Ee june 2015 english digital

JUNE 2015 B

Official magazine Of equal educatiOn

free copy

•onschoolgoverningbodies• isTherighTToProTesTUnderATTAcK?•TeAchingAndleArning–PrimaryschoolsinsA•ThecosToFedUcATion

the fix our schools campaign continues

A THE EQUALIZER

conTenTsThecosToFedUcATion Rises double that of inflation

TeAchingAndleArning Primary Schools in South Africa

sPeechbybonginKosiMAnAse

isTherighTToProTesTUnderATTAcK?

onsgbsPromoting the quality of education for all learners

TheFixoUrschoolscAMPAignconTinUes:Reflections from Equal Education’s Eastern Cape Office

booKrevieWAfrika My Music

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MysTory: this section features the stories of the lives of Parent Organizers at EE’s Community Department

8.dAPhneA rose that grew from concrete

16.AndisWA“MAA”KolAnisiMy long distance race to Education

28.PATricKrAlehoKoMy life, My Greatest inspiration

32.WiseMAn:A Shepherd’s Memoire

38

Julian Goldswain PhotoGraPhy©

Photo: daniel linde

JUne/JUly20151

ediToriAlnoTe

it is with great honour and pleasure that I present to you this year’s first issue of The Equalizer magazine.

Since the inception of this Magazine, our main focus has always been on reaching out to our young learners, activists and the Equalisers. As a youth movement, Equal Education is spearheaded by young people to fight for human dignity, equality and quality education in South Africa.

This issue looks into the involvement of the parents who work as Parent Organisers at EE’s Community Department. It looks at their lives, how they as ordinary women and men, managed to bring meaningful contributions to the building and expansion of the work EE does in our communities. By looking at them as parents, we present to you a reflection of parents from our communities and their importance to our struggle for equal education.

We hope to keep your attention intact with our stories, while your readiness to learn, share and engage remains stimulated by

our discussions on School Governing Bodies and their value to our schools.

EE has been extremely busy with its campaigns since the beginning of this year, and we wanted to capture these activities, so that you may be empowered by the protests to Parliament and to the Departments of Education. An outcome of this, which indeed takes us forward in our movement, is that the Norms and Standards Implementation Plans have been released.

We would like to thank all our contributors for making these stories and discussions available to our readers. More especially the parents, who volunteered for their personal lives to be an inspiration for the vast numbers of learners, youth, activists, and mostly parents in and outside of South Africa.

Enjoy!Dumisa Mbuwa

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the cost of education rose by 9.3% in March compared to March last year. This is 5.3% higher than the headline infla-

tion figure of 4% year-on-year for the same month, according to the statistics SA data.

The data was based on fees charged by schools and tertiary institutions. Education inflation consistently outstripped inflation, said statistics SA. It said: “South African households will have to make more room in their budgets to pay for rising tuition fees.”

Old Mutual estimated that if a child started Grade R this year, a complete education — including primary school, high school and three years of university — would cost just less than R1m for public school tuition or

WORRYING StatIStIcS Sa fIGuReS ON the cOSt Of educatION INdIcate cONSumeRS WhO have chIldReN WIll cOme uNdeR fINaNcIal pReSSuRe.

cost of education rises double that of inflation

By NTSAKISI MASWANGANyI ,

(originally published in Business Day).

R2.2m for private school tuition (in nomi-nal terms).

Statistics SA acknowledged — as has been said by unions calling for free tertiary edu-cation — that rising costs were a barrier to education.

The agency’s latest General Household Sur-vey shows that 33% of individuals up to the age of 24 cited a lack of money as the reason for not attending an educational institution.

Broken down by province, the figure was 45% in KwaZulu-Natal and as low as 21% in the Western Cape. Although the Northern Cape exhibited a 59% increase in educa-tion costs between 2010 and this year, only 22% of those aged 5–24 indicated a lack of money as a barrier to education.

The weak rand was identified as a factor that increased the cost of imported books and materials.

Statistics SA’s report on the financial status of higher education institutions showed expenses increased 12% in 2013 compared with 2012, increasing from R41.4bn to R46.2bn.

JUne/JUly20153

an eye-opening report by the National Education Evalua-tion and Development Unit (NEEDU) – which was com-

pleted in 2013 but not disseminated by the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Mot-shekga – has been taken up by the press. The Mail & Guardian (M&G) reported on “rampant cronyism, union meddling and teacher appointments that ignore policy”, brought to light by the NEEDU report, and supported by independent sources.

It is disappointing that Minister Motshekga did not make the 2013 NEEDU report pub-lic, given its important findings. The M&G’s source indicated that the DBE has “actively prevented the report from being released because of how damning it is””. EE has raised concern about the Minister’s sweep-ing power over NEEDU from the outset.

Primary SchOOlS in SOuth africaBy WIM LouW

BackGROuNdThe National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (NEEDU) is a unit within the Department of Basic Education (DBE), and it reports directly to the Minister. It was established shortly after Minister Motshe-ga was appointed, following the general election of 2009.

