Issue: 7 | December 2012
Collaborative Partnerships for Social Cohesion
Professor Gerwel Tribute
I
t is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of our patron, Professor Jakes Gerwel, who passed away on the morning of the 28th November 2012 at the Kuilsriver Hospital. Gerwel was a well-known figure in South Africa as he held numerous titles as an academic, political leader, as well as civil society champion. His early life’s work was mostly as an academic in roles which included educational adviser to the South African Students’ Organisation, a lecturer, chancellor of Rhodes University, and later rector of the University of the Western Cape. Gerwel chaired the National Education Policy Initiative that in the early 90s formulated the education policy for the African National Congress (ANC) and served on the delegation convened by Mandela in 1992 that dealt with the President FW de Klerk on the education
crisis. He later served as the Director General in the office of President Nelson Mandela and Secretary to the Cabinet of South Africa’s first democratically elected government. Gerwel’s growing involvement in civil society also saw his involvement as one of the founding members of Kagiso Trust. The Star Newspaper cites that Gerwel’s philosophy on life and education came to the fore when he was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by Rhodes University as he shared that “Universities are both central agents for change and steady beacons of continuity and tradition. As we feel buffeted by the storm of change, their presence and functioning in society should provide a sense of succour and solace that our changes are underpinned by centuries-old tradition of reasoning and enquiry. When we get despondent about things not changing, they should provide assurance and encouragement that
there are fresh and courageous minds of our intellectual elite grappling with and giving lead in changing our lives and patterns of thought.” As Kagiso Trust, we will sorely miss his wisdom and guidance. During his time with Kagiso Trust, he made a tremendous contribution in terms of strategic direction for the organization and wisdom imparted at every encounter. Aurecon states that even though Gerwel grew up on a sheep farm in the district of Somerset East, his trajectory far exceeded these humble beginnings. “He never departed from an understanding of one simple truth: People are not interested in what we do for a living . . . what they are interested in is what we have to offer freely – hope, strength, love and the power to make a difference,” expresses Aurencon.
contents EDITOR’S LETTER
2 5 Word from Corporate Affairs Schoeman: The Year 6 -9 Kgotso Ahead The BNSDP 10-13 Infrastructure Launch 14-15 ROI on Education -17 Open and accountable 16 partnerships Award Nomination 18 to Kagiso Trust on 19 Response Social Networks -21 Themba Mola: Kagiso 20 Trust’s Programmes Conversations 26-27 Education Consultative 28-29 NASGB Conference SA’s 30-31 Redeeming Education System under 32-33 Municipality Transformation -35 EMSP Annual 34 Workshop Tribute to Prof. Gerwel
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10 18
Free State Infrastructure Launch
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WORD FROM CORPORATE AFFAIRS
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s the year comes to an end, we are presented with an opportunity to reflect on the past year. 2012 has indeed been an exciting year for Kagiso Trust. In this issue of InBrief, we celebrate some of our highlights for the year, that is, the Education Conversations, Bold Step campaign, rewarding our outstanding schools with infrastructure through the Beyers NaudĂŠ Schools Development Programme, the Leverage Development Programme, and our partnership with the Shanduka Foundation to name a few. As we look forward to achieving even greater heights in 2013, through collaborations, we hope to grow InBrief into a publication that offers value in terms of sharing our lessons and experiences within the different sectors
that we operate in. We also look forward to increased participation and feedback from our stakeholders and hope that you will start sharing your experiences in Development and Corporate Social Investment that we can also learn from. Most importantly, we would like to say THANK YOU to our partners, sponsors and stakeholders. We could not have achieved the same level of success alone. We would like to thank you for your gift of friendship and supporting us in ensuring we fulfil our mandate. Without you, we would not have been able to achieve and fulfil our role in development. We are truly humbled and honoured by your support and look forward to further interactions and engagements with you.
It is often said that you reap what you sow, and we hope that we have seeded enough good to ensure that 2013 brings goodwill, success and even greater experiences. We hope that you will find this last 2012 instalment of InBrief informative and look forward to your feedback. On behalf of Kagiso Trust, we wish you all a happy and safe festive season and may 2013 be all that you wish for and more. PS: Look out for the Bold Step SMS Line which we hope will make it easier for South Africans to make their contribution towards the Bold Step campaign in pursuance of giving the gift of education to deserving South African disadvantaged youth from rural communities.
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Kgotso Schoeman
The Year Ahead
7 InBrief: What have been some of the highlights for Kagiso Trust (KT) in 2012?
InBrief: What are some of KT’s plan’s for 2013?
Kgotso Schoeman: 2012 has been an eventful year. We had the Beyers Naude Schools Development Programme (BNSDP) Free State Infrastructure Launch, the first and successful year of the Education Conversations, the introduction of the Bold Step Campaign and more.
Kgotso Schoeman: The year ahead for Kagiso Trust is set to be an exciting one. There are a number of goals and events that we are looking forward to executing.
Furthermore, even though introduced at a smaller scale, we introduced the YM Youth Leadership Programme (named after Kagiso Trust late Chairperson, Yunus Mohamed). The official launch of the YM Youth Leadership Programme is due to take place next year.
Should we reach the 80% target this year, then the benchmark set for the BNSDP schools will be revisited to be 90% in 2013. This is important as it illustrates that if you support schools and if you create the right environment in schools, you can make schools perform at exceptional levels. 2013 will be the year where we focus our energies around the quality of our matric results.
As an organization we have done very well this year. All the measurements that we had set for ourselves for the BNSDP were achieved.
Another first for the organisation will see the BNSDP reward primary schools that have performed well in their Annual National Assessments (ANA) results.
Perhaps our biggest challenge will be that we have set ourselves a high target for the performance of our schools in 2012, which is 80%. We hold a belief that we will be able to meet this target and should we succeed in achieving that target in our schools, then Kagiso Trust and the Free State Department of Education would have done extremely well.
This will be a great milestone for the organisation, as it will indicate whether there is a return on the investment we have made in our primary schools and were able to meet the benchmark set for our Grade 3, 6 and 9 learners.
InBrief: What have been some of the challenges experienced by KT in 2012? Kgotso Schoeman: In reflecting back on the past year, one of our greatest challenges for the year 2012 and very disappointing for me, has been the relationship with the KwaZulu Natal Department of Education (KZN DoE). When we started negotiations with the KZN DoE for a partnership that would see Kagiso Trust and the Shanduka Foundation invest R200 million and the province matching our investment to create a R400 million investment towards the support of approximately 350 schools in a district, we were of the opinion that the KZN DoE showed signs of a great province that would fully support our intervention in education. But that did not happen.
It is our hope that our service providers will help us develop a concrete methodology on how we can improve literacy and numeracy levels in our primary schools. We want to start saying to people, “This is how we as KT work with our schools at primary level.” An additional target for the organisation is our new programme which we have designed: the Kagiso Trust Leverage Development Programme. The programme has been established to assist a few strategic organizations to become sustainable. That is, fund and impart skills and expertise aimed at assisting them to operate as sustainable entities. KT is already working with one such organization: the South African Council of Churches (SACC). KT hopes that the support provided to SACC will enable the organisation to replicate some of the principles we use
to run and govern the organization. We hope to identify another organization in 2013 to support and work with. In Brief: KT hosted a Consultative Conference with the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) in November this year. Will KT be pursuing a relationship with the NASGB in 2013 Kgotso Schoeman: How KT will assist the NASGB is a welcomed challenge for 2013. The consultative conference this year was a success and we hope to host a similar conference with the teachers’ unions next year so as to pursue a conversation around: what is the role of unions in the current state of affairs in our education system? It is our hope that such conversations would assist Unions to come up with a well-rounded response to this as we don’t think commentators are going to come up with solutions to some of the challenges faced by schools. InBrief: What are KT’s plans with regards to KERPEF going forward? Kgotso Schoeman: Very close to KT’s heart is the Mthatha Airport Agricultural Services (M.A.A.S). M.A.A.S utilises the land located at the Mthatha Airport for agricultural production so as to improve the standard of living of the local community through using Shade Cloth Hydroponics High Value Crop Tunnel Farming Systems and an improved provision of knowledge and skills in the District. At the moment M.A.A.S is not utilising all 59 hectares of their land and we are excited to see how financially viable the project will become once they do. This coming year we plan to offer more assistance in developing effective financial management for M.A.A.S and broadening their market reach. We are planning on creating a model which, similar to the BNSDP, can be used to create and sustain jobs in different rural communities.
