One of the most serious criticisms of Fikile Mbalula’s term as minister of Sport and Recreation was his lack of focus on fixing school sport. Razzmatazz did well to shine the spotlight on elite sport, particularly by raising the profile of the SA Sports Awards.
However, his apparent lack of desire to tackle grassroots issues in favour of the glitz and glamour left some of us with a school sport system that is in need of a complete overhaul.
The recent Fifth Annual Eminent Persons Group Report that monitors the progress of transformation in South African sport revealed that less than 10% of the 25 000 schools in the country participate in organised sports programme.
This is a problem that needs urgent attention.
The new minister of sport and recreation, Thokozile Xasa, is said to have made all the right noises especially when it comes to tackling the difficult and enormous problem that is school sport in South Africa.
Last week Xasa tabled her 2018/2019 budget vote in parliament much of which focussed on school sport.
The National Treasury allocated just over R1 billion to the Department of Sport and Xasa received praise for announcing that around R400 million of that would go to school sport.
The Ministry of Sport has divided its budget into four parts: promoting national participation in sport and recreation; supporting the delivery of sport infrastructure; fostering transformation in sport and recreation; and nurturing talent and supporting excellence.
School sport is housed under the promotion of national participation in sport and recreation which is known as the Active Nation programme.
In the 2018/2019 financial year the Active Nation programme has been allocated almost R700 million approximately R400 of which is dedicated to school sport.
The strategy is simple. Through the Active Nation Programme the department aims to increase participation in and access to organised school sport for thousands of South African learners.
This is a two-pronged strategy. First, money has been set aside to support the national school sport championships by ensuring that 5 000 learners attend these championships in 2018/19. Second, funds have been ring-fenced to provide equipment and attire to 2 500 schools hubs and clubs around the country.
If implemented according to plan, this increase the number of children that have access to school sport and also improve the quality of school sport by catering to some of the resource limitations that had hitherto crippled our efforts to deliver quality school sport to South African learners.
There is one potential stumbling block to the successful implementation of this plan.
In order to work the plan requires the both the Department of Sport and Recreation (SRSA) and the Department of Basic Education to work together.
Already a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) exists between SRSA and DBE going back to 2011. However, as Xasa noted, the MoU must be reviewed as “it has only been partially implemented and the main role players – SRSA, DBE, provincial departments, national and provincial federations – operate in uncoordinated and non-aligned silos.”
Xasa said a new MoU between the SRSA and DBE has been drafted and is close to being signed.
“We hope to sign our memorandum of understanding by end of the month because we believe it is the bedrock of transformation and the sustainability of our efforts. It is important for the early identification of talent that will be nurtured up to the high-performance level.”
“We want to build a pipeline and this MoU will assist us,” said Xasa when she addressed Parliament in Cape Town last week.
If this MoU results in the SRSA and DBE singing in concert, then my only criticism is that the budget doesn’t go far enough in trying to fix school sport.
Providing equipment for only 10% of the schools in the country and supporting those talented few that qualify for the national championships still potentially leaves millions of South African children without access to good organised sport in our schools.
What is encouraging though is the thought that seems to have gone into this budget. Xasa and her Director-General Alec Moemi seem to have given considerable thought to solve the school sport problem with one of the smallest budgets all the South African government departments.
The scaling down of the costly SA Sports Awards coupled with reluctance to spend on sport infrastructure in favour of partnering with municipalities through the provision of expertise to manage existing facilities speaks to a shift in the current SRSA’s attitude towards money.
It is now about prudence and the adoption of a long-term view that necessarily focuses on the future by placing emphasis on school sport.
The SRSA 2018/2019 budget is bold step in the right direction because it reflects an earnestness to tackle the seriously dysfunctional school sport system that still resembles a South Africa built on the principles of racial exclusion.
And if successfully implemented it will provide a blueprint on which future budgets can be based and scaled up so that we can finally level the playing fields.
Mosibodi Whitehead is a broadcaster and a sports writer.
Higher education ministries of Botswana and South Sudan on May 30 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of tertiary education.
The Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology (MoTE) Ngaka Ngaka signed on behalf of Botswana while his South Sudanese counterpart Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Yien Oral Lam Tut signed on behalf of his country.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, which was also attended by various stakeholders, Minister Ngaka noted that Botswana acknowledged that South Sudan had a shortage of teachers and was prepared to assist where possible.
He therefore said the MoU would help come up with modalities and guidelines of how to go about the agreement.
Meanwhile, the Assistant Minister of Tertiary Education Fidelis Molao noted that Botswana understood that South Sudan was undergoing reconstruction in various aspects hence needed to be assisted.
He noted that in this regard, Botswana would take pride in a future prosperous South Sudan.
Molao said while Botswana had her own problems, among them youth unemployment, he was positive that the MoU would avail opportunities for the two countries to exploit for the betterment of the lives of their people.
He further called on the South Sudanese government to harness the Botswana education spectrum by sending their students to both public and private tertiary learning institutions here and further invite them to set up in their country.
In the meantime, he said his ministry would consider the request by South Sudanese minister of higher education for 100 slots of scholarships for vocational training. Earlier on, Tut said his country would be pleased if Botswana could offer them 100 scholarships for vocational education.
Currently there are some South Sudanese students at Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and institutes of health sciences across the country.
He noted that the signing of the MoU was a historic milestone, which should be hailed as it cemented the relationship between the two countries in the area of tertiary education.
He said while in the past they used to look to Egypt for tertiary education, they had since spread their focus to other African countries and identified Botswana as an ideal partner in this regard.