NEEDU assesses how well schools, circuits, districts, and provinces are performing with regard to the DBEs directives (i.e. the match between policy and practice); it identifies problems in implementation; and it proposes recommendations. Its job is to “provide the Minister of Education with an authoritative, analytical and ac-curate account on the state of schools in South Africa and, in particular, on the sta-tus of teaching and learning.”

NEEDU investigators seek to evaluate (1) the ‘quality of teaching and learning’ (spe-cifically the ‘direct outcomes of learning’, i.e. learner performance on tests) and (2) the quality of ‘instructional leadership’ in the system (i.e. how well management pro-cesses are being implemented).

NEEDU relies on qualitative research which involves extensive (systematic and a few semi-systematic) interviews with role players at each level (teachers, principals, Heads of Department, Circuit and District Heads, etc.), as well as physically looking at learner workbooks and conducting tests, observing classroom activities, and look-ing at official reports/documents.

NEEDU has developed an evaluation mod-el where performance in each outcome

Teaching and Learning:

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category is scored against a list of indica-tors for ‘quality’ (for instance, an indicator of ‘reading’ is the reading fluency of students; the distribution of curriculum documents (CAPS documents) is one indicator for curriculum implementation, etc.). School reports are created for each individual school, then, for each district, these reports are consolidated into district reports, and, finally, the national report consolidates all the district reports.

What haS Needu fOuNd?South African primary schools are failing to equip learners with basic literacy and numeracy skills. A finding also highlighted in the National School Effectiveness Study (2011).

The report issued by NEEDU in 2012 (which assessed the Foundational Phase in urban areas) and the NEEDU report of 2013 (which assessed the Intermediate Phase in rural areas) both found that basic liter-acy and numeracy skills if South African learners are well below curriculum spec-ifications. Rural schools – which the 2013 Report speaks to – are less resourced and more remote, and are most affected by the deficiencies in the education system.

NEEDU 2012 looked at 134 primary schools and their respective district and provincial offices predominately from areas with high population inflow (urban areas). In the 2012 report, NEEDU focused on the foun-dational phase.

NEEDU 2013 looked at 219 ‘rural’ primary schools (99 ‘mono-grade’ and 120 ‘multi-grade’ schools). In the 2013 report, NEEDU focused on the intermediate phase.

FET and Senior phases (2014), and Grade R and Special Education Needs Schools (LSEN) were scheduled for investigation in 2014 and 2015 respectively. EE is not aware of the status of these reports.

The NEEDU reports find that, while instruc-

tional leadership and teaching and learn-ing go hand in hand, it is worth keeping in mind that although good leadership helps teachers to work optimally – by ensuring proper accountability structures and the provision and management of resources – it can only do so much. The quality of class-room interactions and learning progress is still very much a function of good teaching – which is a question of training and devel-opment, but also the availability and distri-bution of good teachers.

While the NEEDU reports draw attention to a lot of very bad teaching practices, it also draws attention to a number of instances where strong teachers and principals are able to make all the difference in dysfunc-tional schools.

In terms of teaching and learning the NEE-DU 2012 report (which focused on the foundational phase in urban areas) identi-fied some of the following problems: • Reading and writing is not pushed

hard enough by teachers (formally and recreationally);

• Most of the best students failed to read at the adequate level;

• Numeracy was not given the system-atic treatment it requires – teachers often relied on poorly designed work-sheets;

• In some instances the resources pro-vided by the DBE were underused;

• Teacher training programs were re-garded as ineffective and an addition-al waste of time;

• Teacher in-service training is seen as failing to develop teachers for teach-ing, even creating perverse incentives where some teachers are incentivized to take easy courses in order to jump a salary bracket – since teacher apprais-als are linked to salaries and promo-tions;

• Pre-service training is seen as failing to produce skilled teachers, particu-larly in subject like science and math-ematics.

The 2013 NEEDU report (which focused on ‘rural’ areas) made similar observations, in-cluding: • Time management was found to not

be good enough: Teachers spent too much time marking and doing admin-istration work during school hours, for example;

• Reading with comprehension was not pushed hard enough;

• Writing was not pushed hard enough.

NEEDU 2013 also found that in multi-grade schools (where students of different grade level are taught in the same class) most teachers failed to differentiate teaching – “most teachers observed made no attempt to provide different learning experienc-es, appropriate to each of the respective grade levels…”

Across all schools, very little independent reading or writing was seen in most of the classes; pacing was much too slow; oral reading fluency is a “blind spot” according to the report (in SA generally, but in rural schools particularly); workbooks were un-der-utilized.

The 2013 NEEDU report identifies a lack of sufficiently qualified teaching staff as one of the main issues in rural areas. Schools in rural areas fail to attract good teachers. In rural areas you have many more schools, distributed over larger areas, and much fewer learners per school. Teachers in rural areas end up being much more expensive for three reasons: they are older, higher salaries are needed to attract teachers to rural areas, and due to small classes the relative cost per-child is higher. Despite these higher costs the content knowledge of rural teachers is far below that of urban teachers.An appropriate balance must be struck between employing teachers, on the one hand, and technical and administrative support staff, on the other – this ratio is very uneven in South Africa. In addition, it would appear that in rural provinces too much of the provincial budget goes to sal-aries, which affects how much money can be spent on other resources.

