Yusuf (Joe) Jacobs was born in District Six, Cape Town on 17 September 1940. His father was Ismail Jacobs, a tailor. His paternal grandfather was Manan Jamie, who came to South Africa from Indonesia around the 1870s, who worked in the diamond mines in Kimberley in charge of mining teams. Jacob’s mother was Zubeida Carr.
During the war years the family moved to Durban. His family, involved in tailoring, lived in working class areas such as Wills Rd and Beatrice Street.
He attended the Albert Street Primary School, then Melbourne Road Primary and later Umbilo Road Secondary and Bechet High School. As a teacher, he later taught at the latter two schools and subsequently became principal at both schools at different times.
Since the family could not afford to send him to university, Jacobs completed the teachers Diploma at Bechet College.
Jacobs attended Bechet High School, Sydenham, Durban. He joined the Durban Students Union (DSU), which was affiliated to the Non European Unity Movement (NEUM). Their demand for full citizenship, the Ten Point Programme and policy of non-collaboration appealed to him. Soon he was actively involved in recruiting students and arranging meetings for the NEUM. The clamp down from the authorities systematically curtailed these activities and he had to endure home searches frequently.
He trained as a teacher at Bechet College of Education and obtained a Teacher’s Diploma. At the same time, he met up with other young university students, and in particular Kader Hassim , Sonny Venkathrathnam and Jeevan Desaai, among others. He was invited to join the Society for Young Africa (SOYA), an intellectual and political think tank, with leftist, radical leanings and training ground for the NEUM.
Soon he was regularly in the company of the top leadership of the NEUM in Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) – Enver Hassim, Zulie Christopher and Karriem Essack. By now he was heavily involved in organising for the Unity Movement – at factories, and in working class areas such as the shack lands of Avoca, Merebank and Bayhead. He had in the meantime moved as a teacher from a primary school to a high school, and was busy with a BA with UNISA.
The formation of the African Peoples Democratic Union of Southern Africa (APDUSA) as a mass movement in the NEUM in the early 1960’s resulted in increased organising activity. Te Apartheid regime responded with blatant intimidation and violence. Homes were regularly raided, and individuals threatened. Jacobs, together with Mac Reddy and Clive Vawda, worked almost exclusively with Karriem Essack and Elma Carollisen, to ensure internal security was tight.
Essack had several organisers in the field, in the Transkei, southern Natal and even in mines on the Rand. Jacobs became a key organiser in the eastern region, working closely with Karriem Essack. APDUSA members involved in the Pondoland revolt, were picked up regularly and ferried to meetings. At the time, the region was virtually in a state of war with the Apartheid government, and peasants would relate horrifying tales of mass slaughter of their comrades, much of this in the forested areas of the region. Migrant workers from Transkei, on their way back home, would report to Essack. It was not uncommon for them to bring with them detailed plans of the gold mines – which they believed should be a major target for sabotage. He participated in investigating secret routes into Swaziland, in the event that leadership needed to exit in haste, or that cadres might have to make their way out of the country for military training. Trips into the countryside, where meetings were held in the huts of peasants, were not uncommon.Even secret delivery of documents to the leadership as far away as the Transkei, were undertaken. Jacobs participated actively in all of this with intensified pressure from the ‘Special Branch’, making life difficult for him and his families.
Jacobs was served with a five-year banning order in December 1965. He was restricted to the Durban area and was not allowed to attend any meeting or enter the premises of any educational institution. Effectively, he was without a job. Eventually, with the help of some friends, he found employment as an invoice clerk. Although some political work continued even under these trying conditions, the disintegration of the leadership meant that even this diminished to the barest minimum.
Jacobs married in 1968, and managed to eke out a living as a clerk in a warehouse. By this time, he had completed a B.A. degree in Economics and Political Science. In early 1971, with his banning order expired, he managed to secure a teaching post, and then a lecturer’s post at the Bechet College of Education.
After strong and at times confrontational motivation by the community, he became principal of the Umbilo Road Secondary School in 1976, and principal of Bechet High School in 1979.The school was recognised as one of the leading schools in the country. As principal, he made it clear that excellence in teaching and learning was a moral obligation that should uplift the individual, as well as to serve the best interests of the people and a new democracy – which he stated was inevitable! This was his vision for the institution.
