NQOBILE TEMBE|

THE emergence of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) could potentially submerge the bellowing of decolonisation in higher education by previously marginalised groups, especially considering the ever-increasing inequality in South Africa. Professor Felix Maringe, of the University of the Witwatersrand, and editor of the recently-published book, Higher Education in the melting pot: Emerging discourses of the 4IR and Decolonisation, told members of Universities South Africa’s Education Deans’ Forum recently.

He also asked: “But what if the convergence of the two were possible and a door to new ways of thinking emerged? Undoubtedly, 4IR and the calls for decolonisation continue to impact the country’s higher education sector. The question is, to what extent?”

Professor Maringe said these and many other concerns over 4IR and decolonisation influences in the sector birthed the idea of the book referred to above. At a colloquium at which Deans of Education explored 4IR and its implications, particularly for teacher education in September 2019, such rich thought leadership was shared that the Deans decided to publish a book out of the deliberations of that day. 

Introducing: Higher Education in the melting pot: Emerging discourses of the 4IR and Decolonisation

Explaining the central arguments being made in this book, Professor Maringe said that although 4IR continues to usher in technological and digital developments that impact lives, it is still imperative to look at the core of decolonisation. The latter “seeks to disrupt the edifices of the Western canon and to restore the dignity, values, knowledge and humanness in the world of post-coloniality which is afflicted by the careless, exploitative, marginalising influences of capitalism and neoliberalism,” he asserted.  

In particular, he was referring to the ways that the sector currently thinks about its purposes, the contents of what is taught at universities, pedagogies used in the deployment of new purposes and content, to conducting learning assessments and how the various capabilities of the internet may be employed for learning activities in higher education. 

The burning question, as detailed by Professor Maringe, was how would these ideologies co-exist in a post-colonial higher education system, and how might emerging thinking and working models embrace both its priorities? 

He said Deans of Education published this book with the following aims in mind:

To explore the conceptual field of the 4IR and decolonisation to understand the epistemological, the ontological, the axiological and the mythological assumptions which underpin these ideologies in the context of higher education. To provide empirical evidence of ways in which the 4IR and decolonisation are influencing and imparting transformation in higher education.To highlight the affordances and constraints of integrating and working with both ideological assumptions in higher education.

The Higher Education in the melting pot: Emerging discourses of the 4IR and Decolonisation, is a collaborative work of no fewer than 21 eminent scholars in the country. It is divided into two parts, the first being an analysis of the applications and implications of 4IR. 

“The opening chapter in the book addresses the central matter of the clash of ideologies in higher education and provides a broad conceptualisation of the two ideas,” he said, adding that the second part looks at similar issues on decolonisation, providing empirical evidence on both ideologies. 

Even more significant is the synthesis chapter in the book, which, accordingtoProfessor Maringe, investigates developing themes of the affordances and constraints associated with 4IR and decolonisation. It then provides a set of principles and constructs that the authors called the Possibility of an Afro-Global Episteme, “which could shape a new higher education terrain of post-colonial higher education systems,” he said.

The book tackles subjects of the automation of academic workspaces, the impact of digital divides, the opportunities and constraints of the technologisation of curricula, pedagogies, teaching and learning and the intractable challenges of remote modalities of university instruction. 

The EDF is one of nine active communities of practice within Universities South Africa (USAf). This group aims to foster research in the broad field of education towards continuous improvement of teacher education; to promote South Africa’s education interests by providing a platform for deans to discuss matters of common concern in the delivery of teacher education, and, finally, to bring to the attention of policymakers, emerging issues on the Education discipline. 

SOUTH African rugby union captain Siya Kolisi has established the first Red Bull Roots rugby clinic for young female and male rugby players in order to upskill and empower them.

The legendary South Africa skipper on Tuesday said investing in the youth of South Africa through rugby is one of the reasons he established the Kolisi Foundation, which is committed to tackling the challenge of inequality in the global game.

The Red Bull Roots – a multi-year partnership with the Kolisi Foundation is a way to give back to the sport he loves, the Springboks captain added.