Tut said three quarters of South Sudan’s cabinet ministers were graduates of Egyptian tertiary institutions. The South Sudanese minister noted that education was an investment on the nation, which could not be ignored and therefore hoped the agreement would last and bring more positive rewards for the two countries.
In his welcome remarks, the permanent secretary of Ministry of Tertiary Education,
Research, Science and Technology Dr Theophilus Mooko said the signing of the MoU was a continuation of their engagement with their South Sudanese counterparts in the field of tertiary education. – Botswana Daily News
“Black people cannot farm Paul, even if we gave you all the farms what are you going to do with them? You guys have never been farmers, you are not good at farming…” my soil science professor in 2004 at the University of Pretoria said when I was studying Agronomy during a land reform debate in one of my lectures.
This statement sparked confusion and curiosity in my teenage mind, to dig deep and do research to prove this old white man wrong.
A few weeks ago, the nation watched in pain and horror when the truth about one of its most iconic daughters finally surfaced about the murder of Stompie.
Watching this unfold, It dawned on me that South Africa suffers from a delusional account of its history.
The extent of the power of those who create content and the ability to recreate lies as facts was fully revealed.
The lack of voice from the majority to give account of its history.
The danger of a single narrative especially from those with narrow interest that drives the national agenda, the false facts that finally gets printed in books as true accounts and filters as history to future generations who will accept the lies as their history.
This is all possible because those who know the truth remained silent while the incorrect facts were peddled.
I am descended from the Motsuenyane family which originates from the Bakwena ba Modimosana tribe and whose ancestral home is Molokwane, situated about 30 kilometres west of the town of Rustenburg. Around the 1820s this farming community was driven from its ancestral home at Molokwane.
They moved to the Orange Free State where they worked for Afrikaner farmers. Prior to the Anglo-Boer war in 1899 they moved back to the old Transvaal.
Some went west and some of my father’s brothers who had experienced farming with the Afrikaners in the Free State bought their own farms in the Lichtenburg and Potchefstroom areas. This was around 1903.
I am among those who support the ideas of freehold individual ownership of land.
I was born on February 11 1927 on the farm Eignaarsfontein, where my parents worked as sharecroppers on the system called “derdedeel”.
Under this system which operated over large parts of South Arica in 1930s, the big landowners who could not make use of their land organised black people with a strong work ethic to run the farms and then share the crop.
A third of the harvest went to the owner of the farm. The system was abandoned when some Afrikaners became apprehensive that it was creating very rich and highly independent black farmers.
We must debunk the myth that black people cannot farm and refresh our erased institutional memory of our highly skilled forefathers.
For the best part of the 19th century the agrarian revolution missed the black farmers. Would you expect a technology company whose developmental advances were only allowed to progress until 1913 to compete with a modern-day Space X which plans to set up a million-person city in Mars?
While The Natives Land Act 27 of 1913 debate has resurfaced in the furnace of a burning land question, it is important to reflect on the historical facts and not make a mistake of alternative facts and distorted history.
The Land Act 18 of 1936 made provision for the establishment of the South African Native Trust.
The South African Native Trust Fund was created to acquire land for natives with a maximum cap of 13% of the total land. The trust was to own the land and not the natives.
It is important to note that the act created reserves for natives and increased the 8% of land reserved by the Native Land Act to 13%.
The trust made reserves, not that it acquired the 13% of the total land. This is historically significant to note.
In order “to achieve the objectives of the act, section 13 empowered the trustees of the trust to expropriate land owned by natives outside a scheduled area”.
The miscalculation risk was counting the land owned by natives outside the scheduled area twice.
If one follows the current public debate one naturally concludes that blacks own 13% of the total land. This is not a historical fact, regardless of the popular narrative.
After the 1913 Land Act the South African National Native Congress delegation paid visit to the minister of native affairs, the governor-general of South Africa, Lord Gladstone, and the British parliament in London to lay a complaint.
The Natives Land Commission 1913-1916 led by Sir William H. Beaumont was set up to look at the possibility of giving more land to black people after the 1913 Act.
The commission “was appointed in 1913 to delimit areas to be reserve exclusively for European and areas to be reserved exclusively for African ownership”.
Unfortunately, the commission was created before the First World War from July 28 1914 to November 11 1918. This shifted the focus of the government.
This meant that the report was never looked at until 1936 when the amendment was made to make available additional seven and a quarter million morgen which was to be added to the scheduled native areas.
This would have pushed the total reserves to 17 500 000 morgen which is about 13% of the area of the whole country.
However, post the Land Act 18 of 1936 when the government was supposed to go ahead with the allocation of additional land, the Second World War, which lasted from 1939 to 1945, broke out.
This interrupted the process of allocating the 13% total land reserved for natives. After the war, land values went high. The Great Depression of 1929 to 1939 also negatively affected the process.
Three years after the war in a general election which took place on 26 May 1948, DF Malan’s National Party won the election.
The Tomlinson Commission 0f 1956 dealt with utilisation of existing land and not expansion of scheduled territories.
It made recommendations that £104 486 000 (about R10 billion in 1998 value) be made available which the minister of Native Affairs Dr HF Verwoed rejected.
It is therefore highly questionable that the government did indeed reach the 13% land target. Dr Edward Roux made a deduction that it was 9% and not 13% of total land that was eventually allocated to natives.
In 1953 I was tasked by the National Veld Trust to establish The African National Soil Conservation Association. Its mission was to conserve land for the future in the homelands and prevent overgrazing.
It was formed to inculcate the conservation and proper land use for cultivation so that land became the source of wealth and development.
