Struggles Against Apartheid Education in Lenasia: By Ismail Vadi

Ismail Vadi has written a powerful and timely account of some of the many local and individual acts of courage and sacrifice in opposing apartheid education. His review is ambitious in its scope by positioning these accounts in the context of the evolving collective and national struggle which inspire individuals, and which national struggle was itself animated by the actions o countless individuals. It is a valuable contribution to the ways in which we car reflect on our history individually and collectively as we seek to respond to the imperative of continuing to mobilise and organise in our unfinished struggle to achieve the goals of social justice…I was fascinated to see how successive generations of education activists have influenced the next generation, and the lineage of influence over time. Many of these names, such as Ahmed Timol, live in our memories and in popular history as beacons of hope and of courage. But what is special about this book is that it also documents the contributions that could otherwise have been forgotten anc represent the many who stood shoulder to shoulder and sacrificed so much in the br
struggle mosaic.
(Professes
-y Metcalfe – former MEC for Education in Gauteng, South Africa)
Dr Ismail Vadi is an activist in Lenasia. He was a founder member of the Lenasia Youth League and the Progressive Teachers’ League. He served as the National Vice-President of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union. He was elected as an ANC Member of Parliament in the first democratic elections held on 27 April 1994 in South Africa. In 2010, he was appointed as the Member of the Executive Council for Roads and Transport in Gauteng Province, South Africa. He has lectured in the Faculty of Education at the University of the Witwatersrand. Currently, he is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg and an Adjunct Faculty at the Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria. He has published on education, liberation history and security studies in South Africa.