The Graeme College Rugby Festival packed plenty of punch with rousing performances and plenty to cheer for spectators.
In some of the most exciting matches at the weekend, Grey High romped to Victory with Jon Hobson unstoppable, powering through the Hudson Park defence for a hat-trick of tries.
The Grey champion kept Hudson Park on their toes with a dominant performance, leaving them trailing 20-0 at halftime. Hudson Park showed some spark in the second half, but Grey piled on another five tries for a convincing 44-5 win.
In a game of dramatic swings, Dale College found itself in a rut against Nico Malan. The first half saw Malan score four tries, leaving Dale floundering at 32-8. But Dale dug deep in the final quarter, scoring a flurry of tries and threatening a comeback. Unfortunately, their final try came after the hooter, sealing their fate with a slim 32-29 defeat.
Mary Waters won an absorbing encounter against Port Rex with a last-gasp drop goal. The match was hard-fought. Mary Waters sneaked ahead through a Peterson penalty midway through the second half. Port Rex returned with a try to take a 12-10 lead with just 12 minutes remaining. But Mary Waters wouldn’t give up.
Capitalising on territorial dominance, they earned a tap penalty just five meters out. With the Port Rex defence holding strong, Shaneen Peterson displayed some magic with a cleverly executed drop goal that sailed through the posts, giving Mary Waters a dramatic 13-12 victory.
Kingswood Cruises Before Marlow Mounts a Late Charge: Kingswood capitalised on Marlow’s mistakes, racing to a commanding 14-0 lead at halftime thanks to tries from Vizi Labase and Tapiwe Zhanda. The second half seemed like a formality as Kingswood added two more tries to stretch the lead to 24-0. However, Marlow refused to give up. They clawed their way back with tries from Jan Els and Hermanus Steyn. Despite a glimmer of hope, Kingswood shut the door with another try to secure a hard-fought 29-14 win.
Daniel Pienaar Puts on a Masterclass: Daniel Pienaar dominated Union High with a clinical display of power and precision. Mariano Pillay’s double strike in the second half highlighted their dominance, while Armand van Rensburg orchestrated the attack with pinpoint kicks and a well-deserved try. The final score reflected Daniel Pienaar’s complete mastery: 43-6.
Principal and Vice-Chancellor Puleng LenkaBula gave a welcome address and set the scene for the Unisa 2nd Principal and Vice-Chancellors Lekgotla gathering in Pretoria on Monday, and affirmed the university’s commitment to continuously enhance teaching and learning practice.
In her welcome address at the event, VC LenkaBula said that Unisa was a knowledge institution which needed to rethink the future of science, technology, and innovation.
“We must ensure collaboration across Unisa colleges and produce outputs that we can be proud of,” she said.
The VC said the Lekgotla is therefore reflexive to clearly understand the progress made thus far, identifying challenges faced, and exploring potential solutions to expedite efforts to reach goals.
In addition, she said the conference was a vehicle for presenting solutions, and outlining action plans, which includes identifying the requisite support needed to ensure the success of the core business of Unisa as an academic project.
“The purpose of the 2024 Vice-Chancellor’s Lekgotla is to assess the advancements in the implementation of portfolio plans based on the preceding five pillars of the revised institutional strategy, within the planning cycle(2021-2025), highlighting its achievements and challenges,” LenkaBula said.
The VC said the various university rankings assist the university to increase its visibility and attract international students and researchers,
She said there was a need to engage together to ensure collective inputs created a synergy, symbiotic mosaic of ideas that strengthen the university as an institution.
“Our university operates in global and regional contexts, it requires constant engagement and reflections on issues that matter to humanity, the academy and the entire knowledge arena,” LenkaBula said.
Dr. Pali Lehohla, former Statistician-General, spoke under the theme “Global context, science, and higher education systems”; and said that to place education on a virtuous run, there must be a stable environment to attract investment and drive growth and employment, among others.
“In 2015, approximately 13,8 million South Africans were living below the food poverty line, down from a peak of 16,7 million in 2009,” Lehohla said.
Lehohla highlighted the reality that without proper investment in education, the country would not effectively be able to combat poverty, and said that in a complete knowledge society that is well and better informed, knowledge of the world will be simultaneously and freely accessible to everyone.