He also completed a B Proc degree, but by his time had little intention of entering the law profession. In 1986, he became Rector of the Bechet College of Education. He emphasised the importance of “Critical Thinking” in pedagogics, as opposed to the rote learning that prevailed. He organised a national conference of college lecturers with the theme: “Educating for Democracy” - in anticipation of the inevitable liberation of the country, and the need for educators to rethink their teaching strategies, and build a new South Africa.
In the next year or two he was a founding member and Vice Chairman of the Council of Rectors and Deans of Teacher Education of KwaZulu Natal (CORDTEK), the first non-racial body of its kind, in anticipation of the need to reform the teacher education system for the new democracy. He was also an executive member of the Education Foundation – aimed at reforming the education system for the new challenges ahead. As such, he was invited to participate in the National Education coordinating Committee (NECC) in which discussions for a progressive education policy was being formulated.
In the early 90’s he was invited by Prof Fatima Meer to join the board of the Phambile High School in Durban to advise on educational issues. The school was to cater for young ANC cadres returning from exile, as well as those in the township who were being terrorized by reactionary forces. He served with some prominent individuals, including Florence Mkhize and Judge T Jali (later of the Jali Commission).
He took early retirement in 1993. In 1996, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Pro Sano Medical Scheme, which had undertaken to revamp the scheme into a truly representative empowerment body, serving its members (mainly civil servants) and the community. He later served on the Board of Sigma Health Fund Managers, which became a very successful empowerment company.
Jacobs became the Chair of the Kwa Zulu Natal Effective Schooling Project (KESP), a nongovernmental organisation aimed at improving management in black schools. He has sat on the boards of several welfare organisations, including the Durban Child Welfare and St. Philomenas Home. Currently he advises on a charitable project in the black township of Edendale (Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal), building and running crèches for disadvantaged children.
Jacobs reads widely on economic and social issues and counts astronomy as one of his interests. He is married to Marlene (nee Lawson) and has a daughter, Rhoda, an investment banker and a son, Richard, an economist.
Yusuf (Joe) Jacobs was born in District Six, Cape Town on 17 September 1940. His father was Ismail Jacobs, a tailor. His paternal grandfather was Manan Jamie, who came to South Africa from Indonesia around the 1870s, who worked in the diamond mines in Kimberley in charge of mining teams. Jacob’s mother was Zubeida Carr.
During the war years the family moved to Durban. His family, involved in tailoring, lived in working class areas such as Wills Rd and Beatrice Street.
He attended the Albert Street Primary School, then Melbourne Road Primary and later Umbilo Road Secondary and Bechet High School. As a teacher, he later taught at the latter two schools and subsequently became principal at both schools at different times.
Since the family could not afford to send him to university, Jacobs completed the teachers Diploma at Bechet College.
Jacobs attended Bechet High School, Sydenham, Durban. He joined the Durban Students Union (DSU), which was affiliated to the Non European Unity Movement (NEUM). Their demand for full citizenship, the Ten Point Programme and policy of non-collaboration appealed to him. Soon he was actively involved in recruiting students and arranging meetings for the NEUM. The clamp down from the authorities systematically curtailed these activities and he had to endure home searches frequently.
He trained as a teacher at Bechet College of Education and obtained a Teacher’s Diploma. At the same time, he met up with other young university students, and in particular Kader Hassim , Sonny Venkathrathnam and Jeevan Desaai, among others. He was invited to join the Society for Young Africa (SOYA), an intellectual and political think tank, with leftist, radical leanings and training ground for the NEUM.
Soon he was regularly in the company of the top leadership of the NEUM in Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) – Enver Hassim, Zulie Christopher and Karriem Essack. By now he was heavily involved in organising for the Unity Movement – at factories, and in working class areas such as the shack lands of Avoca, Merebank and Bayhead. He had in the meantime moved as a teacher from a primary school to a high school, and was busy with a BA with UNISA.
