’t know, they think I’m joking.
30:19 Esther addresses school in dining room V/O But fellow students are not understanding. They expected accountability in their elected leader. It’s another hallmark of the political map in the new South Africa.
30:38 Int: Sibusiso Kumalo I feel that the issue of the resignation of the President of the SRC was dealt with inadequately, in the sense that there wasn’t any consultation with the student body who elected the President of the SRC.
30:51 Int: Lawrence Nodder It would seem to me that the issue of Esther’s resignation is lack of support & too many expectations. And if that is an election issue then that’s quite an exciting election issue.
31:04 Int: Sheila MolapoStandard 9 She’s showing her weak side. I think she should have first of all consulted the SRC & told them how she felt about resigning, before she took her decision, since she campaigned, she was there, she was committed, she had to stay until the end.
31:21 Int: Lawrence Nodder Some of the consequences I would imagine would be that the student leadership starts to unravel & then the student body looks more & more back to the staff for leadership.
FADE TO BLACK
31:34 SINGING, preparation for beauty contest: Miss St Gregs
V/OMiss St Gregs With or without Esther’s help, Miss St Gregs is taking place anyway. As these children grapple with their own evolving identity, they are blurring the line that for so long divided black & white cultures. For some there is now little difference.
32:24 Voice of Lerato SenokoFormer Miss St Gregs I knew it was a competition & I couldn’t enter again because nobody’s going to want to compete against me, I’m the former Miss St Greg’s. I know in some cases you have to defend your crown but in most cases, like Miss World, she’s not supposed to get in for the next year.
Winner is crowned
33:04 Voice of Lerato Senoko After the outcome there was a problem, people weren’t very happy with it. I think the mistake that was made was the judges didn’t explain why she was the Miss St Gregory’s.
33:13 Disappointed loser,party I think that I was the best person...
V/O The end of term is here, Miss St Gregs has been crowned and the students are partying. Tonight the staff feel outnumbered.
33:51 Int: Candice Bothateacher It didn’t help that a lot of the children have been drinking, what with shebeen so close by and the party going on, it’s very easy to be lured over the fence to get something to drink.
Int: Candice BothaPutting girls to bed & locking dorms With having a co-ed school, I think it’s just sensible actually to lock the girls’ dorm. We used to be able to lock the boys’ dormitory, but the locks are broken, so we don’t lock them in any more. But we are quite aware that they do have their own keys... but I think this is a way of disipline.
34:32 Candice catches girl outside dorm You’re too late, you’ll have to sleep out in the cold now. It’s too late Yvonne. You know half past nine the doors get locked. Where’ve you been? Come on.
FADE TO BLACK
End of term packing
34:56 Int: Lerato Senoko,Standard 9 I know that apartheid will never be over. It can be over visibly, but not in someone’s heart. But in that way I don’t mind but I know that whatever I want I will get, if I work hard for it. I mean I’m not expecting for everything to come just because it’s the new South Africa, democracy, because I’m black and so I’ll get some chances. No, I have to work for it.
35:20 Int: Marietta Seele In the beginning it’s this big thing. Everybody says to you, you’re white going to teach black. But the longer you teach the less you see colour & the more you see a naughty or a good face. I think that’s the wonderful part about it: children are children.
35:33 Int: Duma Pewawashing How we describe a bad term at this school is how many people got caught smoking, how many people were suspended, expelled, that kind of thing. So since nobody was caught drinking or smoking, or suspended for that matter, I think it has been a good term.
35:48 Int: Dr R Sithole Well I just know that the world has its own punishment, that’s what we’ll say when they are going to face the world, because we have done our best, really done our best.
35:59 Int: Mfanelo Zamisa I mean we’re exposed to all type of things here like we have a good education here, we get up to no good. It’s all equal. What I think about this school is that it broadens your education as well as your corrupt side.
36:19 Parents arrivingInt: Parent Parent: We thought this is a better school, not that we thought it, it is a better school. And he’s doing so well, from the reports that we have been getting from the school. Even today we have been informed that he’s a very hard worker & he’s going to go very far.