8 InBrief: What are KT’s plans for Kagiso Africa Investments in 2013? Kgotso Schoeman: We have identified three African countries to pursue investments in: Zambia, Mozambique and Kenya. The Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF) and KT partnered up to form an investment holdings company (KCDF Investment Holdings) based in Nairobi, Kenya. The company targets investments in highquality, market-leading companies with potential for regional growth and next year our plan is to secure at least two such investments. InBrief: How does KT see its relationship with Kagiso Tiso Holdings (KTH) maturing in the coming year? Kgotso Schoeman: The new team (from the July 2011 merger of Kagiso Trust Investments and the Tiso Group) is doing well in repositioning the company and we will continue to support the team in growing the company. In 2013 KT will explore opportunities available to partner with KTH and our subsidiary companies, to start hosting business indabas.The purpose of the business indabas would be to look at South African business and how they can play a proactive role in transforming inequalities that exist within the communities we operate in, especially reflecting on this year’s Marikana and tragic mine events. Through these indabas KT would be compelling its executive staff to start engaging seriously about the major implications for government, business and the country as a whole around how we strategically and proactively operate our businesses in a manner that impacts and addresses social inequalities in the communities our businesses operate in. An engagement with the National Planning Commission (NPC) around it’s report and what it means for us would be ideal, particularly should we be able to have the NPC Chairman, Trevor Manuel, in attendance. This coming year should be one where we reflect and develop strategic and detailed ways forward for KT and KTH in this economic climate.
InBrief: The Education Conversations have had a successful inaugural year. What does 2013 hold for these conversations? Kgotso Schoeman: 2013 is set to be an exciting year for the Education Conversations. We plan to hold a 2-day international conference in September. The conversations would look at identifying strategic solutions and partnerships for the transformation of South Africa’s public education system and include views from international guests such as education ministers who have had to turn around their education system and those who have experience in education systems similar to ours. The objective of this conference would
be to learn from each other and be that much closer to improving our local education system. InBrief: A word of thanks to KT’s partners? Kgotso Schoeman: KT would like to acknowledge the Free State MEC, Tate Makgoe, the Free State HOD, Mr. RS Malope and the leadership of the Free State Department of Education (Free State DoE). The vision that the Free State DoE has on how they want to change their education system and how they relate to partners (such as KT) is encouraging. The reception and support KT has received has been phenomenal and people in the department have accepted that government alone cannot change the education system; it is government together with social partners and the
9 received has been phenomenal and people in the department have accepted that government alone cannot change the education system; it is government together with social partners and the community who will turn it around. We also thank the national Department of Education for their support and believing that KT plays an important role in assisting national government to improve our education system. To the private sector companies, Kagiso Tiso Holdings, FirstRand Foundation (through Tshikululu), Xstrata, Remgro, Kagiso Media (Jacaranda fm and East Coast Radio, Media Mark), SFC Consulting, Stefanutti Stock, Hitachi Power Africa and Bytes Technologies we extend our gratitude for the continuous support around the work that we do and for the understanding that implementation of a programme that entails influencing a huge dysfunctional system requires great patience. KT partners, Shanduka Foundation and Tiso Foundation you came to the realisation that unless we start collaborating we will not effectively impact on the education system. For the progress which we have made, we should all be proud. Let us confidently continue in doing our part to change South Africa’s education system for the better.
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BNSDP Free State School Infrastructure Launch 2012
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“A
long time ago there was a boy who wanted fame and fortune,” so began the story told by Dean Zwo Nevhutalu (Kagiso Trust Chair) to a tent full of thousands of eyes and ears attentively glued onto him. “Fame and fortune this young man wanted, and he travelled far in search of it. In his journey he encountered an old man who said to him, ‘Follow me and I will show you a way to get riches.’ The boy was so excited. He followed the old man until they came to two doors. The old man said, ‘Behind one of these doors lies a big mound of gold with a beautiful young woman sitting on top of it. The gold will be yours and the woman, your wife.’ The young man was ready to open the door before him when the old man stopped him, ‘There is also another door. If you open this one, a huge tiger will bite your head off. Which door it is, I cannot tell you.’” The crowd was captivated: young and old waited anxiously to hear which door this boy would open, but Dean Nevhutalu had come to the conclusion of his tale. “The moral of this story is: Not all doors are meant to be opened. We need to open the right doors; and we are here to open the doors to knowledge and learning.” Knowledge and learning are at the core of the Beyers Naude Schools Development Programme (BNSDP). The 4th and 5th October saw learners, educators, parents, grandparents, officials from the Free State Department of Education, Kagiso Trust staff and the community at large, gathered to witness a monumental occasion: the BNSDP Free State Infrastructure Launch. Kagiso Trust, in partnership with the Free State Department of Education, rewarded eight schools from the Thabo Mofutsanyana District that have shown a marked increase in their yearend results. The reward came in the form of infrastructure for the schools, infrastructure designed to improve and further aid the pupils’ learning process and make teaching more effective and engaging.
Day 1 Infrastructure launches: The launches started off on a hot Thursday morning at Sasamala Secondary School. After a brief welcome from the school’s principal, Mr. Yoyo Sibisi - the BNSDP Senior Programme Manager - introduced the school, mentioning Sasamala Secondary School’s history and achievements. The Honorable MEC, Tate Makgoe, then addressed all in attendance. With his address completed, the MEC and Mr. Thabiso Ratsomo (a Kagiso Trust Trustee) conducted the official opening of the infrastructure. Students and teachers were eager to demonstrate their IT and Science skills to the guests. Sasamala’s new infrastructure includes a life science laboratory, a physical science laboratory and computer room. With the Free State province’s Premier in attendance (Honorable: Mr. Ace Magashule) as well as 6 MEC provincial MEC’s in attendance, demonstrations over and speeches concluded, the launch’s entourage moved on to the next 3 schools scheduled to also have their infrastructures officially opened. Sports Tournament and Debate Competition: As the group moved from Harrismith to Manthatisi to Sekgutlong Secondary Schools, the Sports Tournament was underway at the University of the Free State, Qwaqwa Campus. The soccer and netball teams seemed more than ready for action and as the games began, it was clear that these children (from the BNSDP schools) took not only their studies but extra-curricular activities, seriously as well. Time flew and having seen the four schools, their brand new life science labs, physical science labs, computer rooms and libraries, all furnished and fully stocked, the entourage made its way to the university to watch an enthralling and nail-biting debate between LeratoUthando and Harrismith Secondary Schools. Both teams were made up of young women. Despite emotions running high (the pressure was understandable: the room was filled beyond its maximum capacity, cameras were flashing and of course, the Honorable MEC of Education: Tate Makgoe was in the audience), the pupils presented their reasons why
social networks do more good or harm. Bombastic words were used and the pupils embodied confidence in themselves and their arguments. But in the end, only one team could take home the trophy... Harrismith Secondary School, amidst tears of joy, accepted their prize. By this time the programme had run a bit late, it was expected that the sports awards ceremony would be cut short. But that was not to be. The MEC, Tate Makgoe, proved to be an MEC with a difference. This man showed us from this first day of the Infrastructure Launch that he genuinely cared about transforming education in this district. In all the four schools he had visited, he made it a point to make a speech. After all, that is what the school children, teachers and community expected. When the MEC arrived at the university, he was fully aware that the children had waited hours for his arrival and he knew the importance and pride that each child would feel once he placed the medals around their necks. Sasamala Secondary School won the soccer tournament and Bluegumbosch Secondary School won the netball tournament. That selfless act and genuine concern for the children and the factors that contribute in making children want to excel, was noticed by one and all. Dinner Discussion: Dinner at the Golden Gate Hotel was a special moment indeed. The Principals of Kgola-Thulo and Sekgutlong Secondary Schools shed light in what it takes to motivate, assist and grow learners. Similarities in their successful methods included Intensive Care programmes (extra attention paid to under-performing pupils) and extra classes (during weekends and holidays). Discipline (in teachers and pupils) was also emphasised as one of the contributing factors in the schools’ increasing results. Both principals concluded their speeches by guaranteeing that their schools will receive 100% pass rate for the class of 2012. After a wholesome round of applause, Kagiso Trust CEO, Kgotso Schoeman congratulated the principals and commended them on leading by example by also teaching classes.
