An interview with Laurence Nodder - UWC in

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On graduation from university Laurence Nodder refused conscription into the Apartheid South
African Defence Force. On the day he was due to report for military service in January 1982 he
left South Africa to teach in a small, independent school in Mafeting, Lesotho, where after a
short while he became principal. Kingsgate High School served baSotho, refugees from the
townships of South Africa (including refugees under the care of the UNHCR), and a few
expatriate children. In January 1986 he moved to the Sekukhune area in South Africa, an area
deemed to be a 'homeland' by the Apartheid Government, and helped re-establish as a nonracial
school a school that had been closed down in the 1950s with the passing of the
infamous Bantu Education Act. St Mark's College served students from the surrounding areas
and townships as far away as Mamelodi and Soweto.
By 1993 the Apartheid Government was no longer prosecuting conscientious objectors, and
Nodder was able to take up the principalship of St Gregory College, an Anglican boarding
school in the KwaZulu Natal Midlands.These were challenging times, not only because of
conflict between white and black, but also (often State-sponsored) black-on-black violence.
In 1999 Nodder was appointed as Principal of Waterford Kamhlaba UWC of Southern Africa.
Within UWC Nodder has championed the ideal that 'diversity' within UWCs needs to stretch
to beyond national diversities if UWC is to make its fullest impact to make 'education a force
to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future'. Nodder has stressed
that UWCs need to select students representing the tensions among and between peoples and
societies. He has championed the selection of orphans and those from the bottom economic
sectors, together with those who have grown up in more fortunate circumstances.
Kingsgate High, St Mark's College, St Gregory College and UWC Waterford Kamhlaba have all
shared a vision for a non-racial, democratic society, and a determination to create and
maintain this as an educational ethos. Nodder remains humbled and inspired by Nelson
Mandela's closing words at the 'Rivonia' Trial in 1964 where he was facing the death sentence:
"I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have
cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in
harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal, which I hope to live for and to achieve.
But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
Nodder's commitment to society finds expression in several areas beyond UWC Waterford
Kamhlaba: he has served on a number of school and church boards, he currently serves on the
Board of 'Young Heroes', an NGO that provides funding directly to orphans for food and
education and access to health services, recently represented the Swaziland Federation of
Employers and Chamber of Commerce at an ILO meeting in taking forward the fight against
child labour in southern and eastern Africa, and is an active member of Rotary.