36:37 Voice of Lawrence NodderSchool play Some people find it hard to take responsibility for their own lives. I find that a sadness, and those people would probably do better in a more authoritarian structure. But for the most, I think we do succeed and I think as students leave here they discover that the life skills that they have been taught here are the skills that stand them in good stead.
ENDS 37:48 SINGING,Duma Pewa packs car & leaves
A 38 minute BETA SP documentary
10:00:00 FADE UP TO Sunrise through verandah, assembly hymn, dorms
00:30 Titles
00:40 Lawrence Nodder,Principal,assembly Good Morning St Gregory College. If you think freedom means that you can break the rules of society & just get away with it then we have taught you a wrong thing at St Gregory College. Unfortunately this weekend has passed & there are a number of people who will be living with the consequences of what they have done.
01:06 Lawrence Nodder,his office Hello Melina. You two can take a seat. What do you think we should do, the SRC & I, to persuade you that drinking while at St Gregory College is not a good idea, & bunking out without permission is not a good idea. And being used by boys is probably the least helpful thing that you can do in your life. Never let yourself be used by other people.
01:45 V/O Nodder walking with dog V/O Lawrence Nodder is the Principal at St Gregory College, a private boarding school for black students in Natal. Founded in the last days of apartheid, it became a haven for black students whose education was still being disrupted in the townships.
02:02 Int: Lawrence Nodder,Principal I’ve been here now for two & a half years, trying to bring some stability, but also to develop appropriate educational methodology in a changing South Africa, in a new South Africa... and that’s what we try & do at St Gregory College, through involving students in all sorts of Committee work, through getting the students to take important decisions about the running of the school.
02:31 Int: Marietta SeeleAfrikans Teacher Girl in class being cheeky The black culture says the children will be very subservient. The teacher is like the parent: you will listen & do exactly as I say. And our children have learnt there’s another culture, which has been very new to them, of white’s always saying but tell me why, are you with me, negotiate... & that’s very foreign to them. And we have maybe forced our children into arguing, into negotiating & they’re going to cope better in the outside world because of that, they’re going to be able to stand on their own two feet.
Lawrence Nodder negotiates with children And then you’re allowed to choose which 2 of your geometry tests... Well I’m open to negotiation. Do you want to write on Friday?Yes.Geometry?Yes.I will discard one at your request
03:23 Int: Lawrence Nodder I don’t think in a new South Africa I could operate a school in the old style as a white Principal with predominantly black students. Or else we would get into endless conflict situations, which we wouldn’t have the skills to manage our way out of.
03:47 V/OStudents walk to shebeen, bottles delivered V/O But conflict is hard to avoid. Some of the older boys flaunt the rules by strolling out of the school gates in broad daylight down to one of the huts which surround the school. These are shebeens, where beer and marijuana are sold illegally. Their trips to the shebeen happen each day and though Mr Nodder patrols here, the pupils find it easier than ever to break the rules.
04:19 Int: Duma Pewa,Standard 10,outside shebeen I think the impact it has had on the teachers is that they have started listening to us, you know listening to what we have to say, because it is more like it is us who are in power, not the white National Party. With the changeing of the new South Africa, nationally, also here in the context of the school, it is difficult for whites especially to change from the position they were in during the old South Africa. Also in relating to us, because now we are all more or less equal. And so it is putting whites especially in a bad position.
04:58 V/O Moon, stereo, on patrol wih Nodder V/O Mr Nodder has to deal with the same adoloescent problems as any other headmaster. But in the new South Africa black children see themselves as having a lot to prove. So much so that teachers often struggle to enforce even even the school’s most fundamental rules.
Nodder in dormsboy crashed out on bed Nodder: Hi guys, how are you?Is Vusi feeling sick?Boy: No.Nodder: Is he feeling hung over?Boy: Maybe.
05:54 Classroom at night on Nodder’s patrol Boy: How many did you catch tonight?Nodder: Two. We will have a disciplinary hearing on Monday.Girl: Why?Nodder: Your dear friend Nthuthuko, from that side of the classroom, was found in the girls’ dormitory. Because I’m tired of people making these rumours...Girl: So you want to prove them...Nodder: And not knowing to what extent it’s prevelant practice, and to what extent it is just something that might happen very occasionally, OK?
