PREMIER'S ADDRESS
Master of ceremonies,
Honourable MEC for Education in the Province, Craig Padayachee.
Officials of the Provincial Department of Education,
Distinguished Guests,
Bazali
Bothisha
Bafundi
Mphakathi wase Sikhwahlane
Kuyinjabulo enkulu kimina ukuba nani namuhla. Njalo uma kuzalwa ingane kubakhona ukujabula okukhulu.
Uma kuzalwa umntwana wenskosi amabutho ayasina agiye, omame balilizele. Abadala bezwa befikelwa yinkumbulo nogqozi lokuthi ngenkathi besebasha babegiya kanjani bengamagagu. Ngizwa ngifikelwa yinkanuko yokuthi ngisine futhi ngigiye.
I feel truly honoured to have been asked to share this moment of the birth of what must surely be a source of pride to all of you.
We are all gathered here to witness the birth of a child. We are here to celebrate a miracle. For who would have dreamt that today, more than a year since the idea of a school in this village was mooted, we would indeed be able to open it officially.
Who knew then that I, as Premier of the Province, would today be standing here, to perform this duty of officially declaring the school open.Yes the struggle to see this school stand on its own continues. But I would like to thank the community of Sikhwahlane, Benicon Coal and the Project Steering Committee for the wonderful job they did.
This is a manifestation of a decision taken in Kliptown in the 50s when we declared that the doors of learning shall be opened. That declaration in the Freedom Charter spurred many of you on in your pursuit to bring education to your children. And as government we are forever grateful for that.Those who did not have faith in what you were doing now realise that what you were doing was in fact being true democrats and real patriots, for today you are happily working within this province, led by a democratically elected government.
This occasion is therefore important in three main senses. Firstly, it is a celebration of the realisation of a dream for the people of Skhwahlane and the country at large. I am convinced that when you planted the idea of having a school here you were expressing a wish to join hands and do something on your own instead of waiting for government.
Through this school you were expressing your desire to see
the liberation of your children, and the generations to come through education.
It is that desire, which through the years found expression in struggle, as this
community joined many other communities, to rid our land of Apartheid.
Secondly, this occasion also marks the crowning of the success of the policies
of our democratic order in education, particularly our emphasis on local
democracy in education.
This occasion therefore is a tribute to those among us who have become icons of our struggles as a community, the stalwarts of our education struggles in Mpumalanga like Elmon Mathonsi.
The third reason why this occasion is so significant is because through the official opening of this school we are once again committing ourselves to excellence in education. We are once again saying that in our schools we expect nothing less than the best.
It is from this structure that we will produce leaders in the fields of engineering, architecture, medicine, aviation, astronomy, art, law, and many others which are critical to the development of our continent.
For it is only education that turns the children of slaves
into kings. We are here to say we will settle for nothing less. We are here to
rededicate ourselves to work more for a better life for all, through education.
You as a community are blessed that you may have less of the endemic problems
which are found in schools in many of our townships, such as violence,
vandalism, truancy, and lack of commitment.
I am not suggesting that these do not exist, but you seem to have overcome many of them, and those that still remain, you are busy addressing collectively. Your challenge now is to improve the quality of your products in education, to work tirelessly towards a qualitatively better education for all.
Let me challenge business people in this province, and the institutions of higher education that exist around us to join this community of Sikhwahlane, in the true spirit of "Faranani", to make this school work, work, and work best.
Today I want to publicly challenge all those who talk so much
about investments, to come and invest in the education of the children of
Sikhwahlane and the province.
I accepted the invitation to speak here today fully aware that the development
of this place, our province and our country, depends educating ourselves.
It is of enormous importance that we do not falter to provide
an education appropriate to the long-term needs of our context and in order to
equip us fully to meet the many challenges of the 21st Century.
If the next
century is going to be characterised as a truly African century, for the social
and economic progress of the African people, the century of durable peace and
sustained development in Africa, then the success of this project is dependent
on the success of our educations system.
For nowhere in the world has sustained development been attained without a well-functioning system of education, without universal and sound primary education, without an effective higher education and research sector, without equality of educational opportunity.
The enormity of the task at hand is magnified when we consider the legacy of colonial education, the long-term effects of the domination of the African peoples both through brute force and thought control, through divorcing the African child from his or her own experiences and environment, through systematic processes of alienation and also assimilation.
In this way bringing about what Ngugi aptly described as "the domination of the mental universe of the colonised." I am disturbed though that because of a lack of co-ordinated planning there is no running water here. I see that there is no fence around the school. More importantly there are no toilets.
I challenge business to join hands with us in providing these basic amenities. On my part I will find out from the Department of Education and Finance if there is something they can do about these matters. I am not promising anything. All I am saying is that we do not want this situatoin to continue for too long.
Finally, let me appeal to all gathered here to join hands with us in fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The HIV/AIDS scourgeis one area of concern that requires the urgent attention of all of us.
Mphathi wohlelo, Bazali, bothisha, bafundi, ngijabule kakhulu ukuba nani namuhla. Ngithanda ukuphonsa inselelo kinina nonke, ukuba nibambisane nathi ukuze sonke sisebenzele impilo engcono.
Manje ngiyasivula lesisikole ngokomthetho, ngithi nasi
isikole senu.
Ngiyabonga!