Mr M (Anela Myalatya):
Mr M is a 57 year-old Black teacher at Zolile High School. He is a bachelor and lives in a small backroom of the local reverend’s house. He decided to become a teacher at the age of 10 while in Wapadsberg Pass during a school trip . Important aspects to his character to be aware of are:
• He loves education: He lives a very simple life that revolves around education; his greatest hope is to keep young people in class and at their desks. He regularly encourages his students to be critical thinkers or scholars/intellectuals. He is a dedicated, determined, ambitious, respected and passionate teacher and believes that language skills can be used by learners to think independently. He believes that education and hard work can help Africans to end apartheid.
• Mr M (one of the few Blacks who are Confucian). He adores the words of Confucius, from which he builds his classroom motto. Confucius was a Chinese Philosopher and teacher who lived from 551-479 BC. The philosophy of Confucius emphasises humanness, loyalty to one’s nature, morality, justice and virtue. Confucius believed in the power of words.
• Mr M is authoritative. He refuses to accept and understand different political viewpoints (Thami’s viewpoint ) which is ironic because he believes in debates and power of words. He is a dictator and a traditionalist and believes in respect for authority. He says respect for authority is deeply ingrained in the African soul. During the boycotts he is at school, ringing the bell and calling out names of his learners from the attendance register in an empty classroom. He is stubborn (he refuses to run away from the comrades who were coming to kill him, he continues to ring the bell furiously) and he is killed .