12 Day 2 The day started off a bit chilly and windy but as the day progressed and the excitement of an entourage that had almost doubled in size, it became hot. Friday’s convoy started off at Kgola-Thulo Secondary School where, as with the other schools, only good things could be said of the school. One of these achievements was a learner who was chosen, based on the quality of an essay she had to submit, to Usher’s New Look Foundation to attend a conference in Atlanta, USA. The next school, Mohaladitwe Secondary School, also boasted of its learner who jetted off overseas. This learner was awarded a full bursary to study medicine in Cuba by the Free State government. These schools, most of which are in a rural setting, prove that with hard work and dedication - and awesome teachers, of course - anything is achievable. Fast-forwarding to Clubview Secondary School, a trail of local women ululating and dancing, parents and grandparents cheering, as well as children singing their hearts out, followed. On the way to Bluegumbosch Secondary School, the genetic experiment conducted by bright learners at Clubview Secondary School was still fresh in our minds. Ms. Girlie Silinda (Kagiso Trust Trustee) and Ms. Naomi Ratsheko (daughter of the late Eric Molobi) could not get over how
“articulate and confident” the leaners were. “I learnt something today; this child actually made this complicated thing so simple,” reflected Ms. Ratsheko. At Bluegumbosch Secondary where the main event was hosted, the convoy was welcomed by two rows of drum majorette pupils and the large tent was packed with members of the community, young and old, waiting for the ceremony to begin. After the MEC had officially opened the infrastructure of this, the last school, the party went inside the tent. The Bluegumbosch School Choir sang beautifully, with not one note out of place. A local pastor blessed us with a prayer
and the programme was underway. Key speakers were Dean Zwo Nevhutalu and the Honorable MEC, Tate Makgoe. The Dean’s message to open the doors of “knowledge and learning” was backed by the MEC when he urged parents to “know your child’s progress from an early age. Children want to know that you care about their education.” The importance of education in the community as a whole was also emphasised and as the programme drew to a close, the tent seemed filled with hope and communal support. The picture painted by Dean Nevhutalu of children acquiring education and being beneficial to their communities, not just immediate family, is indeed possible, especially when learners are equipped with the infrastructure, knowledge and are “articulate and confident.”
The Honourable MEC,Tate Makgoe
BNSDP Schools’ Performance Free State BNSDP School
2010 MATRIC PASS RATE
2011 MATRIC PASS RATE
Mohaladitwe Secondary School
20%
79.6%
Clubview Secondary School
48.7%
86.4%
Bluegumbosch Secondary School
46.2%
84.4%
Harrismith Secondary School
68%
79.7%
Sasamala Secondary School
94%
94.5%
Sekgutlong Secondary School
93.8%
98.3%
Manthatisi Secondary School
75.5%
77.9%
Kgola-Thuto Secondary School
92.67%
95.11%
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The Honourable MEC,Tate Makgoe
Kagiso Trust CEO, Kgotso Schoeman addressing the guests during the Dinner Discussion
The community celebrates
Kagiso Trust Trustee, Ms Girlie Silinda and Ms Naomi Ratsheko, the daughter of the late Eric Molobi
Mr M Malaoane: Kgola-Thuto Secondary School Principal at the Dinner Discussion
The community celebrates
KT Trustee, Ms Girlie Silinda and Free State honourable MEC, Tate Makgoe, congratulate netball learners on their win at the BNSDP Sports Tournament
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Can We Measure Return on Investment in Education?
H
ow does one measure the impact of a business or industry leader on the socioeconomic development of a country? What difference do organisations make to the economic growth in South Africa when the learners they have supported go on to study engineering at university? These are questions many companies are asking about making a corporate social investment (CSI) in education. With private sector spending on education averaging R2 billion per annum in recent years and expected to reach R3 billion in 2012, there is a growing emphasis on quantifying the return on investment (ROI) in this sector. CEO of Business Leadership South Africa, Michael Spicer, says that CSI is becoming more strategically focused, with companies aligning their investment spend with their core business objectives. While the ROI in education is not usually
calculable in financial terms there is a greater demand for measurable results, and it is the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are getting it right. The private sector clearly views investment in the country’s future workforce as a national priority since almost a third (32.2%) of CSI funding is spent on education. Of that, almost half goes towards infrastructure, maths, science and technical education. With education being one of the top three CSI targets, along with health and social development, corporate South Africa is certainly committed to addressing the education crisis. Corporates are also recognising that educational projects need to be integrated with community needs and designed for sustainable impact. Most companies will therefore commit to a minimum of three
years of support and it is widely accepted that for education interventions to show results, one should be in it for the long haul. In particular, funders are primarily partnering with established NGOs working in the educational sector. A National Business Institute study conducted by Trialogue in 2010 identified trends in the practices of leading education non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that are attracting both the trust of and funding from the private sector. Education NGOs that have been around for many years and have strong track records of sustainable success have learned to target schools where there is buy-in to their intervention or where the trust of the teachers can quickly be established.
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For instance, a current Telkom Foundation initiative to mentor teachers in selected schools in the Free State met with initial resistance from staff who believed that the mentors had come to ‘spy’ on them. The project managers ensured that this challenge was addressed before the programme got underway. A second trend is that partnerships with the Department of Education (DoE) are important for the success of a programme. In most cases, NGOs will work together with the DoE to identify beneficiary schools and will agree on infrastructure spending that matches government funding rand for rand. Companies are also giving preference to NGOs that effectively monitor and evaluate their results. Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), for example, expects a 5% increase year-on-year in mathematics results in the schools it supports, while Implats benchmarks the results of its maths teacher development programme against a baseline study that it conducted. One of South Africa’s greatest success stories in the fraught education investment space is the Beyers Naudé Schools Development Programme (BNSDP), a programme designed and implemented by one of South Africa’s oldest blackowned NGO’s, Kagiso Trust, which has demonstrated measurable progress in improving Grade 12 pass rates. A flagship project of the Kagiso Trust, the BNSDP is implemented in small groups of selected schools in marginalised areas over a four-year period, after which the schools are able to continue on their own. The focus is on leadership and management skills for teachers and governing bodies and leadership skills for learners. The BNSDP works with the DoE to identify schools and partners with the department in infrastructure spend. Beneficiary schools have to motivate their place into the programme and must be willing to participate, with teachers even required to sign a commitment statement. Teachers are given curriculum training with priority on maths and science, members of the school governing body receive training and learners go on
leadership retreats. In some cases, local universities are able to bring in learner support programmes. The most distinctive feature of the BNSDP intervention is that in each school a minimum pass rate target is set for Grade 12, usually 70% or 75%, and only when a school meets this target is it eligible to receive new infrastructure and resources like libraries, science laboratories and computer centres. This incentivised approach to supplying infrastructure has resulted in significant increases in pass rates. Kagiso Trust cites the examples of Mmathaba Secondary School which increased its matric pass rate from 58% to 92% in three years under the Kagiso reward system, and Tsebo Secondary School which increased from 58% in 2007 to 91% in 2011. The BNSDP now supports 167 schools in rural areas and the Kagiso Trust has established itself as one of the leading NGO brands. The programme also serves as a feeder for KT’s Eric Molobi Scholarship Programme which fully funds the tertiary studies of selected beneficiaries, specifically in the engineering and commerce fields. Public participation in the scholarship programme is being facilitated via KT’s newly launched Bold Step campaign, which encourages public action via donations to the scholarship programme. All donations above R1,200 receive a Section 18A tax certificate and may be deducted from taxable income.
Arguably one of the most well-known beneficiaries of a scholarship programme is Transnet CEO Brian Molefe, whose first step into tertiary education, a BCom degree from Unisa, was funded by Kagiso Trust. Molefe went on to complete a Masters in Business Leadership, a Post Graduate Diploma in
Economics from the University of London and several other post-graduate courses at world leading institutions, including Harvard Business School. Molefe’s contribution to socioeconomic development as a business leader and as one of the architects of BEE policy in South Africa is incalculable. His story is a vivid reminder that CSI spending on education will never be only about a commercial return on investment. It is ultimately a manifestation of a company’s commitment to the greater good of South Africa. Meluleki Nzimande, a Partner at Webber Wentzel who pursued his studies through Kagiso Trust’s bursary is also a vivid reminder that.
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Open and accountable partnerships are the route to educating the children of our nation Kgotso Schoeman
by
Chief Executive Office, Kagiso Trust
Eight schools in a remote rural district in the Free State received fully equipped science laboratories, computer centres and refurbished libraries.
T
hey are all beneficiaries of the Beyers Naude Schools Development Programme (BNSDP), through a partnership between Kagiso Trust and the Free State Department of Education. The programme is active in 167 schools in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District in that province. The official launch of this infrastructure project provided an opportunity to reflect on the role that the private sector can play in improving performance in schools.
we should be taking ownership of the crisis in education. In fact, Kagiso Trust’s Bold Step campaign calls on corporates, NGOs, government departments and leaders, as well as local and foreign funders, to get involved. It is not enough for some of us in the private sector to make a donation of funds or resources; we also need to accept responsibility for supporting performance improvement within our schools, as much as we are responsible for performance within our own companies.
