The notion that South African public schools have a distinctively civic mission is recognised in all national education policy documents published since the first democratic election in 1994. The teaching of democratic citizenship education in public schools is a newcomer to South Africa. The purpose in this article is to summarise scholars' views on the attributes of a good citizen and the role of the school in this regard and to report the outcomes of a research project on African teachers' perceptions on the factors contributing to good citizenship. Ascertaining what scholars and African teachers thought would provide a reasonable starting point for addressing the issue of education for democratic citizenship in South African public schools.