The purpose of establishing the school was to introduce black learners to the Technical field in which they were previously exempted from accessing due to apartheid rationale hence Jabulani Technical High School became the first Technical High School in Soweto. The school was officially opened on the 6th October 1979.

The statistics show that the current learner has since seized the opportunity to obtain technical skills eagerly when a comparison is made of 673 learners enrolled in 1991 to 1612 enrollments in 2001. In 1992 Mr Van Staden was succeeded by Mr D.R Mbense who became the first black principal black principal of the school. This mirrored the political situation in the country and the changes showed the fall of the apartheid era in South Africa. Mr D.R Mbense was then succeeded by Mrs T.P Manana who brought a lot of changes in the school. One of the changes was the dash board where each Department head had to indicate members of his/her department, what they teach and their period allocation. Another change that she brought was the weekly itinerary. Departments were encouraged to plan well in advance for what they were planning to do. They were made to account for each day that they spent at school.

Jabulani Technical High School is ideally situated on a main road called Koma Road that runs through the main business district in Jabulani, one of the townships in Soweto. It is surrounded by the Jabulani Police station, the Jabulani Mall, the Emergency Services and the Zola Hospital that has been recently completed. A recently upsurge in the development of Soweto has greatly benefited the Jabulani Township and subsequently the school as a whole.