Trafalgar High's Hidden History
- Kauthar Bassadien
- Oct 31, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 17
In the heart of Cape Town’s historic District Six stands Trafalgar High School. A building older than apartheid itself yet still standing tall against time and erasure. Its classrooms were once filled with the voices of thinkers, rebels, and dreamers who believed that education was the greatest act of defiance. Among them was Dr. Sedick Isaacs who was a brilliant teacher, scientist, and physician whose story captures both the tragedy and triumph of South Africa’s past.
Today, his name still stirs pride among the Trafalgar community, symbolising what it means to learn, resist, and rebuild.
The spirit of District Six: A School Born in Struggle.
Founded in 1912, Trafalgar High became the first school for Coloured learners in South Africa, breaking barriers long before laws could define them. In the racially segregated Cape, this school offered more than education, but it also offered possibilities to students.
Current principal Mrs Salwa Southgate says the school’s history remains a vital part of its identity.
“Trafalgar has always been a beacon of resistance and excellence,” she explains. “Our students walk the same corridors as those who fought for justice. That spirit of District Six is resilience, pride, and unity and is what keeps us alive today.”
Even as bulldozers tore through District Six during the forced removals of the 1970s, Trafalgar stayed rooted. Families may have been displaced, but the school remains today, a living symbol of what apartheid could not erase.
A Mind Ahead of His Time
Born in 1933, Sedick Isaacs grew up in District Six during an era of racial division. He attended Trafalgar High as a student and later returned to teach mathematics and science which were subjects, he saw as tools for liberation. Former pupils remembered him as calm, focused, and quietly revolutionary.
His passion for education soon merged with his political consciousness. He became involved in anti-apartheid movements, believing that the right to knowledge and equality were inseparable. His beliefs he fought for are the roots that made him the most memorable alumni from Trafalgar High today.
Imprisoned for His Principles
In 1964, Isaacs was arrested under the Sabotage Act for his involvement in anti-apartheid activities. He was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment on Robben Island, joining other political prisoners like Nelson Mandela and Govan Mbeki. Behind bars, Isaacs continued to teach. He secretly organised study groups and conducted experiments using makeshift materials, transforming Robben Island into what he called a “university of the oppressed.”
“Education was his defiance,” says Principal Southgate. “Even in isolation, he refused to let apartheid control his mind. That is something we remind our learners about and that true power lies in knowledge.”
Isaacs’ time in prison only strengthened his determination. When released, he returned to education and undeterred, unbroken, and more determined than ever.
From Prisoner to Physician
After his release in the 1970s, Isaacs resumed teaching at Trafalgar before pursuing a medical degree at the University of Cape Town (UCT). His academic achievements were remarkable for someone who had been denied opportunity by apartheid’s racial restrictions.
He later became a respected physician and scientist, working in medical research and advocating for access to healthcare and education in marginalised communities. His life became a testament to perseverance and transformation.
“Dr. Isaacs was living proof that knowledge can’t be imprisoned,” says, a former Trafalgar alum who was inspired by Dr Isaac to profession in Mathematics. “We see him as an example that our circumstances don’t define us, but our choices do.”
Trafalgar’s Ongoing Legacy
Trafalgar High School today upholds the ideals Isaacs and his contemporaries stood for. The school’s walls, still bearing the original brickwork of District Six, host a new generation of learners navigating a democratic but unequal South Africa.
The staff work tirelessly to keep the school’s heritage alive through annual assemblies, heritage walks, and collaborations with the District Six Museum. For many students, the school is not just an educational institution but a connection to their cultural identity and collective memory.
It gives them a reason they attend such a prestigious school. When they wear their school clothes, they have a sense of what the school fought for during apartheid and its part of their identity and school’s identity.
Lessons for a New Generation
For today’s youth digital natives born into freedom like Isaacs’ story offers an important reflection on sacrifice and purpose.
“Our learners sometimes take education for granted,” says Principal Southgate. “We remind them that people like Dr. Isaacs risked their lives so that they could study freely today. That is the weight of this legacy.”
Students are inspired by Dr. Isaacs’s story and the way he was during his time. Many of the students become great teachers or go into the field of physics and mathematics, and the story behind their choosing this profession. They feel inspired by his story for what he fought for and what he believed in.
It is crazy to think that someone who taught in these same classrooms went to prison just for believing in equality.
Through heritage projects, mentorship programs, and alumni talks, Trafalgar ensures that its past continues to shape its present and not as nostalgia, but as purpose.
Conclusion: The Science of Freedom
Dr. Sedick Isaacs passed away in 2012, but his legacy lives on in the classrooms of Trafalgar High and the hearts of those he inspired. His journey, from a District Six child to a political prisoner, teacher, and physician, mirrors the broader South African struggle for dignity and equality.
As District Six slowly reclaims its people and history, Trafalgar remains a beacon, proving that education can outlast oppression, displacement, and time itself.
Dr. Isaacs once said, “They could imprison my body, but not my mind.”
That belief still echoes through the halls of Trafalgar High, where every lesson taught, every dream pursued, carries forward the science of freedom.
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