Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work
The Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work was the first institution to train black social workers in South Africa.History
The Jan H. Hofmeyr School of Social Work started operating on January 15, 1941 in Eloff Street, Johannesburg, under directorship of Congregational minister Rev. Ray Phillips. It was opened in 1941 by Ray Phillips and supported by among others, Job Richard Rathebe and A.B. Xuma. The School was funded with help from the Young Men's Christian Association and the Afrikaner philanthropist Hofmeyr. Hofmeyr was Minister of Finance and of Education under Jan Smuts in 1939, and also president of cd municipal building that also housed the Johannesburg City Council's Jubilee Social Centre. From 1949 the school functioned independently from the YMCA.
After the National Party gained power in 1948, the apartheid state stopped subsidizing private education, and the Jan Hofmeyr School was forced to close in 1960.Alumni
Students who had trained at the School included:
- Gibson Kente, playwright
- Ellen Kuzwayo, 1953, educator, social worker, activist, member of the Committee of Ten
- Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela, 1953, a former wife of Nelson Mandela, social worker, activist
- Joshua Nkomo, ca. 1942, Zimbabwean politician
- Louis Petersen , music administrator
- Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane, class of 1948, educator and founder of the Mozambique Liberation Front