The first clinic held at the Kings Park stadium in Durban saw some young rising female and male talents from around Kwa-Zulu Natal go through a day of motivation and inspiration, which included wisdom from the likes of Kolisi, Babalwa Latsha, Sikhumbuzo Notshe and James Venter.

The 30-year-old, who also plays for the Sharks, explained: “Red Bull Roots and the one-day clinic is all about going back to where it all started for me – grassroots rugby. It’s important to me to be giving back and making sure that we’re creating opportunities for young people. I strongly believe that representation is everything and that in shared leadership we can accomplish anything. The more people have access to rugby, the bigger the pool of talent that you can work from. The sport isn’t just about ‘making it’, it also teaches values like discipline and accountability.”

Female representation within rugby is equally important with young women like Latsha able to strive and reach the inspirational heights that Kolisi achieved with the 2019 World Cup-winning team.

The 28-year-old revealed: “This project is all about us passing on core memories and skills; the belief that in the fact that we can have another Babalwa Latsha or Siya Kolisi in the near future. This type of project is very close to my heart because, I, like them, was a youngster who was from the township and found the sport of rugby. The sport has opened so many doors for me and gave me the opportunity of being the first-ever woman in Africa to play professional rugby overseas.”

The Kolisi foundation has shared its vision to construct a state-of-the-art sports complex soon in Kolisi’s hometown of Zwide in the Eastern Cape.

“I hope this sports centre will bridge the gap in terms of unearthing and developing talent. I think the challenge is the resources and communities investing in grassroots sports.” Kolisi said of the plan.

Rugby is a big sport in South Africa who are currently the world champions having defeated England in the 2019 tournament final.

DOZENS of Ukrainians were feared dead Sunday after a Russian bomb flattened a school sheltering about 90 people in its basement, while Ukrainian troops refused to surrender at a besieged steel plant that Moscow’s invading forces sped to seize before Russia’s Victory Day holiday.

The governor of Luhansk province, one of two areas that make up the eastern industrial heartland known as the Donbas, said the school in the village of Bilohorivka caught fire after Saturday’s bombing. Emergency crews found two bodies and rescued 30 people, he said.

“Most likely, all 60 people who remain under the rubble are now dead,” Gov. Serhiy Haidai wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Russian shelling also killed two boys, ages 11 and 14, in the nearby town of Pryvillia, he said.

The largest European conflict since World War II has developed into a punishing war of attrition due to the Ukrainian military’s unexpectedly effective defense. Since failing to capture Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, Moscow’s forces have attacked cities, towns and villages in eastern and southern Ukraine but not gained much ground, according to Western military analysts.

To demonstrate success in time for Victory Day on Monday, the Russian military worked to complete its takeover of Mariupol, which has been under relentless assault since the start of the war. The sprawling seaside steel mill where an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian fighters were making a last stand is the only part of the city not under Russian control.

All the remaining women, children and older civilians who were sheltering with the fighters in the Azovstal plant were evacuated Saturday. The Ukrainian troops rejected deadlines given by Russian deadlines who said the defenders could leave with their lives if they laid down their arms.

Capt. Sviatoslav Palamar, the deputy commander of the Azov Regiment, a Ukrainian National Guard battalion holding the steel mill, told an online news conference Sunday that the site was targeted overnight by three fighter jet sorties, artillery and tanks.

“We are under constant shelling,” he said, adding that Russian infantry tried to storm the plant — a claim Russian officials denied in recent days – and to lay landmines.

Palamar said there was a “multitude of casualties” at the plant.

Lt. Illya Samoilenko, another member of the Azov Regiment, said there were a “couple of hundred” wounded soldiers at the plant, but he declined at the same news conference to reveal how many abled-body fighters also remained in the plant.

He described the situation as dire because they didn’t have life-saving equipment in their tunnels. He also said fighters had to dig out people by hand when some bunkers collapsed under the Russian shelling.

“The truth is, we are unique because no one expected we would last so long,” Samoilenko said. “Surrender for us is unacceptable because we cannot grant such a gift to the enemy.”