ReadING aNd WRItING IS NOt puShed haRd eNOuGh BY teacheRS – fORmallY aNd RecReatIONallY

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JUne20155

2012

2013

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everyday!

poor children who qualify for scholar transport but not transported

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infoGraPhic by louise louw

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I am a student from the historical FORBES GRANT SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL in the Eastern Cape. Forbes Grant was founded in 1941. It has been the breeding ground for many historical icons in South Africa like Steve Tswethe, Victoria Mxenge and, my personal hero, Steve Bantu Biko.

In 1976 the community came together and managed to get a fence built around the school. That fence is the last structural change at Forbes Grant. From 1976 to 2015, no main-tenance has been done on the school. If you count, that is exactly 39 years! I don’t think you can consider it a school anymore – it is better suited to be a chicken shelter.

How can we be expected to learn, to dream, to become future leaders if we are met by thugs with knives at the gates of the school?! They take our cell phones and demand our money. The teachers can’t protect us. COMRADES our school infrastructure is taken for granted.As I mentioned, the late Steven Tswethe at-tended at Forbes Grant SSS. In fact, the build-

speech by bonginkosi

manase ON the eaSteRN cape’S maRch fOR the

ImplemeNtatION Of NORmS & StaNdaRdS fOR SchOOl

INfRaStRuctuRe, 1-3 apRIl 2015

I Greet you all COMRADES My name is BONGINKOSI MANASE . . .

JUne/JUly20157

Photo: daniel linde

above: bonginkosi speaking

ing that houses the Eastern Cape Department of Education is named after him. I must say that their building is very nice and that they have a great fence. I wonder what the late Mr STEVE TSHWETE could say if he saw the conditions of his old school. I wonder what he would say if he knew that the building that uses his name, is failing us. He would be deeply hurt and saddened by the state of the school if he were alive today.

There is a quote that I like by Nelson Mande-la, and it says ‘’It is through education that a daughter of a peasant can become a doctor”.It should not make any difference if you are rich or poor, if you are from a city or a village or a township. Everyone has the right to a good education. It is part of our freedom.

Why are we Equalisers? We are Equalisers be-cause we want to finish what had been start-ed by those Icons. Those icons were fighting for the education that we are still fighting for. FORBES GRANT is not just fighting for its own. It is fighting for other schools too, such as our comrades at Imiqhayi, Qonce, Bisho High, Mbulelo Benekani, Hector Peterson, Breid-bach, Vukile Tshwete and all the other schools

from around the Eastern Cape that are here today. The reason that we are part of Equal Education is that we want to fight for equality and quality in our education.

We are here today to demand that the Minis-ter Mama Angie Motshekga releases the plans for the norms and standards for school infra-

manding the plans. We did not get them. Min-ister Motshekga did not release the plans. She called us “attention seekers”. We said yes, Minis-ter Motshekga, we are seeking your attention. We want you to give attention to our schools, because they are not safe. We want you to give attention to our conditions, because they are not suited for learning. When we picketed here, we asked to see the MEC for Education, Mandla Makupula, but he did not come to address us. Today, again we as EE have asked for the MEC to be here to receive our memorandum. But again he is not here. MEC, we are seeking your attention!

As Equal Education members we will continue to mobilise and fight for our rights. We will not rest until the norms and standards have been fully implemented, and every school has every-thing that it learners need to prosper.

FORWARD TO QUALITY EDUCATIONVIVA EQUAL EDUCATION VIVA

It IS thROuGh educatION

that a dauGhteR Of a peaSaNt caN

BecOme a dOctOR

structure. We want to know Minister, how will you fix our schools? We campaigned for many years as Equal Education to make sure that this law for school infrastructure was created. Now we want to see it in action.

We were here at this building on 1 April. We as Equalisers slept outside this building de-

Nelson Mandela

8TheeQUAliZer

a ROSe that GReW fROm cONcReteBy DAphNe eroSI

daphne,

my StOry:

JUne/JUly20159

a ROSe that GReW fROm cONcRete

i was born in 1963 in Cape Town, but because my mother was working, I had no one to look after me, so she had to take me down to her family

in Aliwal North. My grandmother was the one taking care of me. In 1970, I started schooling in Maletswai Lower Primary School. I was about seven years old and I remember going to school untidy. My grandmother was too old to wake up early in the morning and to help me get ready for school. I had to do everything myself; wash myself, prepare breakfast and get dressed. I remember having to wash myself under a cold running tap.

In 1974, after passing my Standard 2 (Grade 4), I went to higher primary. My aunt arrived from Bloemfontein and took over from my grandmother. She taught me to wash myself properly and to wash my socks. She would wake up early and make me something to eat before I went to school. I had a new uniform and took pride in my appearance. I now started to realize the purpose of going to school and started having dreams for the future. When coming from school, I had to wash the dishes, clean the house, wash my socks and polish my school shoes before eating. My life continued in this sort of routine until I passed my Standard 6 (Grade 8) in 1977.