The notable feature of the BNSDP success in the Free State is that it is being achieved in a collaborative partnership with the Department of Education in the province. It is a partnership that shows how we can tackle the challenges in education in an integrated manner and sustain improvements in the system, particularly in schools. It is also a partnership that exists because Kagiso Trust understands very well the power of shared responsibility and shared accountability for resolving the education challenges we face in South Africa.
The partnership between the Free State education authorities and Kagiso Trust in the BNSDP programme is one where we hold each other accountable, where buyin comes from the top, starting with the MEC and radiating down to the district offices and the teachers themselves, and where funding invested by Kagiso Trust is matched with an equal investment from government.
We believe that all sectors of society should be working together to create a better future for our children and that together,
The most striking hallmark of the programme is that it has established a precedent with its unique model for driving and sustaining accountability at all levels. Those eight schools which received new infrastructure did not receive infrastructure through luck or
chance; they have earned their right to this infrastructure by working very hard to increase their performance and meet targets which were set for them – all of them reached the matric pass rate target of 75% in 2011. The BNSDP model is one where performance must precede the reward. It is a controversial approach to school funding, but the results we are getting speak for themselves. The standard approach of government is to spend money on infrastructure for schools that are underperforming. Indeed, many schools may blame their poor performance on their lack of facilities, amongst other things. But the Free State government has taken a visionary leap of faith by sharing the BNSDP approach which says that schools should first prove their commitment to a high level of performance before they can be rewarded with laboratories, computers and books. The result has been soaring Matric pass rates and the rapid growth of centres of excellence in formerly poorly performing schools.
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{
“Kagiso Trust understands very well
}
the power of shared responsibility and shared accountability for resolving the education challenges we face in South Africa”
The BNSDP is implemented in small groups of selected schools in marginalised areas over a four-year period, after which the schools are able to continue on their own. We work with the education authorities to identify potential beneficiary schools and partner with the department in infrastructure spend. Schools have to apply to be admitted to the programme and must be willing to participate, with teachers even required to sign a commitment statement. Teachers are then given curriculum training, with maths and science receiving priority. We also provide governance training to the school governing body and learners go on leadership retreats. In some cases local universities are able to bring in learner support programmes. So the first step of the programme is to provide the participating schools with the basic capacity to improve their performance.
The most distinctive intervention is that each school is set a minimum pass rate target for Grade 12, usually 70% or 75%, and only when a school meets this target is it eligible to receive new infrastructure and resources. This incentivised approach has seen pass rates rocket. For instance, Mmathaba Secondary School raised its matric pass rate from 58% to 92% in three years, and Tseba Secondary School went up from 58% in 2007 to 91% in 2011. In the Thabo Mofutsanyana district, Mohaladitwe Secondary school went from achieving a 20% pass rate in 2010 to a 79.6% pass rate in 2011. Kagiso Trust has worked for 27 years to establish sustainable policies to eradicate poverty, particularly in rural areas, by empowering communities. We have not always been successful. For instance, our efforts to establish the BNSDP in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Eastern Cape have thus
far failed because the programme did not receive support from the respective provincial top politicians. The provinces failed to commit to the terms of the programme’s partnership and sad to note is, that the schools were the victims and were robbed of an opportunity to benefit from the programme. The learning from this is that we urgently need strong social cohesion between all sectors. This requires great leadership. And that leadership can start with every individual who accepts responsibility, who takes the bold step and gets involved in addressing our education crisis. Joint accountability is imperative – there is no room for turf rivalry or operating in silos. Let us all commit to opening our doors to partnerships that will strengthen our endeavours and accelerate our work towards the common goal of educating the children of our nation.
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Kagiso Trust Nominated for Award Kagiso Trust was nominated for the inaugural African Philanthropy Award. Winners were announced at the biennial African Philanthropy Award dinner which took place at The Campus in Bryanston, Johannesburg, on the 30th of October 2012. The award has been developed in response to the need to recognise and celebrate innovation in philanthropic practice in Africa that contributes to making a real and lasting difference in the lives of the continent’s people.
Kagiso Trust CEO, Kgotso Schoeman says, “Kagiso Trust is honoured by the nomination and appreciates the recognition of being placed alongside such prestigious organisations that are making a difference in Africa.”
explored to frame and inspire a practice of African philanthropy that is in touch with Africa’s new realities.”
The host of the awards, the African Grantmakers Network (AGN), is a continent-wide platform of African grantmaking organizations that facilitates networking and experience sharing among established and emerging African philanthropic institutions. “The assembly will facilitate a unique form of engagement across a broad spectrum of social issues,”
Kagiso Trust has worked for 27 years to establish sustainable policies to eradicate poverty, particularly in rural areas by empowering communities through various education and social development programmes. The AGN assembly will provide an opportunity for Kagiso Trust to network and share best practice with delegates from around the African continent on issues that impact communities most affected by the continents’ current socioeconomic climate.
remarks Neville Gabriel, Executive Director of Southern African Trust. He adds that, “Fresh approaches to big issues like poverty, new wealth, inequality and social exclusion will be
Nontando Mthethwa, Kagiso Trust Corporate Affairs Manager states that, “Kagiso Trust believes that all sectors of society should be working together to create a better future for our children.
Together we should be taking ownership of the crisis in education. For example, Kagiso Trust’s Bold Step campaign calls on individuals, corporates, NGOs, government departments and leaders, as well as local and foreign funders, to make a financial commitment to Kagiso Trust’s scholarship programme that assists talented young scholars with tertiary education fees , thus contributing to skills development and education in South Africa .” Kagiso Trust attributes much of its staying power and effectiveness to the governance principles with which it was imbued by its founding trustees, all of whom had a wealth of experience in organisations. As an example of versatility and selfsustainability, the Trust is a potential role model for other NPOs.
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We’re proud to announce that our CEO Kgotso Schoeman was in the Top 8 of MTN Foundation Boss of the Year Awards, 2012. Congratulations!
Response to Kagiso Trust on Social Networks
Thando Mdokha @mdokha I have seen the youth being sponsored by @ kagiso_trust from the humble beginnings of rural areas. Big up to #kagisoTrust with your initiatives
Cebolenkosi @swtcebo @Kagiso_Trust you have positively affected my life, I can see where I am going now. Thank you very much Kagiso Trust.
Nyambose Young Clen As a Kgola Thuto student I would like to thank Kagiso Trust for making me believe that it is still good to have dreams for the future and for inspiring me to believe I can do more for my future and my country...
Ellttee Di Maria Wow I’m so proud of Kagiso Trust. I may have unfortunately left the BNSDP bursary but I will never forget what it instilled in my veins. I remain part of the rib of the family. One of my biggest dreams is to crawl
Goodwill Nhlanhla @nhlanhlamg @Kagiso_Trust , it’s commendable for KT to take a leading step in fixing our education system -something the late Eric Molobi stood for.
Kagiso M Maithufi I would like to thank Kagiso Trust for the bursary they gave me to study at the South African Printing College back in 1995. I am where I am today because of you guys. On 11 September 2012 I managed to open my own printing company called Kagiso Litho Printers. Thanks a million!!!
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Reflection and Projection Themba Mola talks about Kagiso Trust’s Programmes
InBrief: It’s the end of the year, how has 2012 been for the Beyers Naude Schools Development Programme (BNSDP)? What were the highlights and challenges? Themba Mola: Kagiso Trust is currently in its second of five years at the Thabo Mofutsanyana district in the Free State. This year we took on 71 additional schools and now have 167 BNSDP schools, comprising of both primary and secondary schools in the district. The BNSDP’s main prerogative this year has been to improve learner performance and with our high schools we had set the benchmark of 75% for 2011. 8 schools were rewarded for reaching and surpassing this benchmark and an Infrastructure Launch was held to commemorate the event. The BNSDP Free State Infrastructure Launch was indeed a highlight for 2012. It was a monumental occasion for KT and this year saw the Premier of the Free State, Honourable Ace Magashule, participate in the launch. There was a lot of interest in the programme and the media was also supportive. Besides the academic emphasis placed on learners, the BNSDP
also encourages learners to partake in extracurricular activities such as sports and debating. As such, during the launch, we had a sports tournament involving soccer and netball; one cannot dispute the discipline that sports instil in learners. We also had a debate competition because this encourages confidence in public speaking, an invaluable skill to learners. During the launch we also had a gala dinner where we invited the principals of some of our most successful schools to share their best practice and ways in which they enhanced the management and thus the performance of their schools. The BNSDP utilises the assistance of service providers in a number of projects and programmes and in 2012 we have had five service providers (Molteno, Letlotlo, READ, Umlambo Foundation and Landelhani) assisting schools with management, literacy and numeracy at GET level (8th and 9th grades) and Maths, Science and Accounting at FET level (10th to 12th grades). The service providers’ role is mainly to support principals and teachers and the success (illustrated by the performance
of the schools) thus far has been positive. Another highlight has been the relationship which KT has with the Free State Department of Education (FS DoE). The MEC, Tate Makgoe, has been instrumental in making this relationship work through his diligence and getting the FS DoE and its officials to fully support and work together with KT. One of Kagiso Tiso Holding’s subsidiary companies, Bytes Technology (Bytes), printed study guides called Mind the Gap as a donation to the BNSDP to help learners with studying during the Learner Support Programme conducted during the holidays by the DoE and BNSDP. The support given by Bytes Technology was phenomenal as the costs of printing the study guides were over R100 000 and we hope that Bytes’ involvement encourages other subsidiaries within KTH to follow suit. KT, together with Shanduka Foundation had a conversation that as organizations with the same interests in education (through our BNSDP and their AdoptA-School Programme) should work together and come up with a consolidated model on how best to improve education in our country.