After rescuers evacuated the last civilians, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that work would continue Sunday on securing humanitarian corridors for residents of Mariupol and surrounding towns to leave.

The Ukrainian government has reached out to international organizations to try to secure safe passage for the fighters remaining in the plant’s underground tunnels and bunkers.

The Ukrainian leader was expected to hold online talks Sunday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, U.S. President Joe Biden and leaders from other Group of Seven countries. The meeting is partly meant to display unity among Western allies on Victory in Europe Day, which marks Nazi Germany’s 1945 surrender.

U.S. first lady Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to western Ukraine. She held a surprise Mother’s Day meeting with Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, at a village school as Russia pressed its punishing war in the eastern regions.

Biden traveled under the cloak of secrecy, becoming the latest high-profile American to enter Ukraine during its 10-week-old conflict with Russia.

Elsewhere, on Ukraine’s coast, explosions echoed again Sunday across the major Black Sea port of Odesa, which Russia struck with six cruise missiles on Saturday, while rocket fire damaged some 250 apartments, according to the city council.

Ukrainian leaders warned that attacks would only worsen in the lead-up to Victory Day, the May 9 holiday when Russia celebrates Nazi Germany’s defeat in 1945 with military parades. Russian President Vladimir Putin is believed to want to proclaim some kind of triumph in Ukraine when he addresses the troops on Red Square on Monday.

Zelenskyy released a video address Sunday marking the day of the Allied victory in Europe 77 years ago, drawing parallels between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the evils of Nazism.

The black-and-white video, published on social media, showed Zelenskyy standing in front of a ruined apartment block in Borodyanka, one of the Kyiv suburbs pummeled before Russian troops withdrew from the capital region weeks ago.

“Every year, on May 8, along with the whole civilized world, we pay our respects to everyone who defended the planet against Nazism during World War II,” Zelenskyy said, adding that prior generations of Ukrainians understood the significance of words “Never again,” a phrase often used as a vow to never allow a repeat of the horrors of the Holoucaust.

“We knew the price our ancestors have paid for this wisdom. We knew how important it was to protect it and pass it on to our descendants. … But we hadn’t any notion that our generation will witness the abuse of these words,” he said.

In neighboring Moldova, Russian and separatists troops were on “full alert,” the Ukrainian military warned. The region has increasingly become a focus of worries that the conflict could expand beyond Ukraine’s borders.

Pro-Russian forces broke off the Transnistria section of Moldova in 1992, and Russian troops have been stationed there since, ostensibly as peacekeepers. Those forces are on “full combat readiness,” Ukraine said, without giving details on how it came to the assessment.

Moscow has sought to sweep across southern Ukraine both to cut off the country from the Black Sea and to create a corridor to Transnistria. But it has struggled to achieve those objectives.

In a sign of the dogged resistance that has sustained the fighting into its 11th week, Ukraine’s military struck Russian positions on a Black Sea island that was captured in the war’s first days and has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.

Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed Ukraine targeting Russian-held Snake Island in a bid to impede Russia’s efforts to control the sea.

A satellite image taken Sunday morning by Planet Labs PBC showed smoke rising from two sites on the island. On the island’s southern edge, a fire smoked next to debris. That corresponded to a video released by the Ukrainian military showing a strike on a Russian helicopter that had flown to the island.

The most intense combat in recent days has taken place in eastern Ukraine. A Ukrainian counteroffensive near Kharkiv, a city in the northeast that is the country’s second-largest, “is making significant progress and will likely advance to the Russian border in the coming days or weeks,” according to the Institute for the Study of War.

The Washington-based think tank added that “the Ukrainian counteroffensive demonstrates promising Ukrainian capabilities.”

However, the Ukrainian army withdrew from Luhansk province’s embattled city of Popasna, Haidai, the regional governor, said Sunday. In a video interview posted on his Telegram channel, Haidai said that Kyiv’s troops had “moved to stronger positions, which they had prepared ahead of time.”