The organisation had luminaires like the Paramount Chief Cyprian ka Bhekuzulu, Dr JS Moroka, Ms T Soga, Chief Pilane, Chief Sekwati Mampuru, Chief Frank Mmaserumula, Dr WF Nkomo, Lady Selbourne, Rev SS Tema, Chief CK Sakwe, Prof Jabavu, Mr DB Ngakane, Dr JM Nhlapo and Chieftainess Mantshebo.
It operated by showing films demonstrating the dangers of soil erosion to show conservation work.
It published a monthly journal called Green Earth and arranged land camps during school holidays where children were taught agriculture.
The school holiday camps were important because it introduced kids to agriculture as a career option at an early age. We know we have a pending crisis because of the lack of interest in agriculture as a career in our country and the average farmer is more than 60 years old.
It also held an annual conference with chiefs and leaders to discuss issues relating to land. The National Party wanted the organisation to be split according to its segregation Bantu policy.
The government became suspicious of the organisation and eventually shut it down. They didn’t want chiefs of different ethnicity to meet, that posed a threat to their segregation agenda.
The organisation took a moral decision to suspend the organisation instead of yielding to government’s proposal.
It was decided that a time will come when the African National Soil Conservation Association will be resuscitated fully supported by a government with reasonable policies.
One of the biggest problem is land that is already available that is lying fallow which is not productively cultivated. The black farmer situation in this country is dire.
The conditions are no more different from that which necessitated the 1932 Carnegie Commission which evaluated the Poor White Problem in South Africa. We ought to draw lessons from the report.
How was the poor white problem defeated?
Black farmers virtually have no dedicated financial institution to assist them. The Land Bank and The Agriculture Credit Board historically were used to provide cheap funding to white farmers.
In its current structure the land bank does not and cannot serve emerging farmers.
Even if it allocates more to emerging farmers (the bank plans to increase its allocation to R3 billion for emerging farmers out of a R39 billion book which is largely for white farmers).
The problem is that it operates like a commercial bank, therefore it remains largely inaccessible for the majority of black farmers.
We also cannot ignore the issue of title deeds which our people can leverage to access capital. One of the most important resource in our country that is not shared properly, is water for irrigation.
The government only owns 350 out of 4000 dams. The problem is also the water rights allocation process. To this day the irrigation scheme infrastructure mimics that of the apartheid era.
If you look for example at the Hartbeespoort dam, the canals go through white-owned farms and end where black farms begin in areas like Bapong, Jericho and Segwelane where there is fertile land for irrigation.
Seeds to farming is like a foundation to a house. The Agricultural Research Council needs to play an integral role in developing agriculture particularly in rural areas like it did in the past, however it cannot do this when its budget continues to diminish yearly.
We procure through the tender system outdated open pollinated seeds which we distribute to our emerging farmers.
This is tantamount to giving a white driver a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport car and a black driver a 1953 VW Beetle and expect them to race.
As if that’s not enough we then celebrate the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport car driver for finishing first and being a good driver!
If we want black farmers to commercially compete we need to seriously look the issue of open pollinated vs hybrid seeds with higher yields and disease resistance.
To finally respond to my soil science professor, albeit 13 years later, black people have always farmed this land even prior to the colonisers’ arrival in 1652.
I supposed it will please my professor to know that I’ve just enjoyed oranges from Dr Sam Motsuenyane’s farm from Dennilton which he sends to Marble Hall for processing!
He is a brilliant 91-year-old farmer and agronomist.
The future of this country hinges on all of us working together to sort out the land issue.
• The Dr Sam Motsuenyane Rural Development Foundation is hosting the Inaugural Agricultural Development Lecture at the TUT Tshwane Campus on June 1.
Dr Sam Motsuenyane (Agronomy 1960: North Carolina State University) is a patron of The Dr Sam Motsuenyane Rural Development Foundation. Paul Ntshabele (Agronomy 2004: University of Pretoria/ USDA Cochran Fellow) is a trustee of The Dr Sam Motsuenyane Rural Development Foundation. – Voices, CityPress
Fifteen-year-old Belinda** from Highfield, Harare misses school every time she goes through her menstrual cycle. Apart from the dysmenorrhea (also known as painful periods, menstrual cramps), her grandmother cannot afford to buy sanitary wear for her.
So she was trained to improvise and use old cotton cloths.
She has faced many struggles since she started her menstrual cycles. Apart from the lack of understanding the changes her body is going through, she has had to miss school for five days every month due to dysmenorrhea and lack of sanitary wear.
Her cycle lasts for almost seven days, and for those days she uses cloths that she has to wash. Due to her heavy flow, she sometimes messes her uniform hence cannot take chances to go to school.
Compounded by the erratic water supplies, the local authority’s failure to consistently provide the basic human right need has further worsened her misery. For better hygiene, she needs water to wash her cloths.
Since she started menstruating at the age of 14, the Form three pupil says the seven days are a nightmare.
She was taught not to talk about her cycle to anyone especially men. So she suffers the dysmenorrhea, amid other myriad of challenges in secrecy. She would rather stay at home and miss school.
18-year-old Lorraine, an Upper Six student from Mount Darwin in Mashonaland Province believes lack of comprehensive knowledge towards boys of their age has not made life any easier for them. She adds that lack of sanitary wear is the biggest challenge most girls face.
“Some have had to use the inner part of the mattress and sometimes recycle it, given such circumstances, there is no way we can talk of menstrual hygiene,” she said.
“While we have organisations that have come in the area and tried to assist with sanitary wear to vulnerable girls, this is not enough. Some girls have had to have sex with older men in exchange for money for sanitary wear.”
“Some pads in shops were found to be causing infections like rashes and upon investigation, it was discovered that the pads would have long been on the shop shelves as they are expensive and out of reach for many girls,” she said.
