Unrests break out in the Coloured townships

A school child re-enacts a scene from the school boycotts Source: www.joburg.org.za

Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Unrests break out in the Coloured townships — A school child re-enacts a scene from the school boycotts Source: www.joburg.org.za

Unrests broke out in the Coloured townships south-west of Johannesburg. This was preceded in April by the Coloured schools' boycott which began as a result of students' dissatisfaction with the South African educational and political systems. Students from about sixty Coloured high schools, teacher training facilities and the University of the Western Cape joined the protest and refused to attend classes. A number of Indian schools in Pretoria and KwaZulu-Natal joined the boycott. Black Consciousness groups also pledged their support. In Lenasia, the Parents’ Action Committee was established to provide political and legal support, since detentions of students and community leaders were prevalent during that time.

How we know this

01O’Malley, P. ‘1981’, from Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, [online], available at www.nelsonmandela.org.za (Accessed: 15 May 2013)
02South African History Online, ‘Indian students join the Coloured schools boycott’, [online], available at www.sahistory.org.za (Accessed: 15 May 2013)
03Joburg, (2010), ‘School Boycotts relived’, 21 September, [online], available at www.joburg.org.za (Accessed: 15 May 2013)
04South African History Online, ‘General South African History Timeline: 1980s’, [online], available at www.sahistory.org.za (Accessed: 15 May 2013)

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2013, May 31). Unrests break out in the Coloured townships. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095800

South African History Online (2013) 'Unrests break out in the Coloured townships', South African History Online, 31 May. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095800 (Accessed: 24 October 2026).

South African History Online, Unrests break out in the Coloured townships [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095800, (accessed 24 October 2026).

"Unrests break out in the Coloured townships." South African History Online, 31 May 2013, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095800. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Unrests break out in the Coloured townships." South African History Online. May 31, 2013. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0095800.