Anthony W. Marx 

February 16, 2022 

SACHED Memories 

I had never seen an office like it, so full of energy and committed people.  

But for me, it was the pivotal experience.  I learned the key lesson, that human intelligence and spirit cannot be so easily squashed, that even after a lifetime of apartheid education, great students could emerge and fly.  Education is so powerful.  And that is, I think, our greatest hope.  It is mine.  And I learned that people can care for one another and trust, even for a stranger dropped in as I was.  I have to conclude with thanks, for the amazing friends who took me in, set me off on a direction and guided me, making me who I am.  I owe you all.  You have all been my life’s inspiration and guide.  

I don’t remember hearing that much about South Africa as I was growing up.  We had no history or connection to the beloved country.  I must have seen the news in 1976; with the image of Hector Peterson that would become so pervasive, it is hard to pull out what might be a real memory from one constructed later.  But when I got to college the next year, students were beginning to rouse ourselves.  We met, we discussed, had in speakers, took classes, protested, sat-in, demanded divestment, served on committees, and galvanized our institutions a bit and ourselves more. 

After college I wanted to understand how a university actually works, and joined the office of the president of the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, as a junior aid.  I was lucky, and after a couple of years ready for more adventure, and eager to see the country we had yelled and screamed and argued about without, I realized later, knowing very much.  Bill Carmichael, VP at the Ford Foundation, had advised our activism and stayed in touch with me, and introduced me to John Samuel on one of John’s fundraising trips to New York.  That must have been Fall of 1983. 

I fear John felt some pressure to bring me on board for a working visit to South Africa.  God knows I showed him how ignorant I was; I even asked him if it was hard to do his work and not be black.  I thought I was being clever and thoughtful, when I was just a dumb American.  John and I took the train from our meeting in NYC to Philly so that John could ask my boss at the University just how much trouble I would be.  I ached to listen in on their meeting.  I guess nothing too terrible was said.  John explained that he certainly could not fly me over or pay me, but I was welcome to come and he would give me something to do and help find me a place to live. 

I remember arriving at SACHED on Simmonds Street in downtown Joburg the first time, I believe January 1984.  I had never seen an office like it, so full of energy and committed people.  I think the heavy metal entrance gate came a bit later, after one too many raids or when John almost got blown up on the street.  John showed me around, introduced me to Sheila Sisulu (I didn’t know who she was at the time) at the Bursary project for whom I would tutor (badly, I fear), to Jenny Glennie who would adopt me for no good reason, and then John sat me down in his office right up front by where the gate would soon be. 

I remember John pulled a file out of his desk drawer that had maybe 2 pages in it describing the extension program by which students around the world could take exams for course credit from the University of Indiana.  (Later folks would ask if I was an agent of that University, which I have never visited.)  John patiently explained that SACHED would love to start a program that would prepare students for those exams, gather a year’s course credits and then have those grades to apply for entry to South Africa’s great and almost all white universities.  John said, somewhat wistfully, that he wished his expert colleagues had time to explore this but everyone was too busy with all the heavily demanded programs already running.  He must have thought, and may have said, that seeing what I could do with this was costless and worth a chance.  And as a huge plus, John and Nora would become the warmest and inspiring of lifelong friends. 

John and Jennie gave me some invaluable leads and intros of education experts and academic activists.  Lots of other folks would give me more great leads for what I recall were about 250 meetings over much of that year.  It was the most amazing learning experience of my life, a perfect “excuse” to meet everyone, have great conversations, and try to imagine a useful intervention.  But for sure, the basic model that John and Jennie had in their heads and gently pushed me toward elaborating, remained the lodestar.  Preparing for and debriefing from every meeting with John and Jennie was the best possible tutorial on practise and theory, and the pivotal learning experience of my life. 

The model was straightforward.  Select promising students blocked from university by their race, apartheid preparation and credentials, give them full bursaries, a residence, and great teachers to prepare intensely for exams in about a 2/3 load of full-time classes, have them then apply to South Africa’s universities bringing with them the college credits so that they could take a slightly lower load on entry to ease what would no doubt be a difficult transition into “foreign territory.”   