8TheeQUAliZer

For two years my life was miserable. It was in 1978 and 1979. I was doing Standard 7 (Grade 9) and 8 (Grade 10) but something exciting happened on the 20th of December that same year. I was invited to a party by a friend. I happened to meet a handsome guy whom I immediately fell in love with. He took my breath away! From that night on, we were inseparable. We did everything together like a married couple. In March 1980, my aunt took me to a small town called Lady Grey. It later came to light that she had brought me there to take care of a six month old baby. She did not even ask me how I felt about it and I was also not allowed to ask questions or say what I think. I stayed in Lady Grey for two years (1980 and 1981). I was not happy but I had to make peace with what was happening. I cried all the time but there was no way I could go back to Aliwal North.

In 1982, I decided to go back to Cape Town where my mother was. Although I was not used to staying with her, I was going to have to make the best of it. I had R200.00 in my pocket but back then it was more than enough and I went ahead with my journey to Cape Town. When I arrived in Cape Town, there was nothing much I could do

with Standard 8 (Grade 10). I found work as a domestic worker; studying further was not on my cards then. I was in and out of relationships until I was saved by the arrival of my boyfriend from Aliwal North. It was in 1983 in winter when my boyfriend from Aliwal North arrived. He did not know Cape Town and was lucky enough to meet one

of my cousins who showed him where I was staying. I was very excited! My mother never liked him, from the first day she met him. I decided to go and stay with my boyfriend in Newlands. I never thought about the people I was hurting along the way because of my decisions, especially my mother.

below left: talking family, children and life with dear friend sara. below: leaving work early to attend a class

10TheeQUAliZer



deceMber20149

Soon after we were living together, my boyfriend became aggressive and controlling. He started calling me names but I could not tell anyone because I had made my choice. He left in 1988 for Aliwal North and in 1990 I went back home and apologised to my family. I was unable to find another job and decided to stay at home. In 1997 my mother begged me to go back to school. This time I listened to her advice and decided to go back to school the following year. I registered for Standard 9 (Grade 11) at Chris Hani in (Makhaza). During my matric year, my ex-boyfriend came back to Cape Town. He promised me that he would never hurt me because he loved me so much and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I did not hesitate to welcome him back into my life.

On the 2nd July 1999, we got married in Mitchells Plain regardless of what my family thought. My mother was very angry when I agreed to marry him. She was torn apart for a while and warned me about the dangers

of finding myself in an unplanned future. After one year, my husband turned into someone I did not recognize, he changed so drastically. In 2001, he impregnated his female colleague. To make up for his

was driving. To save myself, I opened the door of the moving car and rolled out onto the tarred road and fell into a small hole. I survived that too. In 2003 I discovered that he had impregnated another woman. When my friend told me about this I went cold and numb. I had already suffered from miscarriages, I had almost been killed by this man and he didn’t care. The pain I felt was like having a needle go through your heart.

In June 2005, I lost it when I was just sitting and thinking about where my life was going. I made up my mind that I would leave him for good. I went to see my family and explained everything that had happened. The following week I went to Plain Street to file for divorce. I was a plaintiff not a defendant because I could see the love he had for me had long gone. On the 19th of September 2005, I was granted a decree of divorce; I had claimed my freedom back.

From 2006 – 2007, I stayed at home and really went through a struggle of letting go

I RememBeR GOING tO SchOOl uNtIdY. mY GRaNdmOtheR WaS tOO Old tO

Wake up eaRlY IN the mORNING aNd tO

help me Get ReadY fOR SchOOl.

mistakes, he let me go and study at a nearby College. Another big blow came in 2002 when I found myself lying in a hole on the side of the road. We had been driving one Saturday night and started fighting in the car. He started beating me while he

far left: Just hanging. above: its lunch hour, getting something to eat. above right: Giving assistance to cl, ayanda; catching up with varsity work next page: leaving work early to attend a class

JUne/JUly201511

Julian Goldswain PhotoGraPhy© Julian Goldswain PhotoGraPhy©


12TheeQUAliZer

of my marriage. I became lonely, miserable and I would sometimes call my ex-husband and cry. At some point I got tired of sitting at home and a friend of my mother helped me get a job in Welgemoed as a domestic worker again. It was different this time because I had my life back. The couple I was working for decided to take me to an Infant Stimulation Course for Moms and Babies after noticing that their new born was comfortable and safe with me. The course taught me a lot about how to take care of babies and received my Certificate in May 2008.

After some time, I felt I did not belong there but somewhere else. In December 2008, I took the bold decision to quit my job. I stayed at home again from 2008 until 2011. I remained active in my own way because I would sit with married women, single mothers and grannies and share the story of my abusive relationship. I later joined a movement called ”Prevention in Action” – a movement that raises awareness about violence against women and children and how it should never be tolerated in our homes.

In November 2011, I joined Equal Education – a movement striving for quality and

equality education in South Africa through activism and advocacy. I was attending a parents meeting at Matthew Goniwe high School when one of the parent organisers from Equal Education presented the work they do at EE (as it is called) and I gave the organiser my contact details. In January

In 2013, I was hired as a part time parent organiser at EE. In 2014, I became a full time parent organiser. Equal Education works with many organisations. To name a few: Social Justice Coalition (SJC), Ndifun’ukwazi (NU), Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), and many more others. We work with various Community Structures. I am also a secretary at Crime Against Women and Children Sub Forum which works with the police to create a safe environment. Thus far, I have been on various leadership, parenting and Computer Literacy workshops and training programs that have built my skills. My area of work is based in Kraaifontein where I managed to open two branches.