Rodion Miroshnik, a representative of the pro-Kremlin, separatist Luhansk People’s Republic, said its forces and Russian troops had captured most of Popasna after two months of fierce fighting.

The Russia-backed rebels have established a breakaway region in Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk, which together make up the Ukraine’s industrial heartland known as the Donbas. Russia has targeted areas still under Ukrainian control.

The leader of Transnistria, a breakaway territory bordering Ukraine which split off from Moldova in 1992 and hosts around 1,500 Russian troops, denied claims of a mobilization in the region. The Ukrainian military had earlier warned that Russian and separatist troops there were on “full alert.”

Vadim Krasnoselsky, the president of the unrecognized territory, said it “does not pose a threat to neighboring states, observes neutrality and remains committed to the principle of resolving all issues at the negotiating table.”

AP

A Zimbabwean PhD Candidate at University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa Philip Chuma has reportedly committed suicide after failing to register for the 2022 academic year due to an expired permit.

In a memo to the students the university said Chuma died over the weekend.

Said the university, “His study permit expired in November, and he had been unable to renew it. Home Affairs required the processing of a Letter of Good Cause, which we supplied to him towards the end of last year. Unfortunately, all attempts to request a speedy processing of his documentation were in vain, and this distressed him enormously as he had not been able to register for the 2022 academic year until his documents were in order.”

The university said they had hoped that Chuma’s PhD would be ready for examination later this year.

“He was in regular communication with the Wits International Office, his supervisor and the School Business Manager about the progress of sorting out his documentation. This week, he had put in an application to teach in the US through the Educational Partners International (EPI) programme.

“Philip has been doing his PhD on the transition of newly qualified teachers into their first teaching position in Zimbabwean schools. He had recently completed his data analysis chapters and was busy working on his Discussion and interpretation of his findings. He presented parts of his work at SAERA and at the LCT International Conferences. It was our hope that his PhD would be ready for examination later this year.”
Commenting on the matter, former Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Professor Jonathan Moyo said, “Philip Chuma, a PhD candidate at Wits University in Johannesburg, died by suicide over the weekend; in a tragic case that has the evil trappings of the anti-Zimbabwean Afrophobia being pursued by Minister Motsoaledi at Home Affairs. Chuma played by the rules, to no avail. MHSRIP!”

The Zimbabwe Embassy and the Zimbabwe Consulate in South Africa are yet to comment on the matter.

THE South African Health Department unpacked new Covid ruIes. Initially exempting children from wearing facemask in the classrooms and general indoor gatherings, the health department issued a corrective to confirm they could only take off their mask when outdoors in playgrounds or sports fields.

The new regulations came on Thursday  at a time when South Africa has reported a new wave of covid 19 in the country, the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) warned in late April.

The plan for children to wear masks in school is part of the government’s plans to limit the spread of covid 19.

“The Department would also like to bring to the public attention of the confusion created by unfortunate and regrettable human error in the media statement issued yesterday about the removal of face mask wearing by children at school. This is not part of the gazetted health regulations, and is therefore retracted to avoid any misunderstanding of the regulations,” the department said.

“Therefore, children like other people are expected to continue complying with the provisions of Regulation 16A on face masks in the classrooms and general indoor gatherings, unlike outdoors in playgrounds and sports fields.”

The Department added that face masks remain an effective non-pharmaceutical intervention against the spread of the COVID-19 virus, and it was more relevant now as the number of COVID-19 positive cases is rising once again.

“The Department of Health has been receiving a lot of feedback from the public since announcing the extension of public consultation process together with the introduction of limited health regulations meant to manage the spread of COVID-19 pandemic and future notifiable medical conditions. We would like to urge all South Africans to continue to share their feedback because we believe it will assist the process as we move forward to finalise the regulations.”

South Africa, is officially the continent’s most affected country by Covid-19. Here, less than 45% of the adult population is fully vaccinated out of a population of nearly 60 million. The country has officially recorded more than 3.8 million cases and some 100,350 deaths.