21 Shanduka and KT committed to investing R100 million each towards collaboration on a consolidated model in supporting rural education. The two partners consequently approached the KwaZulu Natal Department of Education (KZN DoE), where we were hoping the KZN DoE would match the contribution of the partners by investing a further R200 million over 5 years so as to allow the collaboration to support approximately 350 schools in a district, as was done in the Free State. The KZN MEC was excited about this but regrettably the province failed to provide funds for this programme which has borne many fruits in the Free State. This has been the major challenge for KT this year. InBrief: There has been some excitement around the Eric Molobi Scholarship Programme (EMSP) and the Bold Step Campaign. Can you explain the relationship between the two? Themba Mola: As KT, we do not just encourage good results in Matric, we also offer the learners an exit opportunity. Through the EMSP we provide learners with a full bursary, particularly towards the engineering and commerce fields. The EMSP is in collaboration with the Rural Education Access Programme (REAP), a programme that gives student support and assists our students - majority who come from rural backgrounds - to adjust to university life.
Bold Step Campaign aims to raise funds in order to increase our annual student intake, which has been 15 students, to 50 students a year. InBrief: In 2012 KT kickstarted the Kagiso Trust Leverage Development Programme. What is this programme about and what have been the projects KT undertook this year? Themba Mola: Due to financial limitations, a lot of NGOs and organisations fail. In 1997, Kagiso Trust developed a model which would ensure that the organisation remains self-sufficient and independent of government grants: investment company Kagiso Trust Investments (which merged with the Tiso Group July 2011 and is now Kagiso Tiso Holdings). KT created the Leverage Development Programme to assist those organisations that need to be resuscitated. We have taken on two organisations this year, the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) and the South African Council of Churches (SACC). With both organisations we are helping them in planning, collaborating, partnering up with relevant stakeholders and repositioning them in order to become financially viable organisations. We had a successful NASGB National Consultative Conference this year and the minister of Basic Education, Honourable Angie Motshekga, even participated in this conference.
The EMSP is a strict programme in that each year we hold a workshop where we invite the students for a conversation on the challenges they face at tertiary and we also encourage them to emulate the life of Eric Molobi by being diligent scholars, embracing the qualities that make a good citizen and ploughing back into their communities once they succeed.
InBrief: Are there any other programmes that stood out for you in 2012?
What the Bold Step Campaign does is target ordinary citizens, business leaders as well as corporates to contribute financially towards the expansion of the EMSP. At KT we believe that we should lead by example and so each of our staff members have signed up for a monthly deduction from their salaries as their contribution to this campaign. The
They are a platform where, as South Africans, we stop lamenting and seek solutions to the education crisis. We have had interesting topics this year ranging from the National Planning Commission’s plans for education in our country to whether we, as society, have abdicated our role towards education.
Themba Mola: The Education Conversations which we host in partnership with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) have been a highlight. We started these conversations this year and they run quarterly.
This year also concluded the three-year long Beyers Naude Memorial Lecture partnership with the University of the Free State (UFS). The lectures are held in a different and interactive way where students can express themselves through various ways be it in an essay, a poem and such. We are hoping to move the lecture to the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) in the Eastern Cape but we are still in negotiations with the university. Furthermore, we had successful Motivation Sessions organised for the BNSDP schools. We have seen that learners, particularly matriculants, find themselves in a weird space and become scared of end of year exams at times. The aim of these sessions was therefore to raise their spirits and build confidence in themselves. Among other speakers, we had motivational speaker Linda Ntuli talk to the learners and as a result these sessions have proven to be beneficial to the students. InBrief: What can we expect from the programmes in 2013? Themba Mola: The BNSDP has set a benchmark of 80% for the 2012 matric results and we are confident that the schools will perform well. This in turn will lead to KT rewarding the schools that meet the benchmark, and this we do through infrastructure being built for the schools. We will also be focusing on primary schools in 2013 and we are excited to see how our schools do in the Annual National Assessment (ANA) results. In 2011 the ANA performance was very poor at 35% but we are confident that results in our schools will have increased. 2013 will also call on other organisations under the Leverage Development Programme and we want to continue the relationships we have with our existing organisations. Other relationships that we will move with into 2013 and beyond include the Free State DoE, UJ through the Education Conversations and our service providers in the Free State schools.
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Collaborative Partnerships for Social Cohesion: Building a Nation with Ethics 9th Annual Beyers NaudĂŠ Memorial Lecture, 7 September 2012 By the Reverend Frank Chikane
23 The collaboration between the University of the Free State and Kagiso Trust to host the annual Beyers Naudé Memorial Lecture has brought the extraordinary legacy of Beyers Naudé to the heart of the university and to the youth of this province.
funding of the project to R248m over the period.
A performance assessment of these programmes shows that there has been a dramatic improvement in There were also efforts to form the performance of the affected partnerships between all social students and schools where Kagiso partners like Labour, Business, Government and community.
This event has provided a platform for others to make a contribution “as we challenge ourselves to bring to life the values that ‘Oom Bey’ stood for, and has given us an opportunity to learn better ways of working with the community.”
The challenge though, is that many just wanted a settlement to have peace and not to correct the injustices of the past, especially in the economic sphere. Most of business and individuals who have capital to invest in the economy to make a difference, have decided not to be part of this partnership and are therefore not part of the solution to the challenges facing the country. The view of many is that Government alone should deal with challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequalities, but the reality of course is that Government alone cannot resolve these challenges.
The vision of Kagiso Trust is to build collaborative partnerships and sustainable programmes to contribute to the development of a society that offers liberty, justice and freedom from poverty and inequality. The nature of the programmes of Kagiso Trust demonstrates the organisation’s commitment to this strategy. In the education sector, for instance, the key strategic objective of Kagiso Trust is not only to lay out resources to improve the quality of education for needy students and schools but to double the resources by entering into partnership with both Government and the private sector.
country as well as correct the injustices of the past and develop a just, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and equitable society.
Trust is involved. In fact, the general Matriculation results of the Free State province for 2011 showed a substantial improvement and there is no doubt that Kagiso Trust contributed to this success.
The Kagiso Trust approach to partnership for social cohesion has provided a model for resolving To improve the conditions under the political, social and economic which children study in public school challenges that South Africa is as well as develop better systems facing. These challenges continue of managing schools and improving in spite of the great hopes and quality of teaching, Kagiso Trust aspirations for a better life for all entered into partnership with the that accompanied South Africa’s Education Department of the Free transition to democracy in 1994. State Provincial Government on a rand-to-rand basis, committing The foundations of our new society to an investment of R174 million were indeed built on partnership over five years from 2011. The models where whites and blacks Department agreed to match it committed themselves to working rand-to-rand bringing the total together to find peace for the
To achieve a renewed focus on implementing effective and ethical partnerships for social cohesion, we can learn enormously from Beyers Naudé by exploring the cooperative partnerships which he engaged in. We can learn from his struggles to seek God’s will in his life and to find a just peace in terms of the collaborative partnerships he made. When we look at Oom Bey’s life and history, we see that he pursued his objectives by collaborating with a range of players from different backgrounds.
