SADC donates history books to education ministry |07 July 2023
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has donated to the Ministry of Education 17 boxes of history books on the Liberation Struggles from Southern Africa (1960-1994).
It was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who handed over the donation at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education (MoE).
Each set of books contains nine volumes which can be used as reference guides in secondary schools.
SADC has donated 11 sets in the English version and 6 sets in French.
Kairen Madeleine, principal education officer for curriculum at the MoE, shared that this donation comes from SADC and the nine volumes document the history of the liberation struggles in Southern Africa that sought to end colonial and apartheid rule in Southern Africa. “The publication presents events and stories of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, eSwatini, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In addition to these countries, the research covers the contributions of countries and organisations outside of the SADC region that played a key role in aiding the liberation movements in Southern Africa.”
Christian Faure, the director general for Regional Affairs Division, explained that it was SADC who called for the struggles to be recorded under the Hashim Mbita Project.
“These books will be very helpful for the students and teachers as they are first hand testimonies/primary sources from the liberation movements. You will also get different perspectives.”
The sets were donated to different schools in the presence of Minister Justin Valentin, PS Merna Eulentin and PS John Lesperance and other directors from the MoE.
About the books
Lt. General Hashim Mbita described the set of books as “a comprehensive record of the liberation struggle in Southern Africa. However, by the sheer scale, histories and involvement of millions of ordinary people, hundreds of thousands of freedom fighters, party cadres, political and military leaders, there cannot be one set of books or even several of them that can claim to be exhaustive. There will, therefore, be other books and publications on particular aspects of the histories of the struggles and of different protagonists – individuals and groups – within and outside the different liberation movements, based on the ideologies, biases and interpretations of their writers. These should be welcomed, for the principal objective of recording the history of these struggles is to make future generations aware of the price of independence and freedom and their responsibility to defend and protect it. States may wish to publish other material in their possession that the researchers in this project did not have access to. Other material not yet available may surface to challenge or give a new interpretation of events on which there may currently be consensus. Museums, monuments, names of streets, buildings and other ways of recognising and celebrating the contributions of the fallen heroes of the liberation wars should be additional ways of recording this glorious history.”
The accompanying photos show highlights of the handover ceremony.
Vidya Gappy
Photos: Leanne Alcindor