Director of Executive Support in the Office of the Principal and VC, David Maimela outlined the impact, viability and sustainability of the university.
“How do we use numbers and statistics to position planning and how do we get the university to perform better and make an impact in transforming education for the development and benefit of society as a whole,” Maimela said.
This comes on the back of reports arising over the weekend which indicated that Unisa’s online platform has identified more than 15 000 instances of potential plagiarism during tests, which has prompted the institution to take action in order to address the issue.
However, students have retaliated and said the system was outdated and riddled with glitches, with problems from last year still not having been resolved.
Unisa SRC President, Nkosinathi Mabilane said that the high number of flags resulted from the examination period of last year and that while some were first time offenders, thus entitled to a new opportunity for a rewrite, others are repeat offenders who the university had to deal with through a disciplinary process.
Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga has expressed her optimism over the progress as well as future plans concerning development within basic education and said that transformation within languages of instruction as well as the increased development of infrastructure and digital accessibility remained the foundation of bringing change to Africa.
Motshekga was addressing the Basic Education Sector Lekgotla for the last time in the 6th Administration on Thursday in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni and thanked the ‘village’ of stakeholders for their cooperation and support in the projects and programmes established to improve basic education.
“Our Lekgotla is a testament to our efforts to construct a world in which every learner can thrive in a changing world,” Motshekga said.
In setting the scene for the conference, the Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Reginah Mhaule, said this year’s theme is not just a statement of intent but a clarion call for action, reflection, and innovation across the entire spectrum of the sector.
“Having been in this sector for a while, one has a feeling that we’re really at the cusp of stabilising our fragile system. There are major issues that we need to advise the next administration on; critical programmes that need to continue if we are indeed to move forward,” Mhaule said
Motshekga said as the attendees embarked on this Lekgotla, she urged everyone to engage in the discussions with an open heart and a visionary mind, in order to sculpt a future for South African education rooted in equity, efficiency, quality, inclusivity and sustainability.
The Minister said that the conference was a fundamental gathering for the sector, with participants deliberating on mother tongue learning, early childhood development, the three streams model; and digitization and technology.
The head of African Union’s Education Division Sophia Ndemutila Ashipala discussed the building of resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality and relevant learning in the continent.
Ashipala discussed the outcomes of the AU’s theme, which included infrastructure development for STEM, a continental campaign on ending learning poverty, encouraging teaching profession reform, strengthening and accelerating capacity to teach African history at all levels, accelerating the implementation of TVET and higher education strategies, implement Digital solutions in Education, creating a healthy and conducive learning environment, and enhancing and protecting the rights of marginalised groups (especially girls education).
Director of the Environment Learning research centre Heila Lotz Sisitka discussed mainstreaming education for sustainable development (ESD) into the sector in relation towards the continent’s plan for 2030.
Sisitka said that the youth wanted system change, not climate change, and it remains important to mainstream ESD into the curriculum in order to facilitate change.
“Transformative learning for people and the planet is a necessity for our survival and that of generations to come,” she said.
The chairperson of the National Education Collaboration Trust council Sizwe Nxasana discussed education for economic reconstruction and recovery and outlined the approach, process and content needed.
DBE researcher Martin Gustafsson spoke about the positioning of reality based on data, and said South Africans should not fall for the rhetoric that the country’s education is the worst.
“Our trends in IRT show improvements over time. We are yielding results and expect to reach a country like Malaysia by 2035,” Gustafsson said.
A panel discussion on the 2030 Early Childhood Development Strategy, chaired by the Gauteng Education MEC, focusing on the social compact behind delivering the strategy and included the LEGO Foundation’s Kerry Kassen, Zanele Twala from the Standard Bank Tutuwa Foundation, Spencer Janari from the National Treasury and the chief director of the Foundations for Learning, Kulula Monana.
The three day event is expected to end on Saturday and will discuss diverse topics such as the digital transformation in education, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital learning, and how to utilize digital learning to contribute to teacher professional development thereby improving their own skills and that of their learners.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has praised the progress of transformation in Basic Education, but said more needs to be done to meet sustainable development goals in line with the broader agenda across the continent.