In early March, the country had gone 48 hours without a single Covid-19-related death, the first time this had happened since 2020. President Cyril Ramaphosa had announced in early April that all legal restrictions related to the pandemic would be lifted.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), two new Omicron sub-variants, whose virulences are yet to be determined, are causing the new wave of Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

“South African scientists who identified Omicron late last year have now reported two more Omicron sub-variants, BA.4 and BA.5, as the cause of a spike in cases in South Africa,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. On that same day, more than 6 000 new cases were reported in South Africa. Two new Omicron sub-variants are believed to be driving an increase in cases.

AFP. Additional reporting by INSIDE EDUCATION

THE realisation of sexuality education and sexual reproductive health rights for young people is key for the prevention of HIV, early and unintended pregnancies (EUP) and gender-based violence (GBV).

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said that the prevention of these vulnerabilities among the youth will help countries in making progress in their youth development agendas.

The Minister was delivering the opening address at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Our Rights, Our Lives and Our Future (O3) and O3 plus 2021 Annual Review and Partners’ Meeting in Fourways, Johannesburg.

The meeting is aimed at reviewing progress from the 33 programme countries in the Eastern and Southern Africa and West Central Africa.

The Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future programme supports delivery of good quality comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) that empowers adolescents and young people (AYP) and builds agency, while developing the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and competencies required for preventing HIV, reducing EUPs, and eliminating GBV.

The objectives of the programme among others are to secure and sustain strong political commitment and support for adolescents’ and young people’s access to comprehensive sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services across sub-Saharan Africa.

The O3 programme is run in partnership with ministries of education across the 33 countries in which the programme is implemented. It benefits from the generous support of the governments of Sweden, Ireland, Norway, and France, as well as the Packard Foundation.

Minister Motshekga added that the prevention will also contribute towards attainment of:

– Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4, and 5; – Regional commitments such as the Eastern and Southern Africa and West Central Africa Commitment; – The African Union Action Plan and the Southern Africa Development Community Strategy for Sexual Reproductive Health and others.

“It is significant that we are here to review, reflect on how the Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future Programme has contributed to the promotion of the rights of young people to education, health and wellbeing in our respective countries in the last five years.

“We are all cognisant of how the programme has supported and enhanced our efforts in ensuring that all adolescents and young people have access to sexuality education and sexual reproductive health rights,” she said on Wednesday.

Motshekga emphasised that education is a protective factor and evidence has showed this especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and its ramifications.

She said that children being and staying in school to complete their education is truly vital and protect them from the afore-mentioned vulnerabilities.

“To ensure that our adolescents and young people become champions of their lives and be responsible citizens that are empowered to contribute to the development of their world, achieving positive educational outcomes is extremely critical, and this is where the O3 Programme has been very beneficial,” she said.

For South Africa in particular, the Minister said that the country is thankful to have been one of the countries that has been receiving support from UNESCO through this programme.

She said that the country can attest that it has been able to up its game in strengthening the implementation of sexuality education and access to sexual reproductive health services and rights in schools. 

Challenges

“We are making great strides even though we continue to experience challenges when it comes to the sexual reproductive health and wellbeing of our adolescents and youth,” Motshekga said.

The Minister said that the challenges include:

New HIV infections reported to be at about 1300 per week among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) specifically;

Concerning numbers of births among adolescent girls, with 132 000 deliveries reported by the Health Department by young girls between ages of 10 and 19 in 2021 alone;

Gender Based violence against children having risen during COVID 19 lockdown, with the President calling it a second pandemic.

“We are however happy to say despite the above complex challenges, we have hope that we will achieve better education for all our children, and eliminate these social ills in order to report good progress, as a country towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 – that of attaining inclusive and quality education for all by 2030,” she said.

Progress

Motshekga went on to share the strides that have been made in the past five years, with the support of UNESCO and other Partners such as Global Fund, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and others.

The DBE Policy on the Prevention of HIV, STIs and TB (2017) has been strengthened to improve implementation of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) with linkages to sexual reproductive health services (SRHS) in schools.

