Skip to main content
Stellenbosch University facilitates the return of school benches to the old Lückhoff School building

Stellenbosch University facilitates the return of school benches to the old Lückhoff School building

Division for Social Impact
16 July 2019

The places where people worked and lived, the spaces where children played, are fundamental to the development of both a community and an individual identity. It is the sense of belonging, togetherness and collectively participating and sharing activities which is a crucial element in the formation of identity. (Erasmus, 2001:98)

Stellenbosch University (SU) has acknowledged its “contribution to the injustices of the past" and is committed to “appropriate redress and development initiatives" (Prof. Wim de Villiers, Rector: SU, 2016).

In the spirit of restoring community and the implementation of a practical demonstration of redress and development, SU acknowledges the school community of 1969, who, as a result of the harsh Group Areas Act of 1950, were forced to vacate their beloved Lückhoff School and relocate to Idas Valley, carrying their benches as they left. 

The Division of Social Impact is extending the invitation for past learners of the Lückhoff School to return their benches to the old Lückhoff School building in an act of restorative justice.  The return signals the beginning of a dialogue and engagement space located within the Lückhoff School, where the entire Stellenbosch community, including the University, is able to come together to restore a sense of community. This initiative aims to facilitate ongoing critical conversations, spaces of healing, memorialisation and celebration, 50 years after the painful forced removal during the spring of 1969.

Please join SU as we commemorate this event on Saturday 28 September 2019.

For more information and to RSVP, please contact Ashtrolita Rudolph at [email protected] or 021 808 3645.