In late 2014, someone from EE told me about the Adult Education Course. I jumped at the opportunity and applied. When I found out that I got accepted into the program, I was so overwhelmed with emotion. I remember going into the ladies room and crying. I was so happy to have this opportunity after so many years and so many obstacles. More than anything, I wished that my mother was still alive to see me. I am still doing the course and continue to remain an active member of my community.

I am alSO a SecRetaRY at cRIme aGaINSt WOmeN aNd chIldReN SuB fORum WhIch WORkS WIth

the pOlIce tO cReate a Safe eNvIRONmeNt.

2012, I got a call from EE inviting me to their branch’s first meeting. I loved that EE was going to be working with parents, learners, teachers and the community members, and was very excited. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the meeting as my mother had just passed away. However, when I returned from the Eastern Cape from the funeral, I never looked back.


JUne/JUly201513

this year, Equal Education’s Community Department in the Western Cape ran a provincial campaign on school

governing bodies (SGB’s). The purpose of the campaign was to encourage parents to take part in the SGB elections and to educate Equal Education (EE) members about the importance of SGBs, its roles and responsibilities, principals, parents and learners at school. Our emphasis was on parents taking the education of their children seriously, tackling issues around school leadership, the composition of SGB’s, co-opting additional members into the SGB structure, governance at schools, fundraising, as well as issues relating to corruption in schoolsEE, led by its Community Department, mobilised in communities, made presen-tations at schools and community radio stations and held various workshops.

What We WeRe tRYING tO achIeve?

We were mobilising for the support of parents and the communities to take children’s education seriously, to improve their participation in schools, to be informed, and to take part in SGB elections. Quite often people tend to elect people into positions because they are very outspoken in parents meetings at school. While the ability to articulate oneself in a meeting is commendable, it does not necessarily mean that that parent will make the best leader once elected into an SGB. Our aim therefore, was to assist parents to elect people who take the education of their children seriously and who also have an understanding of the challenges faced by learners and teachers in our schools.

What dId We achIeve?

This year, ten EE parents were elected to form part of the SGB in various schools in Nyanga, New Crossroads, Kraaifontein and Khayelitsha. We are hoping that these parents will play an important role

in improving both the education and functioning of these schools. We encourage parents to work with the newly elected SGB’s and to make sure that they account to them as parents and the management of the schools.

challeNGeS that We faced duRING

the SGB campaIGN

The SGB campaign should start early next time, maybe in October for the following year. This will help in planning workshops for parents and educating the public about the SGB’s. Also, schools should publish their election dates before going to December school holidays. This is because in some schools parents were not aware of the election dates for some schools. As a result, accessing information relating to election dates was very challenging in some schools because these dates were not known or published beforehand. Lastly, in some schools the elections were cancelled because the quorum was not met. The cancellation of an election causes delays in the election process and it puts schools under-pressure, thus thwarting the whole point of electing a new SGB.

GOING fORWaRd WIth the campaIGN

EE will be developing a support system for parents elected onto SGBs to ensure

campaigning for better school

governing body: A Reflection

that they learn more about the challenges schools face and educate them on governing schools. Parents who are not elected into the SGBs should feel empowered to use SGBs to raise their concerns, make sure schools are functioning well and support our schools.We do acknowledge that there are parents who are not part of EE, but understand the challenges faced by schools, who have ideas on improving our education system and have knowledge on school governance and how they should be ran. These are the people we want to be elected into SGB’s or at least co-opted. We want to encourage them to work with the school governing bodies at their schools, and to join EE on our parent initiatives. To conclusion, it is up to every parent, community member and young person to make sure that the functioning and quality of our schools is always ready for improvement, for the benefit of every child and our country.

By LuzuKo SIDIMBA

14TheeQUAliZer

on 18 April, EE demonstrated in Cape Town, Pretoria and King William’s Town. Each protest took the form of a ‘sleep-

in’ – a non-violent occupation outside a government building. The purpose was to pressure the Minister of Education, Angie Motshekga, to publicly disclose the 9 provincial plans for implementing the new Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure. The Minister has had the plans since November 2014 but has ignored EE’s multiple letters and its Provision of

Is the RIght

to protest

under

attack?

In Pretoria, a last-minute e-mail from the City of Tshwane denied permission on the grounds that “the sidewalk … is for the use of pedestrians” and “no person is allowed to carry on any business or cause any obstruction”. The venue chosen in Cape Town was outside Parliament, near where Louis Botha rides his horse. EE organisers submitted the required notice to the city’s Public Participation Unit, which reports to City Manager Achmat Ebrahim. This was done, as the Act recommends, more than seven

Access to Information Act (PAIA) request, while her officials have repeatedly made vague assurances that the plans will be released soon.It is proving hard to get the school infrastructure implementation plans. But laying our hands on permits to demonstrate for these plans was almost as difficult. The Gatherings Act regulates protests. However, both ANC and DA governments are proving increasingly adept at extracting every stifling possibility from this 1993 law. And they often go beyond it.