06:25 Int: Pearl ThelejaneStandard 9Girls dorm That is the fashion, it’s the trend. I haven’t really been down to the boys dorms sneaking at night, but I’ve been there in broad daylight. I’ve been there, the coast is clear, I walk in there and listen to music. Pearl: The teachers are trying to be all strict, but I think they should quit, because nobody’s really listening to them.
Int: Pearl Thelejane continues With freedom comes responsibility, definitely, because if you are forced to do stuff which you don’t feel free to do, you’re never going to learn anything, you’re never going to have self discipline, you know what I mean
Nodder catches young couple kissing Nodder: Hi there. Is that Sabakhle? No? OK we’re just providing the electric light that was missing.No I don’t like them in dark corners, but I’d much rather have them in those little corners than copulating under the bushes somewhere.
07:28 Int: Marietta Seele You must remember, there’s a lot of us who are old fogeys who can be very authoritarian at times & dictorial. Lawrence will always bring that balance back & make you think. He will always take the children’s side & then it makes you think again, look hang on we’re running away here, we’re being like our parents used to be, let’s get the children involved.
07:59 Int: Dr R SitholeZulu Teacher It’s difficult for them to all of a sudden know what to do & how to deal with them, because they haven’t grown up with them. Well those are the fruits of apartheid & it’s still going to take quite a long time before a white person understands a black person fully.
08:21 Int: Lawrence Nodder As a white principal I’m slightly out of the main line of authority in the country, & that maybe has eroded my position a little, I can live with that. And maybe for the teachers as well it has eroded some of the authority that they might have had.
08:47 V/OStudent Representative Council Meeting V/O White authority is out of date, so the school promotes self-governance, in the form of a Student Representative Council, or SRC. In this fledgling democracy, proper use of power is slowly learnt ... here children debate punishments for peers who were up to no good at the weekend.
09:21 Int: Lawrence Nodder The SRC has agreed that I have a right to manage the school & that they have a right to be consulted. I would have to back down if they can demonstrate that I have not consulted them, that is an understanding we have. And I have from time to time tried to take a short cut and been brought short by the SRC.
09:47 SRC meeting, children discussing punishments This weekend was a very heavy weekend.Two girls were found in the dorm.Two?One.It’s Shirley.What about Thandi?Thandi was caught drunk.And Melina was caught drunk.
She couldn’t walk, she didn’t know where she was, she didn’t know what her name was.
She was caught with the guy. They were sitting on top of the bed.Shirley said she covered herself with the blanket..
What kind of punishment can we give to Shirley, can we think of giving to Shirley, before we are called in the office tomorrow? Because if it’s a surprise then we won’t think of any other punishments & Shirley will be suspended.
So it’s gaiting & hard labour if I can remember well.I mean here’s what I meant. Nthuthko’s is different. He was found sitting alone. So he’s going to get easy labour, not that hard. But Shirley’s going to be in uniform in the morning taking away the rubbish to the dustbins, in uniform, scrubbing that front floor because it needs to be scrubbed.
FADE TO BLACK
10:56 V/OChildren walking to nearby farm school V/O Black children are given a rare opportunity at St Gregory’s to govern themselves. An hour’s walk away, almost in another world, is a farm school called Hattingshope. It’s far more typical of black education. Anna, a volunteer, teaches in both schools.
11:26 Int: Anna Mercin Volunteer Teacher at St Gregory College I also teach over at the local farm school, which has nothing to do with St Gregorys & I teach 3 classes, 3 English classes & a Geography class.
Anna giving out papers at Hattingshope
V/O2 classes taking place in the same room V/O The apartheid regime channelled most of its resources and funding into white schooling. Here space is so limited that English & maths are taking place atthe same time. And the children at Hattingshope are far less outspoken that the wealthier students at St Gregs.
12:07 Cornelius Marasiwalking with friend and teasing girls Cornelius, once a student at Hattingshope, recently won a scholarship to St Gregorys. Like most of the farm schoolchildren who come here, he is flourishing.