Ramaphosa made an address virtually from Cape Town during the 9th annual Basic Education Sector Lekgotla which kicked off at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre, eKurhuleni on Thursday.
The President started his address with a welcome note and said it was a distinct honour and privilege to address the 6th Basic Education Sector Lekgotla and that it was immensely gratifying to see the diverse support from the private sector, non-governmental organisations, academics and researchers, civil society, organised labour and parent associations.
“We have always maintained education was a collective activity, and we have always been grateful of the input, contributions and advice from key stakeholders in the sector,” Ramaphosa said
The President said education is a social issue, which links people to communities and society as a whole during a person’s life and that consequently, education must be seen as a societal undertaking.
The president thanked the gathering and said the colonial and apartheid legacies of education remained a long term problem that SA continues to live in the shadow of.
Ramaphosa highlighted the dedication of leaders during the struggle with regard to expanding education and facilitating the “doors of learning” being opened for all within the country.
He said the journey of renewal and reform is essentially ongoing and in its endeavor to transform past injustices, the government is working on a new curriculum that’s inclusive for all.
“As Government, we have continued to pursue pro-poor policies to systematically tackle the multifaceted factors impeding progress in basic education. These policies encompass the establishment of non-fee-paying schools—indeed, 80% of schools in our country do not require fees,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa confirmed that the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies has been instructed to prioritise connectivity for education and health and that the licensing of communication companies is now linked to their collaboration with the Department to enhance connectivity in schools and health facilities, a crucial step towards integrating technology into our educational and healthcare systems.
He said the government remained committed to eradicating the digital divide ensuring equitable opportunities for all learners, regardless of their location, social standing or financial situation.
“Our Government’s pledge to ensure that all learners have access to quality education is vividly illustrated through our achievement of equipping 435 public Special Schools with assistive devices, ICT tools and connectivity,” Ramaphosa said.
He said the initiative is a testament to the department’s commitment to inclusivity, ensuring every learner, irrespective of their abilities, is poised for success in an increasingly digital world.
Ramaphosa said the AU’s #Agenda2063 frameworks and international organisations such as UNESCO endorse the implementation of mother tongue instruction as a pivotal strategy for addressing literacy challenges, whose widespread support recognises the fundamental role of education in one’s first language in enhancing learning outcomes and improving literacy rates.
He added that he was profoundly aware of the pivotal role that mother tongue instruction plays in the fabric of democracy, and that it is a cornerstone of the essential reforms we undertake in basic education and speaks to the broader imperative of decolonising education.
The President said the department’s commitment to decolonisation and transformation remained urgent, ensuring that language is a bridge to knowledge and empowerment rather than a barrier.
“Our nation’s history reminds us of the profound impact of language as a tool of subjugation and oppression,” Ramaphosa said.
Early Childhood Development is a key priority for the Government, crucial to shaping the nation’s future and consequently, the development of the 2030 Strategy for Early Childhood Development Programmes, which outlines a comprehensive plan to achieve universal access to quality ECD programmes by 2030, he said.
“To ensure that we reach universal access to ECD programmes for children aged 3-5, we will need to provide quality access to an additional 830,000 children. This is over and above the 2.2 million children in this age group who are already accessing ECD programmes,” the president said.
In addition, the President outlined the reality that more than 9.6 million children have benefited from the national school nutrition programme, free textbooks, scholar transport, and child support grants provided by the Department of Social Development.
The concerted efforts signified the government’s commitment to enhancing the educational landscape of South Africa, ensuring that every child has the opportunity to succeed, irrespective of their background; reaffirming a dedication to fulfilling Mandela’s vision of education as the most powerful weapon one can use to change the world.
He also highlighted that despite universal access to basic education being at 98%, dropout and repetition rates are unacceptably high due to factors which include poverty, youth criminality, teenage pregnancy, and general violence in some of the country’s communities.
Ramaphosa said that pursuing of pro-poor policies to systematically tackle the multifaceted factors impeding progress in basic education, is an important priority which encompassed the establishment of non-fee-paying schools, of which 80% of schools in the country do not require fees.
