A Historical Account of Physical Education in the Cape Colony and Province Prior to the Second World War

Abstract

A large ‘corpus’ of both scholarly and informal literature, exploring the history of Physical Education (PE) in South Africa (SA), exists. These works reflect the racial schisms that dominated PE. This literature review traces a historical development that transcends traditional ‘race’ boundaries. A sport-historical investigation was undertaken based on literature in dissertations, academic and non-academic journals and general publications. By reworking the existing literature, the study revealed that PE was not introduced uniformly into all sectors of society. It showed how the playing of games remained the dominant form of physical activity at elite schools while the marginalised classes (poor, non-white and women), had Physical Training (PT) Drill. However, PE always had a low status on the school timetable. In Black schools, Drill and later PE was introduced mainly for the purposes of discipline and social control, as well as the commonly known idea of medical and health reasons, which were paramount.

Keywords: Physical Education, History, South Africa, Cape Colony, Cape Province, Games, Gymnastics, PT Drill