By DoroN ISAAcS

Photo: daniel linde

JUne/JUly201515

days prior to the protest. It gave notice that 100 EE members would picket and sleep outside Parliament’s gates from 1 – 3 April.The law requires that any negotiations the authorities want to conduct should be arranged within 24 hours of receiving notice of a protest. Nothing was heard from the City until 3:20pm on Monday 30 March, two days before the planned sleep-in. EE was invited to attend a meeting at the Civic Centre the following afternoon, less than 24 hours before the demonstration was due to begin.Advocate Irwin Robson chaired the meeting, attended by EE, city officials, traffic officers, the police, and Isak David of the Parliament Protection Services. The South African Police Service was represented by Captain Andre de Graaf of the Public Order Policing Unit, which last month shot stun grenades and rubber bullets at high school students.Citing the National Key Points Act, De Graaf and Robson insisted that no permit could be issued without the approval of the Speaker of Parliament. City officials later explained that since the EFF’s disruption of the State of the Nation Address, all protests to Parliament require the permission of the Speaker.Robson, on behalf of the City of Cape Town, initially refused to issue a permit for the gathering. He instead instructed a city official to review all of EE’s gathering permits over the past five years, and adjourned the meeting. When the meeting reconvened, Robson agreed to a conditional permit, provided permission was also granted by the Chief Magistrate of Cape Town, the City Manager, and the Speaker of Parliament. In violation of the Act, Robson failed to provide written reasons for his refusal to issue an unconditional permit. In fact, the Speaker has no power to approve or deny marches to Parliament, under the National Key Points Act or any other law. This absurdity echoed events in 2010, when EE was refused a permit to march to the Union Buildings without the permission of the Presidency. Then too, the threat of an urgent High Court application was required. By what logic of democracy would the target of a protest have the right to prevent that protest occurring?Similarly, Robson stipulated that the permit was conditional upon government agreeing to receive EE’s memorandum. This he eventually crossed out.The Act does require the additional

permission of the Chief Magistrate of Cape Town for marches to Parliament. However, in dozens of marches to Parliament, EE has never before had this condition enforced on it.After the Civic Centre meeting the EE Law Centre began preparing an urgent application to have the High Court confirm the Speaker’s lack of authority over protests. Meanwhile the City Manager, the Chief Magistrate and the Speaker’s office each insisted that they could issue approval only after one of the others granted it first, creating an endless circle. Finally, hours before the sleep-in was due to begin, the Speaker’s office gave verbal approval, noting that its jurisdiction ended at Parliament’s gates. This prompted formal

cannot be prohibited unless the authorities are “on reasonable grounds convinced” based on “credible information on oath” that there is a threat of “serious disruption of vehicular or pedestrian traffic, injury … or extensive damage to property, and that the Police and the traffic officers … will not be able to contain this threat”. But officials routinely behave as if denying the right to protest is within their complete discretion.Legal expert Mandla Seleoane has argued that to address this abuse the Act must be rewritten:“The Act seems to suggest that you require the permission of somebody to host a gathering in public, but in my view that permission is already granted by the Constitution… We know the Constitution does not protect hate speech. We know the Constitution does not protect people who march with arms. We know it does not protect violent protest… So what should happen, what the Act should do, is regulate how protests happen rather than stipulating that someone has the authority to allow or disallow [them].”Instead, there is a crackdown on protests across the country. Research at the University of Johannesburg reports 43 people killed in demonstrations between 2004 and 2014, excluding the 37 miners murdered at Marikana.In 2008, Captain de Graaf was accused of deploying rubber bullets and stun grenades against municipal workers. In 2014, he played a leading role in the brutal eviction at Lwandle, where his choice of violence over mediation was described by the former chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police, Annelize van Wyk, as “indefensible”.After ten activists of the Social Justice Coalition were convicted on the charge of convening an illegal gathering earlier this year, the organisation vowed to challenge the constitutionality of the Gatherings Act. This holds out the hope that a spotlight will be shone not just on the law but on the dishonest and dangerous way it is implemented.It is fundamentally wrong that bureaucrats and police are used to mediate what is essentially political conflict between communities and authorities, brought about by poor service delivery, corruption and widening inequality. For now De Graaf, Robson and company continue to hold sway over the right to demonstrate.

the act SeemS tO SuGGeSt that

YOu RequIRe the peRmISSION Of

SOmeBOdY tO hOSt a GatheRING IN puBlIc

approval from the Chief Magistrate and averted legal proceedings.This was not the first time that Robson and de Graaf had put unlawful obstacles in the way of EE’s constitutionally guaranteed right, “peacefully and unarmed, to assemble, to demonstrate, to picket and to present petitions”. In 2012 EE drafted urgent court papers when, on the basis of an affidavit prepared by de Graaf, which EE was never shown, permission was denied for a Human Rights Day march in Khayelitsha. The threat of litigation ensured that it went ahead, but this again begs the question of how communities and organisations without immediate access to legal representation are supposed to protest lawfully.EE too has been forced into holding unlawful demonstrations. Last year students’ right to protest in Maluti, near the Eastern Cape’s border with Lesotho, was denied on purely political grounds. A bizarre 17-person panel that included representatives of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) refused to issue a permit. EE went ahead in defiance of this blatant illegality.There has been a change. An administrative process for providing permits has become a mechanism of political control. Even under the present Gatherings Act, a product of an Apartheid parliament, a demonstration