Lorraine believes comprehensive education about menstruation can also help boys understand and treat girls differently.
“Most teenagers from my school lack awareness such that they tend to feel out of place during their menstruation days. For some of us, this is the worst time to be at school as we are sometimes harassed by boys when they suspect one is menstruating. They will even tease you about it,” she said.
The myriad of challenges these girls face mirrors that of the majority of impoverished girls around the country who like Belinda and Lorraine, miss school during their menstrual cycle days.
Ministry of Health and Child Care Director for Family Health, Dr Bernard Madzima believes the solution lies in the provision of free sanitary wear for these girls especially those from disadvantaged communities while also emphasising on Comprehensive Sexuality Education that provides information and guidance about the physical and emotional aspects of growing up.
“Menstrual hygiene is a critical component for any women let alone the adolescent girl. In a country like Zimbabwe, menstrual hygiene remains a mammoth task due to economic hardships.
“Most girls do not have access to proper sanitary wear and they have had to make do with unhygienic materials like cotton cloths, newspapers, we have heard of cases where they have had to use cow dung.
“The girls have also been affected by critical water shortages especially in urban areas as we all know that during menstruation, a women needs water to keep clean” said Madzima.
Madzima added that parents, teachers, community and religious leaders also have a role to play to impart comprehensive sexuality educational skills so that girls and boys can better understand menstrual health.
While some donor organisations have tried to help the situation by providing girls from disadvantaged communities with free sanitary wear, there is still a huge gap that he believes can only be bridged through Government subsidising.
“Advocacy to have sanitary wear provided for free should continue.”
The cheapest pack of sanitary pads costs more than a dollar.
According to a 2014 survey by the Ministry of Women and Youth Affairs, 20 percent of girls miss school due to menstruation while 62 percent miss school due to lack of sanitary wear.
Tag a Life International director Nyari Mashayambombe also reiterated that girls especially in rural Zimbabwe have no access to menstrual information and the resources they need to enjoy their menstruation cycle.
“Many of the girls reach menstruation time without the slightest of knowledge of what it is and what it means. When it happens they do not have sanitary wear to use.
“Many of them discover it as a shock and something they do without support to go through it. It has been made taboo such that girls can’t discuss this with their male relations including their fathers.
“As we commemorate this day, we call on all males and females to take part in ensuring that girls have a happy flow in their lives.”
She added that it was a positive move that the world was beginning to pay attention to issues of menstrual hygiene.
The Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz) noted with a heavy heart that menstrual hygiene management remains a challenge for girls and women in Zimbabwe, where clean water and toilet facilities are often inadequate.
“In most rural areas some young girls resort to using weeds and leaves in place of sanitary pads thus compromising their Reproduction Health.
“It is against this background that Artuz is appealing for free sanitary wear in our schools. Most rural learners come from very poor backgrounds and they cannot afford them.
“Female teachers bear the burden of counselling these kids who are traumatised by their want of pads that at times force teachers to donate pads to the disadvantaged learners.”
The union believes sanitary wear should be prioritised than condoms since sexual intercourse is by choice.
“Artuz advocates for free sanitary pads instead of free condoms since sexual intercourse is by choice.
“We also advocates for the provision of refreshing rooms in our schools so the girl child can freshen up during the course of the day and remain confident of themselves. In addition, we urge Government to ensure there are free painkillers for period pains in all schools.”
The union added that the adverse attitude towards menstruation can negatively impact on the girl’s self-image noting that more health education to male counterparts to respect this natural cause especially in schools, tertiary institutions and other public spaces where some women are considered unclean when they have menstruation is of paramount importance.
In her research titled, “Can better sanitary care help keep African girls in school?”, University of Cambridge’s Elizabeth Tofaris on behalf of the Impact Initiative for International Development research posits that for young girls in developing countries, not knowing how to manage their periods can hinder access to education.
The research further asserts that provision of free sanitary products and lessons about puberty to girls may increase their attendance at school.
Gender Links, a non-governmental organisation advocating for equality and justice believes if the Government and donor partners could invest as much as they are doing in condoms towards sanitary wear, this could change the lives of girls living in poverty and are forced to miss school every month.
While the Menstrual Hygiene Day marked annually on May 28 seeks to highlight the importance of good menstrual hygiene management, for girls like Belinda, Lorraine and majority of women and girls in Zimbabwe, this remains a pipe-dream.
This story was pursued in support and solidarity with women in the wake of Menstrual Hygiene Day held on May 28. Saturday Herald advocates dignity and respect for women, the custodians and givers of life.
Vuwani in Limpopo is again on the edge after the collapse of a deal brokered last year by former president Jacob Zuma and Vhavenda King Toni Mphephu-Ramabulana to resolve a municipal boundary dispute.
As a result, the Pro-Makhado Task Team – a group of leaders at the forefront of the protest – is now pushing for another “total shutdown” of the area. Hundreds of residents are expected to gather at a mass meeting today to take a decision.
In the past the area experienced an unprecedented form of violent protests. This was after the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) decided, before the 2016 municipal elections, to incorporate the area into the newly constituted Lim345 municipality, now known as Collins Chabane, in Malamulele.
The residents staged violent protests demanding they remain under the jurisdiction of the Makhado municipality.
More than 10 schools, several government buildings and business properties were set alight.
The task team now believes the deal reached during a visit by Zuma in May last year is being ignored by provincial authorities for political reasons. The deal included the Vhembe district municipality taking over the delivery of services while the municipal boundary dispute was being sorted.
Task team spokesperson Nsovo Sambo said the area was on the edge of slipping into another chaotic situation.