24 Beyers Naudé went through three stages in relation to collaborative partnerships. The first is Collaborative Partnerships within the Volk. The second is Collaborative Partnerships on the Perimeter of the Afrikaner Laager. And, lastly is Collaborative Partnerships in the Wilderness or Outside the Volk. Within the Volk After the Anglo-Boer War, Afrikaners formed structures and institutions of collaborative partnerships for the ‘reconciliation of all Afrikaners in a single brotherhood’ to work for ‘the survival of the Afrikaner’ people in South Africa, and promotion of its interests’. These interests included the Afrikaans language, education, economic empowerment, and so forth. This was to be done at all costs and by all means irrespective of how it affected other South Africans or its neighbours. In our modern language this programme would have been called an ‘Afrikaner Empowerment Programme’ with affirmative action as a major part of the programme. Whereas one would understand why the Afrikaners chose this route, especially following the devastating Anglo-Boer War, the narrow nationalistic interests which, by law, excluded the majority of South Africans, particularly blacks, made their project unsustainable. Indeed it created social cohesion amongst Afrikaners but produced disaffection amongst those who were excluded from the programme. Ethics here did not matter, especially in relation to operation outside the volk. The
overarching principle here was the volk and outside it everything was permissible. This made their system an antithesis to any form of ethics. If the Afrikaner volk had come out of the brutal concentration camps together with blacks who were in the trenches with them and included them in the empowerment programmes against the oppressors , the face of South Africa would have been radically different with high levels of social cohesion based on an ethical platform. The economic trajectory and the quality of life of the majority of the people of South Africa would have been radically different.
entitled Pro Veritate (For the Truth) to reach out to his dominee colleagues within the DRC but that just alienated him even further. This was followed by the establishment of the Christian Institute to lead some of the Afrikaners out of the laager to join hands with other Christians. But this just worsened the situation. Ultimately Oom Bey resigned from the Broederbond - which was unheard of and considered as the ultimate betrayal of the volk. He was also defrocked by his own church.
Although Beyers Naudé kept his methodology of creating collaborative partnerships to reach out to his people, it did not work from outside the laager. Instead The reality unfortunately is those who agreed with him had different. to cross the line of the volk. The effort to build a new centre around On the Perimeter of the Afrikaner which his people could see light Laager collapsed and he found himself in After taking a stand to obey God the wilderness. rather than the volk, Beyers Naudé was convinced that change from In the Wilderness inside was impossible and he then adopted strategies to win the clergy Interestingly the wilderness and lay people from the Dutch experience outside the volk and Reformed Church (DRC) to effect the Afrikaner Bond was the most change. In this regard he started productive time of Oom Bey’s life. Bible Study groups like the Rand He moved from the volk to the Ecumenical Bible Study group ecumenical movement embodied which was a collaborative act. This within the Christian Council of South was an effort to help members of Africa (CCSA) which became the the DRC to see things differently South African Council of Churches from the perspective of the Gospel. (SACC) later. It was dominated by the more liberal English-speaking Unfortunately his support for churches. the Cottesloe Declaration led to his isolation from the volk and What is extraordinary about Beyers many of those who participated in Naudé’s journey is that he moved these Bible Study groups began from conservative politics into the to withdraw. All doors began to radical politics of the victims of the shut Beyers Naudé out. He then apartheid system. introduced a theological journal
25 Within a short space of time the Christian Institute began to look like an organisation on the left of the SACC. SPRO-CAS 1 and SPROCAS 2 which were sponsored jointly by the Christian Institute and the SACC took the Christian Institute to a higher level of understanding of the politics of South Africa and the challenges which were facing the country.
which required him to build bridges between people, build trust and confidence, and find things that will make for peace. The programmes became the first building blocks for social cohesion amongst all South Africans across the colour bar and class differentiation.
Beyers Naudé’s interaction with the African Independent Churches got him to understand better the conditions under which black people were living and the encounter with the Black Consciousness Movement and the Black Theology project radicalised his politics even further. In all these engagements Beyers Naudé used a collaborative approach based on partnerships he developed. SPRO-CAS 1&2 were collaborative programmes which involved many researches and church activists from various denominations (including the DRC) and other programmes the Christian Institute was involved in. The same can be said of the African Independent Churches, the Black Consciousness movement, the Black theology The need for collaborative project, and the wildcat workers partnerships in SA today strike of 1973. The foundation of the new What is significant about these democratic South Africa is built engagements is that they were on the basis of collaborative motivated by a moral and ethical partnerships between blacks and consideration based on a quest for whites to find inclusive solutions justice for all. All were based on to create conditions of peace for Beyers’ understanding of the Gospel all. And these could only be based
on justice. The new Constitution of South Africa was a also a collaborative activity across all political parties and all sectors of the communities. What has failed is collaborative partnership at the level of the economy to correct the injustices of the past and build a new future for all South Africans. The current challenges of poverty, unemployment and the widening gap between the rich and the poor are an indication of the levels of failure of our social partnerships in this regard. Efforts to form a social compact between Government, Business, Labour and community organisations have not succeeded as every partner has pursued its own interests at the expense of the national interests of the poor and unemployed. In my view we need to go back to the drawing board, re-engage with all the social partners, and be ready to make sacrifices to deal with the national challenges that face the people of South Africa. We make a call to all South Africans to rebuild collaborative partnerships across all spheres of life to tackle the challenges we are facing in our society. The legacy of Beyers Naudé can show us the way to a renewed path towards social cohesion and building a nation of ethics.
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Education Conversations: The Role of Unions in Education Transformation
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epresentatives from teachers unions, student groups, civil society, government and the private sector gathered in a forum at the University of Johannesburg recently to examine the contribution that organised labour can make to teacher development and professionalism in South Africa. This was the third in a series of Education Conversations hosted by Kagiso Trust, the University of Johannesburg and City Press newspaper to discuss the complex challenges facing the country’s education system. Seeking to answer the question of whether the unions have responded to the shift in the teaching profession, the forum examined several major concerns, with strong views expressed from the floor as well as from the panel of speakers. Mugwena Maluleke, General Secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), defended his turf, reporting that SADTU is focusing on professionalism and management in schools and is establishing its own institutions for professional development. The union’s declared 2030 vision is to shift its militancy towards
professionalization, he said. He argued that unionisation of teachers is not the root of poor performance in schools and that one needs to address issues of leadership, accountability and parental and community involvement rather than blaming SADTU. “Countries with highly successful education systems, such as Sweden and Singapore, are 100% unionised,” he pointed out. Maluleke called on Kagiso Trust and other civil society stakeholders to partner with SADTU in helping to improve teacher development, helping to expose weak leadership, and also to bring parental influence back into the schools. Themba Kojana, Acting Deputy DirectorGeneral of Teachers, Education Human Resources and Institutional Development at the Department of Basic Education, said that the Department was indeed focusing on improving capacity and professional development. “The Department is building a framework for an integrated strategy for teacher education and development with strong involvement of the unions and stakeholders,” he said.
He welcomed collaboration with the unions on developing a more professional teaching service and acknowledged that unions were adding value via their own institutions for teacher training. The challenge, he said, was to coordinate this engagement to ensure that it cascaded from the top down. Kojana also said that the Department would be introducing an effective performance management system to hold principals, deputies, teachers and administrators accountable for the performance of their schools. Feisty community activist, Nomalanga Mkhize, coordinator of the Save our Schools and Community initiative in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, said that there is a disconnect between unions and government which is crippling decisionmaking at schools. While unity is declared at the top levels of union and education structures, local and district level education is riven by divided loyalties and a poor understanding of correct processes and procedures.
27 She cited the example of a formerly excellent school that is now close to collapse with only 70 of its 500 pupils still attending the school, where the principal is strongly resisting efforts to close the school down and where neither the local union leaders nor the local education authorities have the political will to resolve the situation. Mkhize has, in some cases, observed elements of distrust and resentment amongst teachers towards communities and parents who want to be more involved in supporting their children’s schools. She suggested that this mindset is rooted in the power of union officials at the local and micro level. “The tendency of unionists to accrue political power within their communities is undermining what they are trying to achieve for teachers,” she said. While she supported the role of the unions to improve employment conditions for teachers, Mkhize called on SADTU to
give more attention to upholding norms and standards in education. Amongst the concerns raised by delegates at the forum were the views that the unions are still too focused on their members rather than on the interests of the learners. Kgotso Schoeman, CEO of Kagiso Trust questioned whether SADTU ever considered a response to the poor matric results at every year end.
“It is indeed this awareness that the Education Conversations aim at,” said Linda Vilakazi-Tselane from UJ. “This forum has provided a constructive platform for sharing views and for starting the process of honest and positive stakeholder engagement and cooperation. It is a process that must underpin the transformation of education in our country,” she said.