She said that this has led to the development of the Scripted Lesson Plans (SLPs) for CSE which is now being rolled out in schools in Life Orientation and Life Skills Subjects.

In 2021, the DBE finalised and gazetted the Policy for the Prevention and Management of Learner Pregnancy in Schools which seek to increase efforts to prevent early and unintended pregnancies.

Though much has been achieved, the Minister said that challenges continue to exist, thus as they review progress, the country also looks forward to learn from other countries.

“Our young people who are our most precious asset for the future of our countries and regions still need us to do more and to fast-track the agenda towards realising the SDG goals and our efforts to achieve an HIV free generation by 2030,” she said. 

SA NEWS

THE Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has confirmed the death of former Secretary-General Godrich Gardee’s daughter, Hillary Gardee.

The 28-year-old Unisa student was last seen last Friday at the local Spar Supermarket in Nelspruit wearing a black top and black trousers.

“The EFF regrets with deep sadness to inform the public on the passing of the daughter of EFF former Secretary General, Hillary Gardee,” said the EFF in a statement.

“The body of Hillary Gardee was found abandoned outside Nelspruit in Mpumalanga, after she had gone missing on the April 29, 2022 … This heart-breaking news has left the Gardee family distraught, and the collective leadership of the EFF at a loss for words.”

Hillary Indira Gardee, aged 28, was born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1994.

“She was the first-born daughter of Commissar Godrich Gardee and her loss has left immeasurable devastation, as he grapples with the pain of losing a child in such a callous, cruel and inhumane manner. Hillary was an enthusiastic, kind and loving individual, who had a passion for information technology,” the EFF said.

“She was a student at the University of South Africa, studying IT part-time while running her own IT business. Her kindness and generosity was most evident in her commitment to adopt and care for a 3-year old child, who by the grace of God was spared on the day of Hillary’s abduction. She looked after the child as if she were her own, an inspiring act for a woman of such a young age.”

“We mourn with the Gardee family, and will provide a helping hand to ensure that her memory is preserved and she goes to her final resting place with dignity. The family at this time is still reeling from the terrible news of the loss of their child, and as such is not in a position to speak to the media or the public.”

Hillary disappeared on Friday after she was last seen at a Spar Supermarket in Nelspruit.

INSIDE EDUCATION

SuperSport Schools celebrates 365 days of broadcasting the best of school and youth sports action in Southern Africa. The OTT channel has grown to become one of South Africa’s leading school and youth sport platforms; the go-to place for live and on demand content for the passionate school sports community.

Since launching in April 2021, SuperSport Schools has broadcast over 5000 live matches and 16 sporting codes to devices and screens far and wide across the globe, despite half of the year being cut short due to Covid-19.

Apart from the unparalleled coverage, some highlights include:

– The debut broadcast of the SA Schools Water Polo IPT in Cape Town with the broadcast of 369 matches across 10 pools in four days

– Easter Festivals broadcast from six venues, including 30 simultaneous live streams at the peak of the St Stithians College Easter Festiva

– Capturing 19 South African records during the broadcast of the Athletics South Africa Primary Schools, High Schools and Junior Track and Field Championships. This included 100m and 200m sensation, Vivwe Jingqi

– The roll-out of over 100 automated and artificial intelligence driven cameras across over 70 schools and clubs

– Nearly 100 000 subscribers on the App

Speaking of the achievement, SuperSport Head of Commercial, Rendani Ramovha said: “The highlight for me is seeing the vision becoming a reality. It’s very easy to ideate and to have a strategy of how to launch something, but to see how the SuperSport Schools product is gaining momentum and how the public is getting behind the product, that’s the biggest milestone.”

The operation has evolved throughout the year, adapting, and adjusting to fit the unique demands of the zealous South African sports fan. Although the popular sporting codes have captured most of the viewership, lesser-profiled codes including canoeing, padel tennis, rowing, squash, basketball, water polo and tennis have also had their time to shine.

From Johannesburg, Kimberley, Mookgophong, Nelspruit, Hilton, Matatiele, Mdantsane, Camps Bay to Windhoek; the SuperSport Schools cameras have shone the spotlight on talent from all backgrounds and walks of life.