In conclusion, Ramaphosa said that a doubling of efforts was required to ensure the nation’s children stand on equal footing, which meant all shall have access to public schools, the assurance of being taught by a qualified teacher, and the provision of ample workbooks, textbooks and stationery.
“It also means having the necessary learning tools, dignified sanitation facilities, clean running water, basic electricity, and a clean, welcoming environment that guarantees safety for both learners and teachers,” he said.
Basic Education Director-General, Mathanzima Mweli, has continued with the monitoring and support programme of the Sanitation Appropriate for Education (SAFE) construction sites as part of the Batch 4 Projects in the Eastern Cape Province.
Mweli monitored 102 schools in three Education Districts to ensure that deadlines are met and Implementing Agents complete projects timeously. The focus last week has been on projects allocated to the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) Implementing Agent.
The DG led a team of various experts in Education planning development and implementation; Finance and Accounting; Engineers; Quantity Surveyors; Architects and Project Managers to accomplish this huge task to ensure that the DBE fulfills its role of monitoring and support.
Weather conditions were fair, and the team navigated bad terrains on days one and two to monitor 26 and 24 schools respectively. On day three, the team managed to monitor 23 projects and on Thursday and Friday, 24 and 5 were monitored respectively.
Most projects have reached practical completion but have errors, omissions and poor workmanship which need urgent attention, Mweli said.
However, innovation will be key to salvage some of the challenges that are affecting the quality of some of the projects. The report will be shared with NECT officials for a remedial plan to urgently address the aforementioned.
The Director-General of the Department of Science and Innovation, Dr Phil Mjwara, has been honoured for his visionary leadership in promoting science in South Africa and abroad.
Dr Mjwara received the Presidential Award during the annual South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Merit Awards in Cape Town, on Thursday 7 March. With 18 years of service as Director-General, Dr Mjwara was lauded for having significantly contributed to the South African national system of innovation (NSI).
Through these awards, the SAMRC acknowledges outstanding contributions to health research and recognises individuals who have demonstrated exceptional scientific acumen or made innovative strides in addressing public health challenges, potentially influencing policy to enhance the well-being of all South Africans.
Dr Mjwara holds a BSc, MSc and PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand. His academic career includes serving as Professor of Science and Technology Policy at the University of Pretoria, and physics lectureships at the universities of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and Fort Hare.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, SAMRC President Prof. Glenda Gray said Dr Mjwara had built a strong legacy in the country.
In the late 1990s, Dr Mjwara led South Africa’s first national Science and Technology Foresight Exercise, which laid the foundation for the NSI. He is highly regarded in various global forums, not least as a senior member of the UNESCO International Basic Sciences Programme or the Square Kilometre Array Observatory Council.
Dr Mjwara also helped to formulate the STI Decadal Plan, which has elevated STI to the presidential level, with the first Presidential Plenary held last year.
This Decadal Plan focuses on using STI to address societal challenges and highlights the importance of health research in the STI environment in South Africa, said Prof. Gray.
“Dr Mjwara has set the vision for all policy development in the science and technology sector in South Africa. He saw the need to create sustainable programmes, infrastructure and human capacity to ensure that South Africa achieves excellence in critical areas of science and technology,” said Prof. Gray.
The SAMRC also honoured the DSI’s Director for Health Innovation, Glaudina Loots, with a special award for her support and leadership in health research in the country. Loots is responsible for the implementation of the health components of the Bio-economy Strategy for South Africa.
She has been instrumental in the creation of the Strategic Health Innovation Partnerships initiative at the SAMRC, which funds and manages innovation projects focused on the development of new drugs, treatments, vaccines, medical devices, and prevention strategies.
Prof. Gray said medical research remains fundamental for transformation, innovation, and collaboration in advancing scientific discovery.
“Celebrating medical research excellence not only honours the achievements of researchers but also inspires progress, fosters collaboration, and enhances the overall impact of scientific advancements on global health and well-being,” she said.
Minister Motshekga attended a Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) retreat at the Radisson Blu Hotel, OR Tambo International Airport in the Gauteng Province on 8 March 2024.
The Minister is a member of the Council chaired by the Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, and managed by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Bonginkosi Blade Nzimande. The term of the current Council ends on 31 March 2024.