my StOry: Parent Organizer

i I come from a family of four children; three girls and a boy. I was born on 31 August 1971 in a village called Cofimvaba, in the Eastern Cape. I lived with, and was raised by, my grandmother because my mother was working in Cape Town. I admired my

grandmother and spent most of my time with her, because, even though she was not literate, she was very clever. She was very strict, but very loving and caring. From her, I learnt the value of hard work and grew to be very resilient. She always encouraged me to pursue my studies and only wanted the best for us. I was not a badly behaved child like my brother and sisters. I was very honest and didn’t like to walk or play around the village. I always just preferred being at home. To this day, I am still the same, unless something important comes up. I learned to cook, do all the household chores, and working on my grandmothers plot, where she had vegetables she and I ploughed. She used to say “dedicate yourself and put an effort in whatever you are doing because no one is going to do it for you.” At the age of twelve, I was doing everything around the house, she took note of that and started to count on me. I was such a fast learner, and I would emulate each and everything that my grandmother would do (never mind teach), and so I was the best person she would vest all her wisdom to. Soon, when I turned fourteen, she would go on distant trips for a day or more to visit her sisters, and would leave me behind with my siblings (my older brother and little sisters) to look after them. I would wake up in the early hours of the morning to prepare everyone for school, including bathing, dressing up the younger ones, making everyone breakfast, and together, we would all set out for school. It was from this period that I began to fully understand, and identified myself as leader. At school, I was very dedicated. I remember when I was doing grade 3, being very bright and curious, my teacher would always say to my grandmother, “Nofikile [that was her name] please take care of this child’s education, because she is going to very far”. From that moment on, I realized the potential my teacher saw in me, and I soon did well at school. Every year at prize giving ceremonies, I always received the first or second prize for my class or grade, together with other prizes for content subjects and sports. As I was becoming an academic star at my school, I would participated in regional and district school

mY lONG dIStaNce Race tO educatION

andiswa “ma a” kolanisi

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mY lONG dIStaNce Race tO educatION

andiswa “ma a” kolanisi

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competitions such as the English Pro’s, and returned to school a winner. This made me more proud, and of course very motivated.

When I was doing grade 7, I was injured my knee during a netball match, just before the May/June exams of that year. I had to leave school and miss the exams to be treated. I ended up nearly failing that grade. I was supposed to repeat grade 7, but because of my good reputation at school, the headmaster allowed me to progress to high school.

High school changed everything for me. For the first time I had to be away from home for long periods of time on my own. The school was in another village about 65 km away or just over an hour when walking. I and three other girls from my village stayed at this house which was organized by our parents. It was very close to the school and fortunately, we did not have to pay rent, just provide our own groceries. We had so much independence that, almost every month, we would run out of food, because we had never encountered such freedom! We had the freedom to even starve ourselves because there was no longer anyone to tell us to stop misusing the sugar or to cook less meat for one meal. Following from this, I

pregnant and as a consequence, had to quit school. As one would imagine, this completely changed the entire direction I was preparing my life for, and just when things were turning out to be better, I had to now reinvent my life.

I gave birth to a beautiful boy, and named him Zintle, which means ‘beautiful’, for indeed he was, and so was his Creator. After leaving school, I had to go looking for work in order to support my child. In December, I moved to Cape Town, to work as my mother’s proxy, a helper, in one of the suburbs in the city since she had taken leave. I was not lucky to have my own job after that, as I was in and out of temporary jobs.

In 1996, I decided to go back to school to finish my matric, and I attended night classes at Masiyile High School. As delighted as I was at going back to school, I got so frustrated at the fact that I had to struggle with transport to and from school in the evenings, and since I did not have a job or any money to sustain me, I left school again. It was around this time that I gave my life to God and became a born again Christian. This meant a lot, especially during this period, because it really served as a form of

I leaRNt the value Of haRd

WORk aNd GReW tO Be veRY

ReSIlIeNt

had to learn things like drawing up a budget and being mature in handling money. This period cemented my independence.

One thing that did not change in high school, despite how difficult it was proving itself to be, was my devotion to learning and my enthusiasm to participate in anything that would challenge me to maximize my potential. What my teacher kept saying to my grandmother, when I was in grade 2, was soon becoming a reality for me, and I was just two years away from tertiary.

A lot of things changed in grade 11. I passed and celebrated the fact that I was going to be in matric. But, soon after I fell


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counseling and support for me. I became very active in the community, playing for the local netball team, singing in the church choir, and many other youthful activities. After all, I was still 25 years old.

The following year in 1997, I got a job as a cleaner at this cleaning company called Bolland, and that same year I got married to the father of my child. My life took yet another turn, this time the turn was better because I was now a wife, a mother and was working.