12:26 Int: Cornelius MarasiStandard 5 There is discipline there at Hattingshope. The teachers from there are using a stick. When you do the bad thing they’re going to beat you. But here they don’t use a stick, the teachers from here.
12:47 Classroom, Candice Botha teaching Standard 5 Are you working with them? Cornelius where’s the paper?I don’t know.You’ll have to start again.
You’re wasting my time... You’re wasting my time. You’re supposed to write it again.
Cornelius! All I can hear is your voice.
Answer the question. Why do we eat food?... so we can get energy... what kind of food do you like?
..Junk food
Cornelius, all I can hear is your voice. Work together quietly.
13:46 Int: Philemon GabelaStandard 5 Philemon: The white people they don’t use a stick. They tell you and explain to you.Question: So how do they punish you here?Philemon: They tell you to write lines or water the garden.
14:07 School siren ringsHistory classEsther Dlengezele gives talk on black workers When black people realised who were working at the mines that they were being exploited because they were working long and heavy and dangerous work for a small amounrt of money they decide to leave the mines.
14:23 Kay CraigHistory Teacher So the pass system: the black had to carry his pass with him and that proved in the towns that he was employed. Does that answer your question? So it all boils down to control, control of the workers.
14:53 V/OStudents watching video about black harassment V/O South African schoolbooks have traditionally focused on a white version of history. Today history classes are dominated by recent black political events.
Voiceover from videoStudents watching video about black harassment In a typical night’s patrol with the flying squad of Soweto, this man was arrested, bullied, harrassed and imprisoned, for failing to produce his ID documents.
The students devour anything they can get which celebrates and illustrates their victories over apartheid. Often sent here by their parents to avoid the political violence in the townships, it has still been impossible for them to have remained unafffected by the struggle.
15:47 Sabelo Mbhele reading poem ‘Prayer for the Unborn’ I am not yet born. Console me, I fear that the human race may with tall walls wall me, with strong drugs dope me, with wise lies lure me, on black wrecks wreck me, in bloodbaths throw me. I am not born.
Actors acting out poem You take the car, you take the security system & you shoot the guard dead!
16:15 Int: Reggie PutiniStandard 10 In 1993, after the assassination of comrade Chris Hani, as you might know, there was this rumour that they have found a hitlist. So I decided to write my own hitlist & the teachers were involved. The first one was the Principal, the second one was the geography teacher.
16:39 Int: Marietta Seele It was just before the elections, I walked into the class & Reggie had a gun. And he pointed the gun & he said, the war has begun.
16:47 Int: Reggie Putini When the country was er, people were spilling blood & when they said there was going to be a civil war so I told her that I was ready for civil war. So if I see any Boer, then tough for that Boer, that was the point.
17:02 Int: Marietta Seele And I actually didn’t know what to do. And my husband always said, never show fear. Well, I walked to Reggie, grabbed the gun & threw it on the locker & said ‘Yes, & so has Afrikans’. And the class was absolutely shattered, you could have dropped a pin.
17:20 Voice of Duma PewaMan with dog skipping behind him With freedom, as we all know comes responsibility... & one’s responsibility to show that one uses one’s freedom quite intelligently is by using your freedom in a way that will not affect the next person & so as we all know, South Africa is a rainbow nation, so the question of culture has been a big issue.
17:49 V/OFade to trees blowing in wind V/O In the past there was overt antagonism towards the white teachers. Today though, students find themselves both fascinated by Western culture as well as proud that they are finally allowed to celebrate their own African roots.
18:11 Int: Pumelele TwantwaStandard 5.History trip to Fort Durnford The museum was great. Those huts, they call them nguni huts....there inside the hut there’s something like a half moon shape and that’s where the king used to put mealie meal, beer and meat for the spirits, to make the spirits happy. And that’s where he used to put his animals, in the kraal.
18:38 Pumulele You know, in the school I came from, there were black teachers who taught us about white people. But when I come here I find that white teachers teach us about black people, which is peculiar.
19:03 V/OTeacher and pupil talking V/O White teachers do get a tentative thumbs up, but some students admit that they only accept them out of expediency. Integration between blacks and whites sometimes still seems a long way off.