Other concerns were voiced about the need to raise standards, while at the same time getting back to basics. Both government and SADTU were called upon to be more robust in holding each other accountable in the challenge to improve performance in schools.
The conversation may have drawn attention to the fact that there is no simple answer to a complex set of questions. Nevertheless, the outcome was a hopeful one of honest and open engagement and a willingness to work together to tackle uncomfortable issues.
While the conversation raised more questions than answers, there was consensus that the challenges are many and complex. “Let’s not thumbsuck solutions – let’s research deep,” concluded Maluleke.
All dialogue results are being compiled to a report which will be delivered to Government.
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The NASGB National Consultative Conference School governance conference to ignite parental involvement in schools
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schooling is in trouble in South Africa and they are also a stark reminder that it is not just the public school system that is at fault. Parents have a strong responsibility for what happens in their children’s schools. Worldwide their involvement is a marked feature of economically The highest scoring province was successful and developed societies, Western Cape with 67%. This and research consistently shows was reported by the Honourable that parental involvement in Minister for Basic Education, children’s education has a positive Angie Motshekga, at a national impact on learner achievement. consultative conference on school governance held in Braamfontein While government has long in Johannesburg on the 2nd to the recognised that we need our nation’s parents to support their 4th of November 2012. schools and has made it mandatory These figures provide a vivid that SGBs should comprise at least measure of the extent to which 50% of parent representation (SA ess than half of South Africa’s public schools had effective school governing bodies (SGBs) in 2011. Lowest was the Free State with 34% and next up was the Eastern Cape with 41%.
Schools Act of 1996), securing that level of involvement is difficult to achieve when the majority of parents are challenged by severe socio-economic deprivation. The solution is not to make excuses for why we have so many absent parents, but to find ways to ignite a social movement towards greater parental and community support for education in South Africa. This is the overriding view of the hosts of the conference, the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) and the Kagiso Trust, which has been working in community development for more than 25 years in South Africa.
29 The core focus of the Department of Basic Education (DBE), says Motshega, is on improving learner performance. This certainly applies to all activism in education, no matter who the stakeholders are or what interventions they are implementing. But Kagiso Trust and the NASGB are more than just interested in which approaches are working best; they are convinced that as a country we need a much more collaborative and coordinated effort to ensure that the programmes and policies that are indeed working are spread far and wide to the marginalised communities where support is most needed. And they believe that effective school governance is a primary vehicle for driving this movement.
implement a daily study routine – here PICs can make a critical contribution. PICs can also very effectively represent the parent body on issues of learner discipline, substance abuse, sexual abuse and more, and ensure that parents get involved in other campaigns and programmes at their children’s school.
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In essence, the NASGB hopes to establish a wider network of leadership that could effectively and very quickly turn around the mindset of disengaged parents and bring about a culture of involvement in a school. Parents are strongly influenced by their peer group, as every active PTA mom knows. The NASGB understands very well that when class parents are given a platform to speak to each “School governance is crucial in other, they can move mountains. determining the future of education This is the kind of energy that the in the country,” said NASGB acting NASGB aims at harnessing in general secretary, Mr. Matakanye underperforming schools. Matakanye, when he addressed the conference. “A more rounded approach to school governance, The solution is not to make particularly parental involvement, excuses for why we have so is key to ensuring a better quality of many absent parents, but to education for learners and a level find ways to ignite a social of guidance that will give learners movement towards greater that much needed edge.” To this end the NASGB has been campaigning for the establishment of Parental Involvement Committees (PICs) headed by a member of the SGB, with two parents per class elected to these committees to work closely with class teachers, subject teachers, heads of department and class parents to encourage maximum parental involvement in the education of each child. For example, in many communities parents need to be educated about how to supervise homework or
programme, along with an inspiring growth in accountability and commitment from all participants, as well as huge advances in teacher morale. Now Kagiso Trust aims at collaborating with the NASGB and the DBE to extend its approach to school governance throughout South Africa. “We need the parents to get involved,” said Kgotso Schoeman, CEO of Kagiso Trust, while addressing the conference. “And since so many parents are inhibited by the circumstances of their lives, and even intimidated by a system that they themselves perhaps poorly understand, as stakeholders, let’s come together and show leadership – let’s find a way to encourage parents to come forward and show them that they have a role to play in providing a quality education for their children,” he said.
Much of the conference focused on building capacity for the NASGB. No matter how noble the aspirations of an organisation, the structural foundations must be laid to ensure that it can achieve its goals. The outcomes of the National Consultative Conference parental and community on School Governance, attended by support for education in South delegates from every province in South Africa, focused on measures Africa to strengthen the capacity of the NASGB to fulfil its function Kagiso Trust heads up a very as a vanguard of improving the successful holistic intervention schooling of the nation’s children. in selected schools in its flagship Beyers Naudé Schools Most significant is that NASGB Development Programme, with regional branches will be training in school governance one established in preparation for the of the pillars of the programme. next conference in June 2013. The The Trust has seen matric pass network of influence will be spread, rates soar in these schools over the and Kagiso Trust will be supporting past six years since the start of the this movement all the way.
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NASGB National Consultative Conference: Redeeming SA’s Education System There are a number of players in South Africa’s education system, some of which include the government, service providers, non-profit organisations (NPOs), the schools, the parents, the learners and the school governing body (SGB). 2012 has been a year plagued with unsavoury news on our education system in the media and beyond: the Limpopo book saga, the exposure of our country’s low quality of education compared to the international community and more. Many parents have lost faith in our public education system and opt to send their children to private institutions where they are ‘guaranteed’ quality education.
Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, spoke enthusiastically on the importance of quality education being present early in a child’s life: “If we can’t get the foundation phase right then we can’t have quality education… Parents must be the inspectors on a daily basis,” urged the Minister. The role of parent involvement in education was one that garnered much support from the attendees. As the Minister continued, parents and communities should ensure that “books and reading are a culture. We must instil the love of books in children while they are still young.”
After the Minister’s speech, the passionate attendees broke into song and dance:
Imfundo yabantwana bethu/ Sizabalazelela imfundo (Our children’s education/ We’re fighting for education) With this simple song, there was a sense of unity as the crowd rallied behind quality education for our children. And one of the structures that can ensure that schools perform at the expected standards is
that of the SBGs. As the conference progressed, it was evident that a large numbers of members felt that SGBs across the country are not fulfilling their roles; misdemeanours and misappropriation of funds being rife. NASGB Acting Secretary, Mr Matakanye Matakanye, spoke at length about the organisation and what it should be doing. The fundamental role of the school governing body was emphasised; they are tasked with ensuring that the school runs smoothly and efficiently.
31 As Kagiso Trust CEO Kgotso Schoeman put it, if SGB members did not have the interests of the learners at heart, they should rather resign from their positions and allow those that are committed to education to take up the position. A number of resolutions were drafted and on the final day of the conference they were presented. Some of the resolutions that stood out included the following: - the organization needs to develop Leadership Developmental Programmes for its members; - the organization must profile and engage on advocacy programmes including establishing relationships with the media to promote the roles of the SGB as well as the NASGB in education;
Mr Sizwe Nxasana, CEO FirstRand
- SGBs to recommend and ensure the appointment of qualified teachers and principals and follow up; - the organization must facilitate capacitation of all parents and have broader meetings in their communities; - the organization to have learner discipline and code of conduct in place in all schools; - the organization must engage all civil society organs, CBO’s, traditional leaders, religious leaders and education experts in education of community’s children. As the conference drew to a close it was clear that government was not alone in its plan to redeem our education system. The NASGB had clear goals and knew that their role in South Africa’s education system was much more than that; it was one that would affect what kind of country we will live in five, ten, twenty, a hundred years from now.
Dean Zwo Nevhutalu, Kagiso Trust Chairman
And, to paraphrase on what Minister Motshekga had said, the quality of education in South Africa depends on the solid and consistent education that our children receive from foundation right through to tertiary levels.