The purpose of the retreat was to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of the HRDC to develop a roadmap for high impact and effectiveness of the Council and to agree on an approach to embed the human resource development priorities in policies, practices and processes within national departments, provinces and municipalities through the MSTF. Another aim of the retreat was to clarify the roles and responsibilities of different actors in the institutionalization of the reconceptualised HRD Strategy.
The meeting was attended by senior government leaders and officials, Ministers, Premiers, MECs, DGs and CEOs of state organs.
A staggering 250 000 learners drop out of school in South Africa, with 81% of Grade 4 learners proven for not being able to read for understanding.
“An educational crisis calls for an efficient solution and Buddyz on the Move is that solution.” That is how Ms Qetello Baloyi, a final year BSc Environmental and Resource Studies student at the University of Limpopo, opened her business pitch at the 2023 Entrepreneurship Intervarsity finals last December.
Baloyi, who hails from Polokwane, said Buddyz on the Move offers a threefold after-school education solution. “We offer drama, dance, poetry and music; interactive activities such as spelling bee, debate, public speaking and reading and a tutoring service in a social learning space that allows learners to take their education into their own hands.”
Her company, Baloyi said, provides after-school empowerment of young people. While offering traditional after-school support, Buddyz on the Move is unique in that it aims to save parents time, money and effort.
“Our services are available on social media and in contact. We operate from garages, churches, schools, and creches. Where you find a buddy team member, you find a centre allowing us to access a broader group of people in the community, who can afford the fees, and those who can’t.”
She added that learners in government schools did not have access to extramural activities. Buddyz on the Move takes learners to concerts and on trips. “We use a value creation framework to measure our learners’ programmes, which we share with parents.
“Over the past 10 months we have managed to raise over R1m in stipend payments for our team members from the Department of Social Development. Our revenues have increased from R14 000 to R24 000 a month, with R18 000 funding our expenses, leaving us with R6 000 profit.”
Baloyi said in the past year, they worked with 960 learners.
Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, joined local and international government representatives at the Chinese Embassy in Pretoria on 5 March 2024, to bid farewell to Ambassador Chen Xiaodong and his wife, Madame Zhang Bin.
The farewell reception was organised by the Chinese Government to honour the sterling work done by the ambassador in strengthening the bilateral relations between South Africa and the People’s Republic of China.
Sharing the highlights on the bilateral relations between South Africa and the People’s Republic of China, the Director for the International Relations at the Department of Basic Education (DBE), Ms Hleki Mabunda, said that South Africa and China have thriving bilateral relations, which were pillared by a 2010 Declaration, in which China was declared South Africa’s strategic partner through the Beijing Declaration on the Establishment of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
“One of the pillars of the strategy is the People-to-people Exchanges and Cooperation. In response to the strategic mandate, South Africa and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in the Field of Basic Education. The MoU was signed in March 2013, during a Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) Summit in South Africa held in Durban. The DBE and the Chinese Ministry of Education further signed an Implementation plan on the MoU on 24 February 2014, in Beijing, China.
Both parties cemented the partnership in various programmes, including the Chinese Language Teaching in South Africa and the Exchanges and Visit Programmes.
The Chinese Language Teaching in South Africa saw Mandarin being introduced as an elective foreign language in the South African school’s curriculum as early as 2016, with a view to build more understanding, alleviate cultural barriers, and strengthen people to people relations between the two countries.
Since 2018, the Department has been hosting Chinese language advisors at the DBE (periodically contracted by the Chinese government) to promote Chinese language and culture in public schools. The DBE also welcomed a new Chinese Language subject advisor during March 2023.
“Through the Exchanges and Visit Programmes, several official visits, exchanges, and study
Minister Motshekga said that, through the partnership, both parties gained insights and shared best practice in various fields including education, health, and culture.
“Ambassador Chen Xiaodong said that his stay in South Africa has been fulfilling and thanked the South African Government for making it possible for China to invest in the transformation of people’s lives for the better: I therefore encourage the South African Government to provide the same support to my successor who will be resuming his duty as the Chinese Ambassador to South Africa”.