“The deadly politics within the government left the instruction by Zuma being implemented selectively and at a slow pace. The community has become impatient. The leadership is very much intact and people could become angry because of the government’s arrogance.”
Sambo said people were feeling uncertain: “The government should speak to and answer the people.”
He said the government needed to keep the promise to solve the problem by effecting a provincial executive committee resolution or redetermining the boundaries before the 2019 national general elections.
Sambo said certain provincial departments, such as cooperative governance, human settlements and traditional affairs, were reluctant to provide services to Vuwani.
He cited the example of an access road project which had since been stopped: “The money was given to Lim345 [Collins Chabane] municipality and was used for something else.”
He said schools and clinics were now under the jurisdiction of the Collins Chabane municipality. Residents have rejected this move because they do not want to fall under that municipality, but rather under Makhado.
“The only service being rendered per the deal is a traffic station run by the transport department,” Sambo said.
City Press was reliably told by some officials involved in the matter that the Vuwani issue was being complicated by the blurring of lines of competency between the national and provincial authorities.
However, this was denied by provincial government spokesperson Phuti Seloba, who insisted the solution “lies with all the stakeholders, not a particular stakeholder”.
He said the provincial government was never part of the municipal boundary demarcation: “That was dealt with by the MDB. Our involvement was mainly on the basis that we need to work with people to make sure we solve the problem.”
However, Seloba said provisions of the law cannot be ignored.
“We need to look at what are the provisions of the law that empower us to move forward. On the basis of that, our understanding is that there are provisions that allow us to do certain things. There are certain things that will tie our hands.
“You cannot disregard the involvement of the duly constituted municipality of Collins Chabane. As much as they [Vuwani residents] are rejecting it, you work towards a solution with them,” Seloba said.- City Press
A ministerial task team has recommended that history be made a compulsory school subject, according to a report released by the Department of Basic Education on Thursday.
It also recommended that Grade 12 pupils write two final exam papers on the subject – one focusing on African history and the other on world history.
The task team was established in 2015 and given terms of reference to conduct a comparative international study on how to best implement the introduction of history as a compulsory subject up until matric.
It was also tasked with reviewing and improving the content.
In its report, the group concluded that “good history education promotes sympathetic and informed understanding of humanity and the human condition”.
Phased approach
The task team recommended a phased approach and that compulsory history be introduced after five years to allow planning.
It recommended that “Africa-centeredness” become a principle in revisiting content, specifically that both ancient and pre-colonial African history be brought into the curriculum for Grades 10 to 12.
“This is critical to understanding the layered history of South Africa and the continent of Africa at a more developed conceptual level,” the report reads.
“We recognise that certain aspects of pre-colonial history are taught [in Grades R to 9]. However, this tends to be portrayed as a ‘happy story’, appropriate to that level, but fails to provide the nuanced and complex history which should be taught at a higher level [in Grades 10 to 12].”
Problematic and controversial issues and themes, such as class, social stratification and the status of women and workers in ancient and pre-colonial history, must be included, the team recommended.
The task team also found strong circumstantial evidence that many schools avoided teaching apartheid history, although it is included in the current curriculum, the report reads.
“The historical content offered in schools should not avoid areas of conflict facing our divided country. We run the risk that we will return to the pre-1994 era when the African past was left out of the curriculum and past events were fabricated, exaggerated or evaluated by dated standards devoid of historical understanding.”
It endorsed that history remain independent and not be incorporated with Life Orientation, as it would then not be taught by trained subject professionals and would become a “hybrid subject” not recognised for university entry.
The subject should be taught by trained professionals while prospective teachers should have history as one of their majors at undergraduate level, and teacher development should be done together with universities and should not be the sole responsibility of the national and provincial education departments, the task team found.
Teacher development
History teaching in the general education and training band – from Grades R to 9 – needed “urgent attention and strengthening”, the report reads. The task team recommended that history and geography be separated, and that content be revised.
It warned that it could not be assumed that any qualified teacher was able to teach history satisfactorily and that funding and teacher development would be important.
The report was launched by Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga on Thursday.
Spokesperson Troy Martens explained that the report would be processed by the Council of Education Ministers, which would then be followed by consultation, before a policy development process took place. -News24
Without their allowances, many students on tertiary campuses across the country are left destitute and hungry, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training heard on Wednesday.
Student organisations, the South African Further Education and Training Student Association (Safetsa) and the South African Union of Students (Saus), told the committee of a range of logistical problems which hampered students who were dependent on Nsfas to fulfil their academic potential, with the failure to pay out allowances being a major concern.
This was fueling a lot of frustration on campuses, which sometimes resulted in the burning or destruction of property, Safetsa president Yonke Twani said.
“You’re not justifying the destruction of property?” asked Higher Education and Training Minister Naledi Pandor.
“Because this is no justification.”
She said destroying property did not bring allowances or facilities.
Twani agreed and said they always told their members not to destroy property.
Nsfas chairperson Sizwe Nxasana admitted there were still problems.
‘We understand universities and colleges are not banks’
Referring to former president Jacob Zuma’s decision on December 16 last year to expand free higher education to students from poor and working class families, Nxasana said the financial aid scheme “literally had a few weeks to put systems in place” to distribute the funds.
“We are doing everything from our side.
“Yes, we had very limited time, from when the announcement was made, until the implementation,” he said.
For the 2018 academic year, Nsfas has received more than 417 000 applications. Thus far, they have made funding decisions for about 358 000 of those.
Nxasana said the biggest problem was integrating Nsfas’ system with the different systems of the universities and colleges.
He said many institutions did not have the systems to administer allowances.
“Yes, we understand universities and colleges are not banks,” he added.