19:15 Debate in boys’ dorm It might be the new South Africa, but don’t forget where you come from.Exactly.
Obviously we’re going to like the same things. For a white boy it would be easy to say, hey, I like that car, my pop’s going to get me that car. Whereas us, I like that car, I’m going to get it one day which is maybe 10 or 20 years time when we work.
We still have the prejudice in us..Always judging, automatically judging...That’s why whenever we have some some problem, we always say, white boy!
Question: Wouldn’t you like to have some white boys here at school?Answer: Hell no.Question: Tell me why? Are you guys different from the white boys?Answer: Yes we are. The lifestyle is different. Even the music is different. Everything is different.
FADE TO BLACK
Children carrying water
20:04 Marietta Seele in Afrikans class I think no where more than at St Gregory College are we aware of water. Am I right? Or must we say the lack of water.Because we’re battling for water I think we’re very much aware of water resources, of dams, of boreholes that have dried up.
V/ODrilling for water V/O In the Afrikans class they are discussing the shortage of water - it’s a perennial problem in the school. The students have little idea of the deeper connotations. In the 1930s the school was a white school when many teachers and pupils died as a result of bad borehole water. It’s something the teachers don’t mention to their superstitious children.
20:54 Marietta Seele: Afrikans teacher I think you’ve got to learn, there’s no water. So you have your little early morning wash in this little puddle of water. And you’re going to have to learn to use that puddle to also wash your undies .. is that not conserving water? You’re going to have to use that to scoop up & put in the toilet.
21:20 V/O Eucharist Service V/O When the school reopened over fifty years after the tragedy, it was with a deeply religious outlook. At the same time the principal Lawrence Nodder aims to be at the vanguard of a new and democratic South African education system.
21:39 V/OMartin Luther King cutaway, Zulu class V/O But Martin Luther King would not have sanctioned the fact that there are only two black teachers at St Gregorys. Not on the face of it overly progressive. One of them is Zulu teacher, Dr Sithole thinks the Western influence in the school is already too entrenched.
21:55 Voice of Dr R Sithole,Zulu teacher Most of them are losing their mother tongue, the beauty of their mother tongue, which you see in the implications of their language.
22:07 Int: Cornelius Marasi She’s too strict, Dr Sithole. If you do a bad thing or you come to class with your shirt out she makes you dig the garden. But the white teachers they don’t mind.
23:39 Int: Dr R Sithole Their parents have the same attitude that if their child is taught by a white person, they will be able to speak English well. But what is permissible in white culture is not generally permissible in black culture, for instance falling in love just publicly, whereas children at this stage could actually be punished if they were found to have fallen in love.
23:19 Voice of Lawrence Nodder,children in dorms making a joint I think for a lot more of the children there’s some sort of existential ‘finding out who we really are’, and in many ways a rejection of the values of the parents. There’s no doubt about it in my mind that teachers should normally be role models in the lives of young people. I think people are being very confused about this issue of white teachers & black students, & I think it’s still confusing.
23:52 Int: Mfanelo Zamisa,Standard 10Boys in toilet smoking joint White teachers don’t actually know how we behave, but black teachers do. How can I express this? It’s just that they don’t know how we behave. And we’re quite familiar with how they want us to be, so in front of them we pretend to be this & when we go the other way, we are what we are.
24:11 Int: Esther DlengezeleStandard 10 White teachers, I like them a lot. Because they are the people who are qualified, they are the people who know the work. They give us less strikes, So they don’t give us as much hell. And the thing is we have to exploit them because they know everything. And until we’ve done that we mustn’t leave them, we mustn’t let them go, we mustn’t tell them to go and teach white kids, because white kids know all that stuff so they have to teach us because we don’t know all the stuff they’ve been exposed to yet.
24:35 Int: Lawrence Nodder If I could find a suitably qualified black teacher who I think could fit into the ethos of the school, then I would appoint them.
24:47 Int: Dr R Sithole Their parents brought them mainly to white teachers so that they could learn English specifically. So I think they should be happy that they are taught mainly by white teachers.
