JOHN LANGALIBALELE DUBE ANDTHE HISTORY OF OHLANGE HIGH SCHOOL

 

John Langalibalele Dube and the History of Ohlange High School.


John Langalibalele Dube and Nokuthela Mndima founded Ohlange high school in 1902. Their aim was to give Black people proper education. Dube had no funding and he built the school from scratch with his own money and resources.

Inanda heritage site is located within Ohlange high school. The site does not only include Dube’s history but includes Isaiah Mdliwamafa Shembe, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, and other leaders who fought for democracy. On the site, there are two statues of Mandela and Dube. The statue of Nelson Mandela was put on the site because it was the first place he voted at after being released from prison. Dube's statue was put on the site because it was his home. 

One of the site managers Mandla Nxumalo said, “The site is still in the process of being made one of the official heritage sites in the world but it is still under observation to check whether it is worthy of being the World Heritage Site of South Africa.” In addition, Nxumalo said that it holds a lot of history about John Dube's life which includes his timeline, the roles he played for liberation, and his family’s graveyards. 

The site does not only have the school as the living proof of Dube’s hard work. Thabiso Ngwenya, one of the tour guides said, "There are portable materials that Dube had and used,  for composing music, writing novels, and everything else he used that made him unique." Ngwenya further added that Dube was multitalented as he was the first president of SANNC which later became the ANC, the founder of IsiZulu newspaper Ilanga, a writer, a journalist, and a pastor.

As you go inside the site you see signatures left by the visitors on the board. Including the box where Nelson Mandela placed his first vote. Tourists that are interested in the history of South Africa especially concerning black people’s struggle for liberation usually go there.

 

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