Abstract

COUPER, Scott Everett. "... it is clear something is wrong here!" Inanda Seminary's continued survival during the 1980s. Historia [online]. 2013, vol.58, n.1, pp.75-105. ISSN 2309-8392.

During the 1980s, Inanda Seminary arguably struggled more than at any other time. Though the school escaped closure in 1957 and continued to remain a private independent Christian boarding school, Bantu Education gradually sapped the school's strength. By the 1980s, most of the school's incoming staff and students were products of apartheid's inferior education system. Internal dysfunction and external political unrest fostered institutional rot. The Seminary's missiological benefactor and Governing Council seemed overwhelmed by the forces arrayed. Varied income sources, and thus interests, from foreign missions, businesses, the state (KwaZulu homeland) and insufficient income from students weakened the school's integrity. The first black female principal, Constance Koza, abrasively led the school through much of the turbulent times. High staff turnover crippled the school. Crisis after crisis overwhelmed Koza's successor, Allan Campbell, whose tenure concluded before the decade's end. Student discipline became increasingly difficult to instil as political stability deteriorated in the local townships and throughout South Africa. Many strikes and riots at the school punctuated these years due to students and teachers' increased political awareness. Despite the apparent dysfunction inside and outside Inanda Seminary, education continued at a commendable level.

Keywords : Inanda Seminary; Bantu Education; apartheid; Constance Koza; Allan Campbell; student unrest; KwaZulu; United Congregational Church of Southern Africa; United Church Board for World Ministries.

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