FADE TO BLACK
25:07 V/O Rehearsal for ‘Miss St Gregory’s’ beauty contest V/O It’s rehearsal time for Miss St Gregory’s, a beauty contest and the biggest, hottest event in the school calender. Esther, President of the Student Council is running the show. She was voted in to mediate with the staff and keep the students informed. Everyone counts on her to fight for their cause.
25:36 Int: Esther Dlengezele Candidates do campaign and from the speeches they give and the posters they make, the students elect them. I didn’t do any posters, I’m not very artistic, I just had a speech and that’s how I got elected. Being honest, the students only choose the SRC for one reason. To go into the office, to talk for them and to get out. I’m the only one who’s always called to the office, Esther this and Esther that. I’m the only one who’s always updated on everything.
25:58 V/O V/O Esther and Mr Nodder are having trouble deciding on a suitable date for the Miss St Gregory’s contest. It’s always a riot, so none of the staff are keen to police the event.
26:15 Esther with Nodder in his office Nodder: So we’ve got 3 Saturdays left this term. One of them is actually not a Saturday, so we’ve really got 2 Saturdays left. The 9th is out and as far as I’m concerned the 16th is also out.Esther: If it’s not at night then they don’t want a Miss St Gregory’s.Nodder: It will have to be a weekend when I’m on duty. I will be prepared to that when I’m on duty.Esther: When is that?Nodder: It’s a matter of finding a date.Esther: I’ve got a class now.Nodder: Yes. History?Esther: Yes history and I’ve missed my tea break.
Esther outside office You can see he’s all grumpy, but we’ll see how things go after the student body meeting.
FADE TO BLACK
26:56 V/OParty during the day V/O These students have the unprecedented confidence to break white teachers’ rules. And they are the elite of South African blacks, the future leaders.
V/OFarm school boy walking to school V/O For some of the poorer pupils on scholarships, who started out at farm schools like Hattingshope, those children from richer families are abusing their freedom and throwing away something millions of South Africans will never have: a good education.
27:34 Int: Cornelius Marasi Those people who are playing with alcohol & drugs they’re wasting their parents money, but like us, those people who come with a bursary, we work harder because we know we are not rich in our homes
28:01 StaffroomAnna Mercin Those girls in those dorms, & I’ve said this to you before & I’ll say this very firmly again, cannot survive without water. It is not to the school’s credit to say oh the school’s done really well because we haven’t broken up before now. It’s a shame that they should have to be putting up with this. They just can’t keep themselves & their clothes clean.
Staffroom Some things never change, like the day to day headaches of running a remote school on parched Natal soil. But South African society remains in constant flux as black, coloured and white continue to search for their role in the new staus quo. Unlike the principal, most of the teachers are employed locally, and are grappling more than anyone with today’s changes, after a lifetime of apartheid.
28:52 Fade to SunsetEsther writing resignation letter V/O With freedom comes responsibility is how one of the school’s most quoted mottos goes. But Esther has had enough of the responsibility of running the SRC, as she feels she is the only member who is shouldering any responsibility.
29:12 Int: Esther Dlengezele Esther screams in frustration I’ve reached a decision where I’m resigning as President & as a member of the SRC committee, because I feel I’m jeopodising my social life & my academic life. I have pressures on me which are unbelievable. People are constantly dependent on me and not using the rest of the SRC body.
29:40 Esther with Nodder in his office Esther: It’s about my resignation from the SRC as member and President. I was expecting pressure but I just feel that the pressure in the SRC’s not being shared and I’m the only one who’s actually feeling that I’m in the SRC. I’m not the SRC, but that’s the way everyone’s been seeing me that I’m basically every single thing that goes on around there. People shouldn’t just elect an SRC because they feel like having elections, or they just have to have elections.Nodder: Have you spoken to the other members?Esther: Yes they’re confused, they don’t know, they think I’m joking.
30:19 Esther addresses school in dining room V/O But fellow students are not understanding. They expected accountability in their elected leader. It’s another hallmark of the political map in the new South Africa.
30:38 Int: Sibusiso Kumalo I feel that the issue of the resignation of the President of the SRC was dealt with inadequately, in the sense that there wasn’t any consultation with the student body who elected the President of the SRC.