A much discussed issue was where to locate this college.  Working out of SACHED’s Joburg office, everyone around me assumed it had to be there, in the country’s economic and political epicenter.  Then I met Neville Alexander, one of the most brilliant people I have ever known.  I think I understood that, somehow, right away.  Neville would of course have nothing good to say about yet another instance of Joburg dominance.  There had to be a campus also in Cape Town, so there would be, and the heavy discussions and friendly competition between the two would I think prove fruitful.  Cape Town brought a different perspective.  Neville argued long and hard for paying teaching staff a very minimal wage to ensure commitment.  His vision was aspirational, but as I recall Joburg won that round.  In Cape Town, Lindy and Francis Wilson, and Karen Press, lovingly helped to keep us all on the same page. 

The second big issue as I recall, was to iron out the agreement for transferring credit into the major South African universities.  Starting at Wits, we thought there was a critical mass of progressive academics, so we assumed cooperation would be forthcoming.  After all, the universities all said they wished they could enroll more black students but apartheid education had prevented adequate preparation.  But of course it was more complicated.  I will never forget my first meeting with the chair of History, who politely explained that an Indiana accredited course in African history could not possibly be credited as a first course at Wits, since that foundation needed to focus on European History.  I still remember the shock that such bias could be held by the most educated liberal.  I can only imagine the faculty meetings which ensued, but we got the agreement, grudgingly at first.   

By August 1984 those decisions and general agreements had been made, and I prepared a fundraising proposal describing the college.  Bill Carmichael from Ford, who had visited South Africa twice while I was working in Joburg, gave an early proposal to his colleague Allison Bernstein, who approved a planning grant to hire initial staff (and reimburse my flight, I think).  I returned to begin graduate school in the US and John took the proposal to a meeting of mostly European government funders where major funding was secured.  I have always imagined that meeting, but John will have to tell that tale. 

I do not think I returned to South Africa until 1986 and which particulars happened in 1984 or later, I am afraid I am now a bit hazy on.  I am not sure when exactly John and Jennie suggested we needed an advisory board.  I do recall them sending me to see (then) Bishop Tutu, who agreed to chair the advisory as long as we promised to give the college a good African name.   He suggested Khanya.  John also managed later to get a message about the college to Nelson Mandela on Robben Island, which was amazing, and Mandela agreed to serve as honorary chair, which was audacious for everyone.  We also hired the first full time staff person for Joburg, Majelefo Ralekheto from the then Boputhatswana. 

By 1986, with funding in hand and a growing staff group on two campuses, Khanya was ready to start.  My role diminished when the real work of selecting students, teaching classes, advising and managing was being done by folks who knew what they were doing.  By 1987 I had shifted my focus to writing a dissertation on the debates and progression within the anti-apartheid movement under the guidance of Jennie’s brilliant husband Mark Orkin, with the connections I had made through Khanya proving of course invaluable.   

Through 1989, spending more time in South Africa, of course I stayed in touch as Khanya hit its stride.  I remember early on how delighted I was with the residence in a Baker building in downtown Joburg, where I (badly) sanded the floors and helped move in the furniture.  And amazing teachers and wonderful students, so many of whom have gone on to impactful lives.  Meetings, always meetings, though I attended too few.  The energy was palpable also in Cape Town at least as much.   

I cannot wait to read the other entries to this history, as there is so much I missed.  My involvement was brief and so much less important than that of everyone who actually worked and studied at Khanya.  But for me, it was the pivotal experience.  I learned the key lesson, that human intelligence and spirit cannot be so easily squashed, that even after a lifetime of apartheid education, great students could emerge and fly.  Education is so powerful.  And that is, I think, our greatest hope.  It is mine.  And I learned that people can care for one another and trust, even for a stranger dropped in as I was.   

I have to conclude with thanks, for the amazing friends who took me in, set me off on a direction and guided me, making me who I am.  I owe you all.  You have all been my life’s inspiration and guide.