Kilnerton Training Institution fondly called: 'KTI', during the Sixties was undoubtedly one of the premier Black schools of its time. Reflecting on the impact which its Alumni had on the Southern African sub continent.
Kilnerton opened its doors in 1886, but the story that led up to its opening started a long time before. Perhaps the story goes back as far as John Wesley (1703 – 1791) the founder of Methodism. John Wesley (born June 17, 1703, Epworth, Lincolnshire, England—died March 2, 1791, London) was an Anglican clergyman, evangelist, and founder, with his brother Charles, of the Methodist movement in the Church of England. He had a vision of the World as his parish and his preaching led to a revival in England and a missionary outreach that eventually reached Countries all over the World. As Kilnerton is a South African institution, back in 1795 four years after Wesley’s death when Methodism was proclaimed as a separate denomination. It was also the year that the British troops occupied the Cape of Good Hope. It was from the Methodist Mission Station, in KwaZulu Natal that Methodism came to Gauteng and Limpopo Provinces.
In 1880 the Rev. Owen Watkins started a “Trial Mission” in the Transvaal which was based in Pretoria (now Tshwane). One unique feature of the Methodist mission in the Transvaal was the role played by local Christians in planting the Gospel before the arrival of the Missionaries. These men greeted Rev. Watkins, pleased that an experienced Missionary had arrived to help them. They showed him the small societies they had begun and Watkins encouraged them. There was Samuel Mathabathe in Soutpansberg, Hans Appie and Klaas Ndlovu in, Pretoria and John Klassen in Potchefstroom. All these men had travelled to the Cape or Natal to earn moony to buy blankets and guns, and came into contact with Christians friends and were converted.
In 1880, the year that Watkins established the “Trial Mission” in the Transvaal, the Rev. John Kilner, secretary of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society (WMMS) which had been established in 1813 by Dr Thomas Coke after he arrived from England, for a visit. During his visit to Natal and the Transvaal he was accompanied by Watkins. Kilner became aware of how few ordained African ministers there were in the Methodist Connexion in South Africa.
In November 1880 Kilner and Watkins visited the Governor of the Transvaal Sir Owen Lamjon who was promised land in Pretoria and elsewhere for educational purposes, if they opened a normal teacher training college. When the time came to start building Kilnerton they did not build on land donated by the Governor, but on land bought by the Methodist Church.
By 1885, the need for a training Institution for African Ministers had become urgent. As Watkins was looking for a suitable place to establish a new institution, they heard of the sale of the farm: 'Koedoespoort'. The original price was about 4000 pounds, but when they heard that the price had come down to 1500 pounds they immediately made a commitment to buy and wrote a letter to Kilner who agreed and thus the Farm was bought to establish the School called Kilnerton. (It was about 6000 acres in extent.)
There was also a request from local chiefs for the Methodist Church to provide land where they could safely settle. When the institution was established these people settled at what became Kilnerton Village.
THE GROWTH OF KILNERTON:
1886 – Kilnerton opens its doors to the first leaners
1889-1902 – Kilnerton closed during the South Africa War
1903 – Kilnerton once again in operation with a growing number of leaners. Theological classes introduced.
1922 – The girls’ hostel and domestic science school opened by Princess Alice, from England.
1927 – The report from the Inspectors was that training at the school was of a very high standard. Apart from the missionary teachers most of the local educators were trained at the local Kilnerton training college or Healdtown Institution.
1929 – The chapel consecrated for the use of the Kilnerton leaners and staff and the surrounding community.
1940 – The High school built. This was used as part of the John Wesley College buildings.
1946– 1953- The student body doubles in size.
1953 – The government took over church schools and Kilnerton also affected.
1962 – Kilnerton forced to close down by the government as the area in which it was situated was declared “white”
1994 – Kilnerton re-opened as John Wesley College to train Methodist probation ministers. This era is over with the opening of the Seminary in Pietermaritzburg.
EMMU (THE EDUCATION FOR Mission AND Ministry Unit), is still housed in Kilnerton. The Limpopo District office with the office of the Bishop is housed in what was once the administrative block of the old Kilnerton Institution. The old High School buildings are used as a conference centre and other plans are made to use these buildings more profitably.
HIGH ACHIEVERS AMONG KILNERTON ALUMNI:
Kilnerton produced many great men and women who served their communities and South Africa with dedication. Prominent among the high achievers are the following:
*Rev Sefako Makgatho – founder of the Transvaal Teachers Association, Past President of the African National Congress. (Former President Nelson Mandela was so pleased with Rev Makgatho that he named his son Makgatho)
*Dr Mary Malahlela – first woman doctor in South Africa
*Dr N H Motlana – medical practitioner, and member of the Soweto Committee of Ten
*Dr Machupe Mphahlele – obstetrician in the United Kingdom and South Africa
*Prof J N Mafojane – first black head of the neurology department at the University of Pretoria
*Dr Isaac Thapeli – neurologist in the USA
*Dr S M Mogoba – Past President of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, winner of the Methodist Peace price and Past President of the Pan-African Congress.
*Judge Dikgang Moseneke – Deputy President of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
*Prof A Nkabinde – former Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Zululand
*Dr S K Matseke – head-master, inspector and Director of Education
*Mrs Zodwa Fanele – nursing sister who founded the Zodwa School for the mentally handicapped in Atteridgeville
*Prof Khabi Mgoma – served as a teacher at Kilnerton and later established the Department of Music at the University of Zululand.