Mr Matakanye Matakanye, NASGB Acting General Secretary
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The Gariep Project: A Municipality under Transformation Most of South Africa’s municipalities are notorious for being unorganized, a pain to deal with and dishing out inaccurate bills. As much of a frustration this is to the man on the street, the problem of municipalities not operating efficiently and effectively is one that inconveniences all parties concerned. The role of Kagiso Trust Consultancy (KTC) is to assist local municipalities in developing accurate and effective strategies that will work for that particular municipality. KTC is currently working with the Gariep Municipality, which includes the Burgersdorp, Steynsburg, Venterstad and Oviston towns. Like many a municipalities, and despite the smaller population size of 31,305 people, Gariep has its own challenges. Before KTC stepped in, the Gariep municipality was using ineffectual system conversion software called SEBATA. SEBATA, having taken over from DATA M, “a dysfunctional system” as Paul Smith of KTC put it, did not do much to improve
the state of financial and organisational affairs within the Gariep municipality. The SEBATA software was unable to extract data records from DATA M, inaccurate debt prevailed, poor customer data continued, months went by with incorrect billing and meter readings were not converted. These are just some of the challenges that existed in the Gariep municipality. As a result, the first thing that KTC did was to install Kagiso Data Optimisation System (KDOS) software that would capture and improve the data and its management. With the software installed, information had to be captured and this presented another challenge because, as mentioned, data was inaccurate, meters were not being read, and so forth. So the process of gathering this information had to begin and Mr Smith shared that what they encountered during one of their visits was shocking. “We found that
a lot of the meters had not been read in months and this was obvious because the meters were covered in dirt, some in water and others had grass growing over them,” he shared. “When meters are not being read it means that those people who are meant to pay do not do so because they are not being billed,” continued Mr Smith. “And this is a contributor to increased debt in municipalities.” The large amount of debt that existed in the Gariep municipality was to be drastically reduced through KTC’s involvement. Mr Smith explained that the most important thing the municipality had to look at and record accurately was its customer base and who should be classified as indigents (people who cannot afford to pay their bills). With regards to the indigents, a national and municipal subsidy was implemented and their debt was then written off.
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to pay their bills, accurate information was then available for the municipality to rightfully bill them and for those with significant debt (which KTC had identified), debt collection was organized and/or other ways found to resolve the debt. By simply having a programme that works effectively and accurately in gathering and capturing information, the Gariep municipality has been able to reduce its debt through writing off indigents’ debt and practicing debt collection, and increase its revenue through proper meter checks and billings. But the municipality still has a long way to go. Mr Smith shared that KTC has a 3 year plan for the municipality: -
- Work flows and business processes - Money generating aspect of the business: credit control, debt management and debt collection - Indigent management and registration - -
Service delivery efficiencies Clean audit
The Gariep municipality, with around 60% of its population categorised as ‘poor’ had accumulated a debt of R2.7 million and with the assistance of the Eastern Cape government and the Joe Start with data purification and Gqabi district municipality, the debt was billing integrity paid on the 5th of November, 2012.
“Together with the provincial Treasury, Local Government Association and the Joe Gqabi district municipality, we have decided to provide hands-on support to aid Gariep to better attend to their administrative and financial challenges,” said Eastern Cape local government MEC, Mlibo Qoboshiyane (from News24. com). Mr Smith also stressed other challenges that still lie ahead, such as shortage of staff, poor service delivery, etc. but because of the municipality’s cooperation and support, he is confident that the Gariep municipality will be transformed into the type of municipality which all South Africans deserve: one which is self-sufficient and effective.
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A Reason to Wake Up in the Morning: The EMSP Annual Workshop What gets you out of bed in the morning? This was a question posed by Kagiso Trust COO Themba Mola to students at the EMSP Annual Workshop On the morning of Friday 19 October 2012, Kagiso Trust (KT) staff and the Eric Molobi Scholarship Programme (EMSP) recipients gathered at the Kagiso Tiso Holdings (KTH) offices to hold their annual workshop. After welcoming the students and having the ‘serious’ setup of chairs originally set up in straight rows altered into an ‘intimate’ semicircle, Themba Mola, Kagiso Trust COO, listened intently as the students shared what it is that drives them. Mola mentioned the importance of making the right choices and the students were at ease and relaxed as they shared their motivations. During the exercise, the students were also given the opportunity to get to know each other on a more personal level
and as each student spoke, it became palpable that they had a lot of things in common, and completing their studies was not a matter to be taken lightly. I had the opportunity to speak to two delightful students: Nothile Jiyane and Cebolenkosi Khumalo. 20 yearold Cebolenkosi already displays the makings of a good leader: speaking on behalf of the EMSP students during the Bold Step Challenge with KTH staff, he spoke confidently and naturally. To my relief, he did not use any notes, a tool that sometimes causes one’s speech to appear impersonal. “The EMSP’s vision is to create a viable, vibrant network of young business and science leaders who will support and inspire each other to be the vocal and
social conscience in their chosen fields,” shared Maria Mokae who oversees the programme at Kagiso Trust. Upon sitting down for a chat with Nothile and Cebo, the students easily opened up and spoke passionately about their chosen career paths and the impact their success would have on their communities. “I’d always wanted to do engineering, because it has more opportunities” shared Cebo. “And then I decided to do mechanical engineering because it has more opportunities.” Nothile, who initially wanted to become an economist while in high school, realized that this would not be the wisest choice,
36 “I was not good at economics; statistics was not my thing.” Once these students, who had been the cream of the crop back home entered the tertiary environment, reality hit hard. “I was an outstanding learner in high school and when I got to varsity, I realised that there is a whole lot more competition,” mused Nothile, who hails from KwaNdebele in Mpumalanga. For Cebo, university life has broadened his outlook on life, “A lot of things have changed, even the way I look at things. Kagiso Trust has helped me a lot; I now see the brighter side of my future.” The EMSP is currently funding 46 students. Most of the EMSP students come from the Free State, KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. 10 students have graduated and 7 students are currently employed. Mama Maria, as she is affectionately called by the students, informed InBrief that Kagiso Trust offers the students support in various ways. “When there is any problem, the students know to just pick up the phone and call me,” she said. “KT provides a laptop for each new student to enable them to submit typed assessments. Due to the rapid increase of technology utilization, it is imperative for each scholar to be computer literate.” The EMSP is a full scholarship; the students do not pay for their tuition, books, accommodation or food and they are also given monthly pocket money. But, as Nothile shared, “I have come to learn that Kagiso is not just about the economic side of things, they are involved in our lives.” Nothile continued, “Last year I lost my mother and Kagiso Trust was there for me during that hard time. These students, most of who come from impoverished backgrounds, know that through working hard and graduating, they have the power to make a difference in their families and communities. “My studies have been going very well,” reflected Cebo, “I have never failed a subject. I pass only with flying colours! When you are an EMSP beneficiary, you have a list and you mark off the do’s and don’ts. When you have a bursary, you always try and do right so that you do not let down those who have opened the doors for you.” With most bursaries and scholarships,
if a student does not do well in their studies, they have the bursary revoked, and usually, the students will have to repay those sponsors. Mama Maria shared that the EMSP is different to other scholarships, “EMSP gives its beneficiaries a second chance when they have underperformed.” A number of factors are involved in why students underperform and by giving the students a second chance, KT ensures that those factors and/or issues are addressed and the students are then able to move on and still have the opportunity of realising their dreams.” The EMSP selects its beneficiaries from the selected Beyers Naude Schools Development Programme (BNSDP) rural high schools. “We send application forms to the high schools and the schools choose their ‘A’ list students,” Mama Maria explained. “A lot of these scholars are very disadvantaged and/ or orphaned. To qualify with the EMSP, the scholars must at least obtain 60% on pure Maths, Physical Science, English and Accounting for those students wishing to study Commerce. The bursary covers everything that has to do with the students’ tertiary education. Excluded are clothing, travelling expenses to and from home and medical expenses.” Linda Ntuli, a motivational speaker with interests in education, spent some time talking to the students during the workshop. He encouraged the students to study hard with their goal always in mind. “It does not matter how you start, it’s about how you finish,” he said with his arms flying enthusiastically in front of him. Speaking of the students’ rough background, he urged them to “not let the pain of your past punish your present and paralyze your future.” The students listened attentively as Ntuli shared tips on tackling the exam paper, including the importance of “putting your 4 walls around you. Focus on your paper and not at anybody or anything else.” Each student received Ntuli’s book Sacrifice for Greatness and his DVD. This marked the end of the workshop and the students wasted no time getting to know the each other. Reviewing the reasons the students had stated at the beginning of the workshop and seeing how they appeared motivated
and ready for anything that life would throw at them, the EMSP had indeed given these young adults an opportunity that would empower them, impact their communities and benefit the country at large. Since Mr Mola had asked the students what gets them out of bed every morning, it seemed only fair that he, too, should share. “Bad dreams? Just joking. I am inspired by the honour and the privilege for me to make a humble ‘very small contribution’ in the fight against any form of discrimination. My background and the reason why I was ‘literally invited’ to work for Kagiso Trust in 1994 was because of my convictions of justice and freedom. KT is a continuation of my struggle, ‘my dream.’”
“Kagiso Trust has helped me a lot; I now see the brighter side of my future.”