A new study by the University of Cape Town (UCT) researcher Dr Tamlynne Meyer has revealed that women are perpetually marginalised in the law profession. The study also showed that there was a lack of women in the senior ranks of the profession despite a robust legal and policy framework promoting equality.
The study, which set out to determine the impact motherhood has on women attorneys in South African law firms, showed that when becoming mothers, many women attorneys experienced a disjuncture between their mothering and professional role, which is attributed to the hyper-competitive culture of the profession.
Meyer said this disjuncture leads to many women having less successful legal careers, which is manifested in different ways. The findings are published in the Gender, Work & Organization journal.
“This study has provided an insight into the challenges experienced by women attorneys who are mothers in South African corporate law firms as they navigate their dual responsibilities as career woman and mother,” said Meyer, who is based in UCT’s Department of Sociology.
The study employed Edgar Schein’s concept of organisational culture and Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus and culture to understand how women continue to experience unequal outcomes in their careers, despite removing formal barriers and enacting laws and policies.
The concepts further illuminate how and why the male-dominant culture of the profession embeds itself and remains one of the hardest elements to change. The study was furthermore underpinned by a feminist standpoint epistemology, interviewing 27 attorneys across three corporate law firms in South Africa.
One of the respondents said: “Because we know we’ve got two roles to fulfill, we need to bring in money, but we need to be mothers”.
According to Meyer, this response provided a window into the experiences of working mothers and highlighted their strategic importance in a global capitalist system where they have a dual role as income earners and carers. Most working women, she said, are confronted with this double load and must find ways to balance the two.
Meyer said that the legal profession was a historically male-dominant profession, where a hyper-competitive masculinised professional culture operates.
“While there is much to celebrate in women’s advancement in the workplace, it is undeniable that many women in historically male-dominant professions such as the legal profession continue to experience myriad challenges as they pursue both a legal career and motherhood.”
According to Meyer’s research, most law graduates are women, who also constitute the majority of new entrants admitted into the profession. However, at the most senior levels of the profession, notably the partnership level, women comprise only 28% of partners compared to their male counterparts.
She said there were at least two male partners for every female partner.
“This reaffirms extant literature that the legal profession continues to be a male-dominated profession with women having very little prospects of a successful legal career,” she added.
Meyer lauded South Africa’s (and the profession’s) robust legal and policy framework addressing gender equality and transformation in the workplace at large. However, despite the removal of formal barriers and the enactment of various legal and policy frameworks to spearhead the transformation process, she said women continue to experience inequality and marginalisation in the profession.
Citing similar research, Meyer noted that the odds of women accomplishing partnership status was less than one‐third of men. “Women also have a higher probability of exiting legal practice before reaching partnership status,” she said.
The women who participated in Meyer’s study were unequivocal about the fact that pregnancy and motherhood delayed a woman’s progress in attaining partnership and presented them with career challenges. They all agreed that, in one way or another, their careers were stunted.
Another participant in Meyer’s study commented that “a woman has a limit, and that limit is reached when she falls pregnant.” Similarly, another said that “women that have had children before they become directors will take longer than the others to become a partner”.
The biggest milestone in an attorney’s career is being promoted to partnership. On average, it takes approximately seven years to reach a partnership. Still, motherhood significantly delays this by a few years, with some never achieving partnership, as they cannot keep abreast with the hyper‐competitive culture of the profession. “Those women, who consciously decided to remain childless or delay motherhood, did so because they were cognisant that it would result in their chances of attaining partnership being delayed,” said Meyer.
Meyer said there was a dissonance and incompatibility in the practices, ideas, and discourses of motherhood and the hypercompetitive masculinised culture of the legal field, which makes no concessions for women with care responsibilities. “Each time a woman leaves the workplace on maternity leave, she must re‐enter the field at a disadvantage.”
She concluded: “It is hoped that through this study and by documenting the voices of women attorneys which would otherwise remain silent, this will provide a platform for greater cognisance into their lived reality and provide the opportunity for more meaningful dialogue within the profession to understand why, what, and how inequality is maintained and reproduced despite the removal of formal barriers and the enactment of laws and policies. In this way, the profession may better understand how to support women as they navigate motherhood and a professional career.”