“What is special for me is that we capture the moments that people care most about,” SuperSport Schools GM, Gerhard Steyn explained. “In athletics, it often happens on our platform that more people watch the heats than the finals, it’s different to the Olympics where everyone mostly waits for the Final. In our schools’ space, people care about the kids who participate, they care about the U14c match or the fourth team hockey. That is special, it’s an important contribution to the sports community in the country.

“The opportunities that our coverage has opened for young athletes has been inspiring,” he added. “We’ve had athletes using our footage to apply for scholarships to international universities and funding, that would have never happened in the past. If you look at the talent and achievements that have been captured in the South African school sports space, the future of South Africa sport seems to be in a good space.”

In the past six weeks, over 3000 matches have been broadcast. Put into context, if those matches were spread over six weeks, SuperSport Schools would have been able to show school sport live for 10 hours a day, on eight channels, six days a week for six consecutive weeks!

SUPERSPORT|

WENDY MOTHATA|

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa says that 96% of children of school-going age are in school while wo-thirds of those pupils attend schools where their parents do not have to pay school fees.

Ramaphosa was reflecting on the gains made and challenges the country has grappled with since April 27, 1994.

The president led Freedom Day celebrations at the Kees Taljaard Stadium in Middelburg, Mpumalanga.

“Ninety-six per cent of children of school-going age are in school. Two-thirds of these learners attend no-fee schools,” said Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa, however, conceded that “”much more still needs to be done”.

He said that that free tertiary education was also being provided to young people in South Africa.

“Free tertiary education is being provided to young South Africans to study, a dream that was denied their forebears,” he said.

He further added that more than 600 000 learners in Mpumalanga received their daily meals at various schools across the province.

“Here in Mpumalanga, more than 600 000 children from poor households receive a meal at school through the National School Nutrition Programme,” Ramaphosa said.

The president added that the National School Nutrition programme currently feeds more than nine million learners every school day across the country.

“In democratic SA, 81% of people live in formal housing. Nine out of 10 South Africans have access to clean water and more than 85% have access to electricity. In democratic SA, basic education and health care is no longer the privilege of a few, but available to all,” he said.

Ramaphosa said: “In democratic South Africa, basic education and health care is no longer the privilege
of a few, but available to all.”

While the country has mixed feelings regarding the scourge of Gender Based-Violence, crime and corruption, Ramaphosa said there were laws to protect the vulnerable in the country.

“Gender-based violence, substance abuse and other societal ills have become rampant in our communities. Crime and violence is eating away at our society. We can only defeat crime if we work together, as families, as communities and community leaders, as faith communities and leaders, and as individuals,” he said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

Siphiwo Mahala is well known as a South African short story writer, novelist, playwright and literary organiser. He is also an academic. In fact, his most recent book is a product of his PhD thesis, titled Can Themba: The Making and Breaking of the Intellectual Tsotsi. Can Themba was a journalist and short story writer who challenged the apartheid state by foregrounding the pain and the joy of black life. We asked Mahala to tell us more.

Who was Can Themba and why does he matter?

Can Themba was part of a generation of black writers that revolutionised journalism and the South African literary landscape in the 1950s and early 1960s. This was a culturally dynamic and politically volatile period in South Africa. In 1948 apartheid was introduced by the white minority government, followed by the enactment of draconian laws in the early 1950s, which sought to separate people according to race. This prompted the black oppressed majority to intensify its resistance struggle. Artists, intellectuals and the growing cohort of black journalists were at the forefront of finding platforms to speak against these socio-political ills and challenge the regime.

Drum was the most widely distributed magazine that foregrounded the voices of urban black people at this time. Themba was associate editor and also wrote for Drum’s sister newspaper, the Golden City Post. He was central in chronicling the black condition. Themba had a penchant for ordinary stories – of the neglected, the marginalised and even the resented – and he wrote them in such a sensational way that they would attract global attention. He was a daring journalist, unafraid to put his body on the line in pursuit of a story.

