Neville Alexander
Neville Alexander was a prominent South African anti-apartheid activist, educator, and linguist, born on October 22, 1936, in the Eastern Cape province. He grew up in a society marked by racial discrimination under apartheid, which profoundly influenced his worldview and activism. Initially pursuing a path toward the priesthood, he shifted to academia, earning a doctorate in German literature in 1961. Alexander became an active member of the anti-apartheid movement, co-founding the Yu Chi Chan Club and advocating for revolutionary change, which led to his imprisonment on Robben Island alongside notable figures like Nelson Mandela.
During his ten years in prison, he not only faced harsh conditions but also engaged in educating fellow inmates and discussing the future of South Africa. After his release, he continued to champion education reform and political activism, playing a vital role in shaping post-apartheid language policy and education. Alexander remained an influential voice in South Africa until his death on August 27, 2012, leaving behind a legacy of commitment to social justice and linguistic diversity. His works, including notable critiques of the post-apartheid government, reflect his enduring impact on South African society.
Neville Alexander
South African teacher, author, anti-apartheid activist
- Born: October 22, 1936
- Birthplace: Cradock, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Died: August 27, 2012
- Place of death: Cape Town, South Africa
Also known as: Neville Edward Alexander
Education: University of Cape Town; University of Tubingen, Germany
Significance: Neville Alexander was a schoolteacher whose revolutionary views during the apartheid era resulted in his arrest and imprisonment. Upon his release from prison, Alexander continued to fight for a democratic and non-racial South Africa through his writings and lectures. Alexander was instrumental in helping South Africa develop a nationwide language policy after the end of apartheid.
Background
Neville Alexander was born on October 22, 1936, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. His mother, Dimbiti Bisho, was a schoolteacher, and his father, David James, was a carpenter. His grandmother, Bisho Jarsa, was a freed slave from Ethiopia who was relocated to South Africa and became a schoolteacher.
Alexander lived in a country where the white government oppressed the black population. In 1948, South Africa imposed a system of laws that legalized racial discrimination and segregation. This system was called apartheid, a word that means "separateness" in the South African language of Afrikaans. As a result, Alexander grew up with strong anti-white sentiments and saw white people as oppressors.
He was also heavily influenced by the religious views of his mother who taught him compassion and respect for others. Alexander attended a convent when he was young with the intention of becoming a priest. At age sixteen, he enrolled at the University of Cape Town where he studied German and history. Alexander earned a master's degree in 1957 and was awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Tubingen in Germany. He completed his doctorate studies in German literature from the university in 1961.
Activism and Imprisonment
At both the University of Cape Town and University of Tubingen, Alexander was exposed to the ideas of nineteenth-century sociologist and author Karl Marx. Marx preached an economic philosophy known as socialism. Under socialism, the government owns and controls the means of producing goods and distributes those goods equally across society.
Alexander returned to Cape Town in 1961 and took a job teaching at Livingstone High School. He believed in trying to change South Africa by teaching its young people to think for themselves and look beyond the government's version of education. He became an activist in political causes and joined a socialist anti-apartheid group in South Africa. His conviction that change was possible only through armed revolution put him at odds with the group and he was later expelled. Alexander countered by forming the Yu Chi Chan Club, an activist group dedicated to overthrowing the white government of South Africa.
In 1963, Alexander and several members of the Yu Chi Chan Club were arrested and convicted of conspiracy to commit sabotage. He was sentenced to ten years in prison on South Africa's Robben Island. Among his fellow prisoners on the island was Nelson Mandela, the famed political leader who would go on to become South Africa's first black president in 1994.
Conditions on Robben Island were brutal. Alexander and the other prisoners were often beaten and humiliated. According to Alexander, the experience also brought the prisoners together and helped them form a strong sense of democracy. Alexander spent his time in prison teaching the inmates history and discussed the future of South Africa with Mandela and other jailed political leaders.
Alexander was released from Robben Island in 1974 and placed under five years of house arrest. He was also banned by the government, a designation that censored his writings, limited the people he could have contact with, and severely restricted his movements. During this time, he wrote under the pseudonym No Sizwe and published the book One Azania, One Nation. The book examined the issue of race in South Africa and called for the end of racial division and the unification of the nation's liberation movements.
His house arrest ended in 1979 and Alexander resumed his teaching career, lecturing part-time in sociology at the University of Cape Town. He later became the director of the South African Committee of Higher Education, a program designed for black adults who are seeking an education. He also remained active in politics and in 1990 formed the political party Workers Organisation for Socialist Action.
In 1989, a new government rose to power in South Africa and began to dismantle the apartheid system. Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and began working with the government to transition away from its past oppression and create a new constitution for the nation. In 1993, Alexander was appointed director of the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa, which helped reform South Africa's education system.
Mandela was elected president in 1994, and that same year, Alexander was assigned to head a committee to develop a new national language policy to balance the diverse collection of South African languages. In 2004, Alexander helped advise the central African nation of Cameroon in developing its own language policy.
Impact
Alexander lectured and published books into the twenty-first century. Some works, like 2003's An Ordinary Country, were highly critical of the country's post-apartheid government. In 2004, he received the Order of the Disa, a political honor from the Western Cape province. In 2008, Alexander was awarded the Linguapax Prize, an international honor acknowledging his contributions to linguistic diversity.
Personal Life
Alexander was involved in several local political organizations and movements when he became ill in 2012. He was diagnosed with cancer and died on August 27, 2012, in Cape Town. As a young activist, he anticipated the possibility he could one day be arrested and decided to never marry.
Bibliography
Alexander, Neville. Thoughts on the New South Africa. Jacana, 2013.
"Apartheid." History.com, 2010, www.history.com/topics/apartheid. Accessed 1 Sept. 2017.
Gavin Evans. "Neville Alexander: Activist Who Fought against Apartheid." Independent, 31 Aug. 2012, www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/neville-alexander-activist-who-fought-against-apartheid-8099840.html. Accessed 1 Sept. 2017.
Magnien, Nicolas. "Dr. Neville Edward Alexander." South African History Online, 20 Oct. 2015, www.sahistory.org.za/people/dr-neville-edward-alexander. Accessed 1 Sept. 2017.
Mesthrie R. "Neville Alexander: History, Politics and the Language Question." South African Journal of Science, July/Aug. 2015, www.sajs.co.za/sites/default/files/publications/pdf/SAJS%20111‗7-8‗Mesthrie.pdf. Accessed 1 Sept. 2017.
Vally, Salim, Brian Ramadiro, and Jane Duncan. "Neville Alexander: Revolutionary Who Changed Many Lives." Mail & Guardian, 30 Aug. 2012, mg.co.za/article/2012-08-30-neville-alexander-revolutionary-who-changed-many-lives. Accessed 1 Sept. 2017.
Whittaker, Shaun. "Remembering Neville Alexander: Nation Building and the Communist Manifesto." Pambazuka News, 4 Sept. 2014, www.pambazuka.org/governance/remembering-neville-alexander-nation-building-and-communist-manifesto. Accessed 1 Sept. 2017.
Zinn, Allan, editor. Non-Racialism in South Africa: The Life and Times of Neville Alexander. SUN MeDIA, 2016.