The formation of the African Peoples Democratic Union of Southern Africa (APDUSA) as a mass movement in the NEUM in the early 1960’s resulted in increased organising activity. Te Apartheid regime responded with blatant intimidation and violence. Homes were regularly raided, and individuals threatened. Jacobs, together with Mac Reddy and Clive Vawda, worked almost exclusively with Karriem Essack and Elma Carollisen, to ensure internal security was tight.
Essack had several organisers in the field, in the Transkei, southern Natal and even in mines on the Rand. Jacobs became a key organiser in the eastern region, working closely with Karriem Essack. APDUSA members involved in the Pondoland revolt, were picked up regularly and ferried to meetings. At the time, the region was virtually in a state of war with the Apartheid government, and peasants would relate horrifying tales of mass slaughter of their comrades, much of this in the forested areas of the region. Migrant workers from Transkei, on their way back home, would report to Essack. It was not uncommon for them to bring with them detailed plans of the gold mines – which they believed should be a major target for sabotage. He participated in investigating secret routes into Swaziland, in the event that leadership needed to exit in haste, or that cadres might have to make their way out of the country for military training. Trips into the countryside, where meetings were held in the huts of peasants, were not uncommon.Even secret delivery of documents to the leadership as far away as the Transkei, were undertaken. Jacobs participated actively in all of this with intensified pressure from the ‘Special Branch’, making life difficult for him and his families.
Jacobs was served with a five-year banning order in December 1965. He was restricted to the Durban area and was not allowed to attend any meeting or enter the premises of any educational institution. Effectively, he was without a job. Eventually, with the help of some friends, he found employment as an invoice clerk. Although some political work continued even under these trying conditions, the disintegration of the leadership meant that even this diminished to the barest minimum.
Jacobs married in 1968, and managed to eke out a living as a clerk in a warehouse. By this time, he had completed a B.A. degree in Economics and Political Science. In early 1971, with his banning order expired, he managed to secure a teaching post, and then a lecturer’s post at the Bechet College of Education.
After strong and at times confrontational motivation by the community, he became principal of the Umbilo Road Secondary School in 1976, and principal of Bechet High School in 1979.The school was recognised as one of the leading schools in the country. As principal, he made it clear that excellence in teaching and learning was a moral obligation that should uplift the individual, as well as to serve the best interests of the people and a new democracy – which he stated was inevitable! This was his vision for the institution.
He also completed a B Proc degree, but by his time had little intention of entering the law profession. In 1986, he became Rector of the Bechet College of Education. He emphasised the importance of “Critical Thinking” in pedagogics, as opposed to the rote learning that prevailed. He organised a national conference of college lecturers with the theme: “Educating for Democracy” - in anticipation of the inevitable liberation of the country, and the need for educators to rethink their teaching strategies, and build a new South Africa.
In the next year or two he was a founding member and Vice Chairman of the Council of Rectors and Deans of Teacher Education of KwaZulu Natal (CORDTEK), the first non-racial body of its kind, in anticipation of the need to reform the teacher education system for the new democracy. He was also an executive member of the Education Foundation – aimed at reforming the education system for the new challenges ahead. As such, he was invited to participate in the National Education coordinating Committee (NECC) in which discussions for a progressive education policy was being formulated.
In the early 90’s he was invited by Prof Fatima Meer to join the board of the Phambile High School in Durban to advise on educational issues. The school was to cater for young ANC cadres returning from exile, as well as those in the township who were being terrorized by reactionary forces. He served with some prominent individuals, including Florence Mkhize and Judge T Jali (later of the Jali Commission).
He took early retirement in 1993. In 1996, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Pro Sano Medical Scheme, which had undertaken to revamp the scheme into a truly representative empowerment body, serving its members (mainly civil servants) and the community. He later served on the Board of Sigma Health Fund Managers, which became a very successful empowerment company.
Jacobs became the Chair of the Kwa Zulu Natal Effective Schooling Project (KESP), a nongovernmental organisation aimed at improving management in black schools. He has sat on the boards of several welfare organisations, including the Durban Child Welfare and St. Philomenas Home. Currently he advises on a charitable project in the black township of Edendale (Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal), building and running crèches for disadvantaged children.
Jacobs reads widely on economic and social issues and counts astronomy as one of his interests. He is married to Marlene (nee Lawson) and has a daughter, Rhoda, an investment banker and a son, Richard, an economist.