The kind of stories he covered included the impact on ordinary people of the 1957 bus boycott and of pass laws. One of his most documented stories was Brothers in Christ, where he investigated if white churches would welcome black worshippers in accordance with the Christian doctrine of brotherhood. He was assaulted and charged for trespassing in churches, creating a controversy that solicited international attention.

His romantic relationship was the subject of police interrogation because he dared to love across the colour line. He was manhandled and arrested for doing journalism. He was banned under the Suppression of Communism Amendment Act and his writing could neither be published nor referenced in South Africa until 15 years after his death. Clearly the apartheid regime wished to erase him from the face of history.

He went to exile in the early 1960s, was banned shortly after and died in exile. This has made it difficult to trace his life’s journey. Although his works – especially his short story The Suit – have been celebrated for years, his personal story has been sketchy, limited to his period as a Drum journalist.

How does your study approach him?

My interest was in his construction. Tracing the factors that contributed to the making of the writer who became known as the winner of Drum’s short story competition in 1953, and the elements that contributed to his deterioration a few years later. I feel privileged to have been the first to document his life story – more than 50 years after his passing in 1967. In this book, through the voices of people who knew him personally, we get to know Can Themba as a husband, father, a drinking buddy, a teacher, a colleague. As a person and not just the public figure.

More than half the people I interviewed as part of the research have since passed away. The unique insights shared by the late Anne Themba, Nadine Gordimer, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Parks Mangena, Mbulelo Mzamane, Ahmed Kathrada and Lindiwe Mabuza cannot be replicated and could have been easily lost.

I trace him from an early age, his family background in the racially mixed community Marabastad, relocating to Atteridgeville, a township outside Pretoria. I trace his schooling as well as his years as a student at the University Fort Hare, where he studied towards a BA degree and majored in English which he passed with a distinction. Sharing the university syllabus helps us to understand the foundations of his literary apprenticeship, as it included literary criticism, the history of literature and the study of poetry. The earliest available record of Themba’s publication dates back to 1945, when he was a student at Fort Hare, and the influence of Shakespeare is palpable.

This period also gives a glimpse of what he and some of his fellow students would become. Whereas Themba and his fellow literary enthusiast Dennis Brutus contributed mainly poetry and short stories in student journals, political leader Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe was contributing articles in political pamphlets.

I hope readers will take away a more holistic view of Can Themba and understand that he was an abundantly talented individual who was as flawed as the rest of us. He died before his fullest potential could be realised.

What did you conclude about Themba?

Much has been written about the perceived lack of political commitment in his works, his romanticisation of the township and his excessive drinking. In this book, I reveal some of his sharpest political commentary. I reveal that Themba did not drink until he joined Drum. Former Drum photographer Jurgen Schadeberg states that drinking in the newsroom was encouraged. Schadeberg says Themba initially felt out of place in the newsroom, and kept wearing a tie just like the teacher he was.

Themba died in 1967, supposedly of alcohol related causes, only 14 years after he started drinking. I interrogate a number of personal, social and political factors that contributed to his early demise. As an epigraph to the book, I use a quote from his former protege, veteran journalist Harry Mashabela: Can Themba was what he was and not what he could have been because his country is what it is.

For a writer who believed in freedom of expression, living in a tyrannical society was a constant assault to his soul.

More than anything else, I realised that Can Themba was a teacher at heart. It’s common knowledge that before joining Drum in 1953, he had been working as a teacher, and that he taught at St Joseph’s Catholic School in Swaziland, where he passed away in 1967. It’s not very well known that he lived for teaching even when he was not teaching for a living.

He was a teacher in his House of Truth, which he established in his room in Sophiatown as a forum for debate. He taught in the newsroom and in the drinking dens, becoming known as the “shebeen intellectual”. And in every space where he found himself. He did guest lectures at universities. He even offered English lessons to groups and individuals. For me, his greatest legacy is his determination to nurture young minds.

Can Themba: The Making and Breaking of the Intellectual Tsotsi is available from Wits University Press.

THE CONVERSATION