30:51 Int: Lawrence Nodder It would seem to me that the issue of Esther’s resignation is lack of support & too many expectations. And if that is an election issue then that’s quite an exciting election issue.
31:04 Int: Sheila MolapoStandard 9 She’s showing her weak side. I think she should have first of all consulted the SRC & told them how she felt about resigning, before she took her decision, since she campaigned, she was there, she was committed, she had to stay until the end.
31:21 Int: Lawrence Nodder Some of the consequences I would imagine would be that the student leadership starts to unravel & then the student body looks more & more back to the staff for leadership.
FADE TO BLACK
31:34 SINGING, preparation for beauty contest: Miss St Gregs
V/OMiss St Gregs With or without Esther’s help, Miss St Gregs is taking place anyway. As these children grapple with their own evolving identity, they are blurring the line that for so long divided black & white cultures. For some there is now little difference.
32:24 Voice of Lerato SenokoFormer Miss St Gregs I knew it was a competition & I couldn’t enter again because nobody’s going to want to compete against me, I’m the former Miss St Greg’s. I know in some cases you have to defend your crown but in most cases, like Miss World, she’s not supposed to get in for the next year.
Winner is crowned
33:04 Voice of Lerato Senoko After the outcome there was a problem, people weren’t very happy with it. I think the mistake that was made was the judges didn’t explain why she was the Miss St Gregory’s.
33:13 Disappointed loser,party I think that I was the best person...
V/O The end of term is here, Miss St Gregs has been crowned and the students are partying. Tonight the staff feel outnumbered.
33:51 Int: Candice Bothateacher It didn’t help that a lot of the children have been drinking, what with shebeen so close by and the party going on, it’s very easy to be lured over the fence to get something to drink.
Int: Candice BothaPutting girls to bed & locking dorms With having a co-ed school, I think it’s just sensible actually to lock the girls’ dorm. We used to be able to lock the boys’ dormitory, but the locks are broken, so we don’t lock them in any more. But we are quite aware that they do have their own keys... but I think this is a way of disipline.
34:32 Candice catches girl outside dorm You’re too late, you’ll have to sleep out in the cold now. It’s too late Yvonne. You know half past nine the doors get locked. Where’ve you been? Come on.
FADE TO BLACK
End of term packing
34:56 Int: Lerato Senoko,Standard 9 I know that apartheid will never be over. It can be over visibly, but not in someone’s heart. But in that way I don’t mind but I know that whatever I want I will get, if I work hard for it. I mean I’m not expecting for everything to come just because it’s the new South Africa, democracy, because I’m black and so I’ll get some chances. No, I have to work for it.
35:20 Int: Marietta Seele In the beginning it’s this big thing. Everybody says to you, you’re white going to teach black. But the longer you teach the less you see colour & the more you see a naughty or a good face. I think that’s the wonderful part about it: children are children.
35:33 Int: Duma Pewawashing How we describe a bad term at this school is how many people got caught smoking, how many people were suspended, expelled, that kind of thing. So since nobody was caught drinking or smoking, or suspended for that matter, I think it has been a good term.
35:48 Int: Dr R Sithole Well I just know that the world has its own punishment, that’s what we’ll say when they are going to face the world, because we have done our best, really done our best.
35:59 Int: Mfanelo Zamisa I mean we’re exposed to all type of things here like we have a good education here, we get up to no good. It’s all equal. What I think about this school is that it broadens your education as well as your corrupt side.
36:19 Parents arrivingInt: Parent Parent: We thought this is a better school, not that we thought it, it is a better school. And he’s doing so well, from the reports that we have been getting from the school. Even today we have been informed that he’s a very hard worker & he’s going to go very far.
36:37 Voice of Lawrence NodderSchool play Some people find it hard to take responsibility for their own lives. I find that a sadness, and those people would probably do better in a more authoritarian structure. But for the most, I think we do succeed and I think as students leave here they discover that the life skills that they have been taught here are the skills that stand them in good stead.
ENDS 37:48 SINGING,Duma Pewa packs car & leaves