Thus far this year, Nsfas had paid out close to R6.5 billion to institutions. All institutions had received what was due to them, Nxasana said.
Addressing the problem was like “fixing a plane while it is flying”, he added.
Universities South Africa’s CEO Ahmed Bawa said it was not in the interests of universities to keep the money. He said universities were subject to the same financial regulations as other state entities. He agreed that a “breakdown in systems” seemed to be the problem.
“The last thing universities want is demonstrations – it is the worst thing for universities,” Bawa said.
‘Hasty, crowd-pleasing promises made to the poor’
After the meeting, committee chairperson Connie September, in a statement, called on Nsfas to kick-start the process of redesigning the student-centred funding model, so that all other stakeholders could make an input.
“The system is designed to benefit students, and we expect no less. The delays in payments being made to institutions should be dealt with expeditiously, we cannot have students waiting for meal and book allowances for longer than five months,” she said.
“These challenges are not insurmountable, they just need a collective effort. The committee welcomes the willingness of the stakeholders to collectively support a process to ensure that students are not disadvantaged in furthering the much-needed education.”
DA MP Belinda Bozzoli said, during the committee meeting, that “ex-president Zuma and the party that supported him brought Nsfas to its knees”.
After the meeting, she said in a statement that the DA was calling for an “emergency fund to be set up to assist students in dire need and for extraordinary efforts to be made to bring this crisis to an end”.
“Once again the hasty, crowd-pleasing promises made to the poor by the ANC-led government and the actual reality of what is delivered at the grassroots are poles apart. This is shameful, the result of a mismatch between the populist instincts of the ANC and its capacity to deliver,” said Bozzoli. – News24
Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Sonja Boshoff and fellow party members have laid a criminal complaint against South African Council for Educators (Sace) board members for failing to vet teachers against the sex offenders register.
The party says one of Sace’s core functions was to vet teachers against the register before issuing licences, in terms of section 47 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act.
On Sunday, City Press reported that the council had no access to the register for 10 years.
“Sace has failed our children and, as Child Protection Week draws to a close, it is imperative that the teacher-vetting body’s leadership is held accountable,” Boshoff said.
Sace spokesperson Themba Ndhlovu said the issue was slightly more complicated.
“For us to have access to the sex offenders register, we have to go through the director generals,” he said.
He said meetings over the matter had recently taken place, but concurred it was a “concern”.
Boshoff also took aim at Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga for not ensuring that Sace, which is an entity of the Department of Education, was not breaking the law.
“Minister Motshekga should now prove that her department is committed to ensuring children are safe at schools and support the call the DA has repeatedly made for this through our #SafeSchools campaign,” she said.
The DA also urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to end sexual and physical violence at schools through a collaborative effort with the South African Police Service, Basic Education, Social Development and Justice departments.
“Our children cannot achieve their full potential when schools are unsafe. The government needs to take swift action to make sure our children are safe at school,” Boshoff said. – News24
One of the more pertinent questions asked at the African Development Bank (AfDB) 2018 annual meetings was whether African states could strategically and successfully implement plans for the continent’s fourth industrial revolution.
The question, and it needed to be asked, was how do African countries talk about accelerating the fourth industrial revolution when they have not completed the first, second or third revolutions.
The question was asked again by Sung Soo Eun, Chairman and President of the Korea EXIM Bank. Sung said South Korea has gone through the first three industrial revolutions and this is why the country was ready for a forth industrial revolution.
He added: “Africa wants to go to the fourth [industrial revolution], but has it already gone through the first three?”
Sung spoke at the “Pathways to Industrialisation” session that took place at the AfDB 2018 annual meetings in Busan, South Korea.
The question sparked major debate as analysts and social media commentators asked if there was indeed the “right way to industrialise”.
The theme for this year’s meetings was Accelerating Africa’s Fourth Industrial Revolution and it was no coincidence the meetings were held in South Korea.
Everyone agreed that the industrialisation of South Korea was a good example for the world but wondered if its model could be applied to African countries.
In just one generation, the country managed to move from a largely rural economy with high levels of poverty and inequality to what it is today, a first-world country with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of $39 276 (PPP. IMF 2017 est). This economic miracle in known as the Miracle of Han River, the period of rapid growth following the Korean War (1950 – 1953).
The former president of Ghana, John Dramadi Mahama, said: “There has been three industrial revolutions [in the world]. Africa has missed a lot.” And he asked the pertinent question, “How is Africa going to take advantage of the fourth industrial revolution to improve the lives of its citizens?”
AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina called the history of South Korean development “amazing”. This statement was made in one of his interviews during the 2018 annual meetings.
“This [Korea] is a country that is smaller than Liberia, smaller than Benin, smaller than Mali, in fact one third of the size of a country like Algeria.
“When they started out, they started with heavy industries; then they went to light manufacturing; then they moved up into more high-tech, value-added industries we see today. You have the Samsungs of the world, the LG, Hyundai. The question is, what did they do and how did they do it,” said Adesina.
What Adesina does not mention in the interview is that the AfDB, in partnership with African government agencies and South Korea, are already in the process of implementing this accelerated industrialisation in Africa – all four stages of industrialisation at the same time.
How they made it work: A history lesson
South Korea’s heavy industrialisation caused major inequalities in the 1960s which led to country-wide riots. Professor Do Hyun Han of the Academy of Korean Studies writes that there was absolute rural poverty in the 1960s in South Korea as the income gap between urban and rural areas increased.
Most rural areas suffered from seasonal starvation every year. During the long winter season, farmers did not have work, so most farmers spent their time drinking and gambling, writes Do.
This aggravated rural poverty during the winter season.
