Jeppe High School for Boys held a special Freedom Day Celebration this year.
The event was held on April 26 and saw guests, staff and learners from Jeppe High School for Girls and Jeppe High Preparatory School attend.
At the event poems were read, speeches were delivered, the South African national anthem was sung and wreaths were laid.
Mr Martin Ledwaba, longest serving member of staff at the school, gave a very moving speech – for which he received a standing ovation from all present.
The headmaster Mr Dempsey and deputy headmaster Mr Leathem also addressed the learners with informative, encouraging and inspiring speeches.
In his speech Dempsey noted the Jeppe learners who were very involved in the struggle during their adult years.
Some of them were:
- Edward Roux (1919), a founder of the Young Communist League in 1921, who was issued with banning orders in 1964 that prevented him from leaving Johannesburg at the time.
- Hyman Basner (1921), who led a delegation to the United Nations to protest against segregation in SA.
- Ruth First, who was active in political causes between 1940 and 1982, when she was killed by a parcel bomb.
- Harry Schwarz, a refugee from Hitler’s Germany, who distinguished himself in the battle against fascism in SA.
- Barney Simon (1949), a pioneer of non-racial theatre in SA who also produced works that highlighted the plight of those living in black townships.
- Sir Bob Hepple (1951), a freedom fighter, academic and legal adviser to Nelson Mandela. He was arrested at Liliesleaf Farm but managed to escape to England, where he was knighted in 2004.
- Marius Schoon (1954), son of a previous Jeppe deputy headmaster, who was arrested and sentenced to 12 years in jail for planting a bomb. On June 28 1984, his wife and daughter were killed in a letter bomb attack in Angola.
- John Rees (1953), the General Secretary of the SA Council of Churches, who raised millions of Rands to assist the families of detainees and
- Neville Curtis (1964), a key figure in the radicalisation of student politics in the late 1960s.
Dempsey encouraged all present at the celebration to commit themselves to ensure that all citizens are able to enjoy South Africa’s hard-won freedoms.
In his speech Leathem noted that no one could make the the learners feel grateful for their freedom; however, he did request that the boys do something to show their respect for those who knew no freedom.
“Freedom is like air; when you have it, you don’t give it much thought but when you don’t have it, it’s hard to think about anything else,” said Leathem at the celebration.