Because of severe rural poverty, there was a great deal of rural migration to cities, which resulted in serious over-urbanization. Slums were quickly formed within major cities.
“One urban riot in 1971 was clear evidence of the acute urban problems in Korea which resulted from the rural-urban mass migration,” writes Do.
He adds that unsatisfied farmers who were excluded from the benefits of industrialization became a potential social problem.
“These factors pressured the government to come up with a broad-based and inclusive growth policy. The South Korean government launched its Saemaul Undong model in the rural areas while heavy industrialisation took place in urban areas.”
The AfDB follows the same process of development across different countries on the continent. Adesina says heavy investment in science & technology, innovation, robotics, biotechnology and nanotechnology should be part of African economies’ industrialisation strategy.
At the same time African countries are rich in natural resources.
“We have lots of oil; we have gas, we have minerals, we have arable land, we have all this raw material. We need beneficiation and value-addition.
“We have to manage the resources well. This is why the bank has launched its own industrial strategy called, Industrialise Africa. It is one of our High Five priorities. We want to support countries to have very good industrial policies and to help them invest more in infrastructure to enable industrial clusters and special industrial zones.
“We are also supporting the development of capital markets. We want to invest $35 billion dollars over the next 10 years, $3.5bil every year. We want the continent to raise its industrial GDP from where it currently stands, at around $700 billion, to $1.7-trillion by 2030,” said Adesina.
Even though these projects are great and could very well lead African economies into the fourth industrial revolution, they have a way of increasing extreme inequalities which lead to poverty, formal economy exclusion and an unskilled labour force. Industrialisation, without inclusivity, does not work.
If African countries and the AfDB only focused on big industrial projects, the majority of African citizens will be left behind.
This is why the knowledge transfer taking place between African states, the AfDB and South Korea is critical.
Some African countries are already ensuring rural development takes place at the same time as major industrial projects.
This is why the AfDB, Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Trust Fund (Koafec) and African government agencies are working together to implement the Saemaul Undong Model across villages in different African countries.
The words Saemaul Udong, translated into English, mean the New Community Movement or the New Village Movement.
This model focuses on local community development with ethos of diligence, self-help and cooperation at the centre.
When this model was implemented in South Korea in the 1970s, it achieved equitable distribution of income, improvement of the environment and agricultural infrastructure.
The first project was successfully implemented in Ethiopia in Turi Goda Village, the Becho District in Oromia Region.
The results were tangible: a youth centre and a school library; a four-kilometre long road to facilitate transport for people and products; ten domestic water supply wells which had a positive effect on health and gender; solar power to 300 domestic households; domestic farm animals for produce and village credit.
The N’gbekro village and Zatta village of Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire
The drive to N’gbekro village and Zatta village in Yamossoukro, Cote d’Ivoire was simple. The road was good and there were no police “stop and gos” on the way.
At the corner of one village was a community centre painted in yellow with the words: “Diligence, Auto-Assistance, Cooperation” on the side.
These words were the village’s motto for collaborative work and engagement.
Both villages are under a chief, and the Saemaul Undong model understands the importance of getting the go-ahead of the chief for the project to be a success.
The advisor to the chief said the difference with this model is that it was not the usual top-down approach forced by governments and international organisations onto communities but rather, a collaborative and horizontal approach was followed where the villagers were asked what they wanted.
The villagers wanted: a community centre where they could have meetings; a primary school and a child-care centre; teachers’ housing; a medical centre; cassava farm, tomato farm and a poultry and pork farm. In the N’gbekro village, the villagers also asked for a youth centre with an office where the the operations of the village’s micro finance would run.
The Agence Nationale d’Appui au Developpement Rural (Anader) was the Cote d’Ivoire government agency that worked closely with these villages and made sure the necessary training took place. And as a result, Anader, Koafec and the AfDB have transformed economies of the two villages – impacting 2,961 inhabitants.
One of those inhabitants is Zounon Sylvie who received $500 (US) loan from the Saemaul Undong through AfDB and technical support from Anader.
In her first year, she made a 70% profit.
“I am a single mother of four. Thanks to this project and the loan, I got 70% of the profit in my first year. My farm business has helped me to take my children to school.
My eldest is currently in university. And I alone, am able to pay for this,” she said.
Current projects in different African countries depicting different levels of industrial revolutions. Main photo is Zounon Sylvie with her business partner, Kowadio Kan.
She has since been able to expand her vegetable farm and has partnered with a another young farmer, Kowadio Kan. She said it was the only way the local chief would allow them to get more land.
“Land is a big issue in Africa. Collaboration has made this possible. It has also facilitated a lot of work and significantly increased our market,” said Sylvie.
They have expanded from growing only tomatoes and now include aubergines. The two of them have employed five full-time farm labourers. They need $5 000.00 to expand their capacity and grow.
In an interview with Dr. Miaman Kone, head of the Saemaul Undong projects and Economist at Anader, he said the major factor for the success of these projects was the fact that the villagers selected their priorities and were actively involved in its implementation.
“They have complete ownership of the project and as such, are invested in its sustainability,” said Kone.
“The key lesson learned is that the change of mentality of actors based on the Saemaul Undong philosophy of diligence, self-help and collaboration is permanently engraved in the villagers’ approach to improve the quality of their living standards,” said Kone.
He said continuous training was necessary to ensure the maintenance of constructed facilities and infrastructure such as, buildings, road, irrigation dams.
What is also important to realise is that, through collaboration with community members, mutual interest and the want so sustain the community, most farmers have moved from subsistence farming to agro-preneurs. They have created their own markets and networks out of their own villages into the greater Cote d’Ivoire.
The challenges that remain are the safe transportation of goods and proper logistics to ensure the goods arrive at markets on time.
But the project works.
This was further cemented by the AfDB president who superimposed the importance of big projects, while at the same time ensuring development takes place in rural areas.
Adesina explained why the change in mindset was critical.
“While major projects are taking place in bigger industrial areas, smaller ones in villages are also taking place. The mindset matters. When you are tired of being poor, and you decide to not be poor… that’s where is starts,” said Adesina.
From rural villages to aerodynamics
While basic agriculture takes shape in villages of Yamoussoukro; the Turi Goda village of Ethiopia and the Kibueya village in the Democratic Republic of Congo, other projects, that show Africa is indeed ready to accelerate its fourth industrial revolution, are taking place across the continent.
We will focus on Liberia, Kenya, Morocco and Tanzania.
Rutto quit her job to co-found EcoPost. She said her social enterprise was created in response to the need, that was prevalent in Kenya, to find alternative waste management solutions to the country’s huge plastic waste problem.
In 2009 she founded her company, which collects plastic waste and manufactures commercially viable, highly durable, and environmentally friendly fencing posts, used widely across Kenya.
Since then, the social enterprise has created thousands of sustainable jobs for people in marginalized communities, in addition to conserving the environment.
“Trees were being cut down and plastic waste was all over the place. It was very scary for me to resign a good bank job, but I had to fulfill my calling as an entrepreneur. That was when I developed the idea that waste was a resource and not a thing to throw away,” said Rutto.
Another entrepreneur, full within the fourth industrial revolution, is Moroccan tech entrepreneur Badr Idrissi. He co-founded ATLAN Space, a start-up that uses artificial intelligence and drone technology to fight illegal fishing.
Environmental and ecological threats such as illegal fishing, poaching and deforestation faced by many African countries are what inspired Idrissi to establish his software start-up. He said these issues lead to a large percentage of fishing activities, especially those off the West African coast, resulting in huge economic losses. These countries do not have the capacity to have satellite surveillance on the sea for each square-kilometre.
“The Overseas Development Institute shows that even though illegal fishing is a worldwide phenomenon, it is much more dramatic for African countries.
For West African countries, illegal fishing costs governments US$1.4bn every year and destroys 300,000 jobs, ” said Idrissi.
Another presenter was Abigail Urey, CEO and co-owner of Edgail, a scrap metal exporter. They manufacture and export recycled waste oil, initially to customers in China. Their factory is located 60 km inland off the Kakata Highway, one of just a few critical but badly broken roads connecting inland Liberia to the port.
This is the challenge.
Urey said: “With the new business we won’t get second chances with our customers, so every improvement helps [referring to the infrastructure gap]. We will depend on the shipping lines and the port to perform as expected, so we don’t break our promises.”
“Closing infrastructure gap” has been identified by AfDB Predisent Adesina as the most critical issue for the successful industrialisation of African states.
“How do we industrialise when we have no power? When we have no logistics. There is nothing more important than closing the infrastructure gap. We have created an equity vehicle called Africa 50. This vehicle was created by the AfDB and I am the chairperson. So far we have mobilised $853 million dollars and want to grow it to $3 billion,” said Adesina.
He said African governments needed a new way of thinking and emphasised the importance of long-term planning as well as having clear industrial policies.
Adesina added: “Africa cannot industrialise when we don’t have the right productive capacity and human capital – the skills necessary for industrialisation.
We live in a world where artificial intelligence is going to rule. Bio-technology, robotics, nano technology, quantum physics and mechanics, these are the things that will dominate the world. I want us to start investing in young people,” he said.
Adesina said it was possible: “Samsung in the past, in the 1960s were exporting human hair. The Korean women cut off their hair and gave it away to be exported. They started with exporting human hair, today they dominate the digital economy, why can’t African countries do that?”
Currently on the continent, small and massive projects are underway.
The President of the AfDB bank believes that African countries can go through all four industrial revolutions at the same time.
Photo credit: Thuletho Zwane (RSA), Andualem Sisay Gessesse (Ethiopia), Ulrich Janse van Vuuren (RSA)
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) has expressed concern over rising number of students failing to access or struggling with tertiary education due to financial problems.
Director of Higher Education in the ministry, Samson Machese Mbewe, raised the concern on Saturday when he presided over the launch of Parents Association for University of Malawi Students (PAUS) in Lilongwe.
He said government has been increasing annual budgetary allocations to Students Loans Board (SLB), which provides loans to needy college students but said such funds are not enough due to growing demand for tertiary education.
Mbewe said: “More students are graduating from secondary schools than was the case in the past.
This has created huge demand for tertiary education which has also increased the number of needy students requiring loans and scholarships.”
He said government is encouraging other players to complement its efforts in supporting needy students.
Mbewe, however, bemoaned an alleged tendency by some college students from well to do families who are also accessing the loans at the expense of deserving needy students.
“Such students are adding undue pressure on the loan facility and are even crowding out real needy students.
“Some of them secure the loans or scholarships and continue collecting money from their unsuspecting parents on the pretext of fees only to spend it on luxuries,” he said.
According to Mbewe, the country has about 26 000 students in public colleges and a recent survey by the World Bank found out that only 20 percent of them are needy.
Chairperson for PAUS, Paul Chikwekwe, said the association is having a long list of college students who are on the verge of dropping out due to lack of finances and urged people of goodwill to give their support.
He said they have introduced an initiative called “Adopt a Student” which is aimed at linking up needy college students to well-wishers who can bankroll their education.
Chikwekwe said they have secured about K17 million from a well-wisher to go towards scholarships for eight needy students drawn from various public colleges.