In 2006, after working for nine years between temporary jobs from 1997, I finally started my own business. I had a Spaza (a small unofficial store in a township, often based in a private house), learned a lot of valuable skills, such as effective communication, budgeting, stock taking, networking and working with other people as a team. The business was quickly booming, but because where we were staying was temporary and had to move to another place and close the business. Luckily, I found another job at a pharmaceutical company in Cape Town, checking and packing all the medical products in the store.

Stock taking was not the same as running a Spaza shop because I was dealing with a big business with huge amounts of money. I had to do everything on a computer and at first it was a challenge, since I was not computer literate, but because I am a fast learner, it took me just a couple of days. Before I knew it I was cruising.

After losing that job, in 2010 I decided to open a crèche, and started by looking after my friend’s child when she went to work. She spread the word around the community, and soon I had over ten children to look after in a space of just a month! I got a friend to assist me and I would compensate her, together with one friend who volunteered some of

far left: helping son Miso with reading while daughter fifi does her own. left: preparing supper. next page: changing curtains.


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her time out of sheer love for children. In less than three months, we were looking after over thirty children. While busy with the crèche, one of my friends invited me to a meeting that was held at our community hall for parents, learners and community members. The organization was advocating for quality and equality in the South African

area where we were living. Zintle and his fellow learners were the only black learners at the school, and had been experiencing racial discrimination since they started. EE investigated the matter and managed to get my child back to the school.This was a very a pivotal moment because it was here that I realised that their work

already, especially with the crèche. Also they disciplined me because now there were more people looking up to me, because I was now leading them.

Joining EE became a breath of fresh air for my life was starting all over again. Most importantly, it was now going towards the direction I lost late in high school. In February 2012, I completed a course in Family and Community Motivation program (FCM) by the Early Learning Resource Unity (ELRU). This course helped me a lot because I was now working with parents, for the then new Parent’s Department. Our work entailed mobilizing parents to become more involved in their children’s’ education, and to equip them with the necessary tools they need to do this.

In December 2013, I completed my matric and in February 2014 the following year, I enrolled at the University of Western Cape for a Higher Diploma in Adult Education. I am now doing my second year, and thereafter, I am planning to do a degree in Social Work.I think my destiny is within the people and to not only work with them so that they could realize theirs, but that they could materialize it.

mY lIfe tOOk Yet aNOtheR tuRN, thIS tIme the tuRN WaS BetteR BecauSe I WaS NOW a WIfe, a mOtheR aNd WaS WORkING.

education system and engaged in evidence based activism for improving the country’s schools. Since I had a keen interest in human rights and was already working with children and their parents, when they asked for volunteers, I did not hesitate.

While working with EE, I received news that my son Zintle, who was doing grade 9 at the time, and a handful of other black learners from his school had gotten expelled under illegal and racist circumstances, since it was an Afrikaans medium school in a coloured

was truly meaningful and that real results were borne. This helped me become more dedicated because, as a volunteer, I was facilitating their workshops, and like my grandmother, I wanted everyone to be afforded a quality education. Eventually, they employed me as a parent organizer and towards the end of 2011, I was appointed as board member, and by July 2012, in EE’s first congress in Gauteng, I was elected as the national council member to date. These opportunities gave me a lot of responsibility in addition to the ones I had


on sgbs: promoting the Quality of education for all

learnersSheLLy WILBurN

JUne/JUly201521Julian Goldswain PhotoGraPhy©

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INtROductIONHow do we understand the role of parents, community members, and other stakeholders in relation to schools? By stakeholders, I mean people who are really interested in the quality of schools. While they probably are not trained as educators, these stakeholders may know more about the needs of their community and/or the needs of their children. With this in mind, parents and other stakeholders can support the quality of education their children receive at school. a BRIef hIStORY Shortly after the first democratic election in 1994, the South African Schools Act (SASA) of 1996 recognized the special role of parents in helping schools fulfil their purpose. Before 1994, the apartheid government had made most of the important decisions and policies for schools. So, rather than decisions being made from the top-down, where schools have little control over policy, SASA gave this decision-making power to a School Governing Body (SGB). The first SGBs were elected in 1997, and this process takes place every 3 years.

uNpackING the ROle Of SGBSSGBs model the South African ideal of democracy, where the interests of all stakeholders are valued and represented. Each stakeholder is given a voice – parents, teachers, non-teaching staff, learners (from Grade 8 – 12), and principals. Each voice is important. Together, all voices are responsible for the education of South Africa’s children.

Parents constitute the largest SGB stakeholder group. More than half of SGB members with voting rights must be parents. Additional community members may be brought on to the SGB for their expertise, such as fund-raising, finance, or computer skills. Although additional members do not have voting rights, they may be able to support the quality of the school in other ways. The number of teacher and parent SGB members depends on the number of learners at the school. The larger the school, the more teachers and parents are required. At larger high schools, more learners are also required. In addition, SGBs must elect a Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer.

You might be wondering: how are SGBs different from school managers? The word ‘governing’ is really about making decisions and policies on how schools are run, such as how to discipline learners or what time the school day starts and ends. This is different from ‘managing’, which is more about the professional day-to-day work of teachers. School managers, such as principals and Heads of Departments (HODs), tend to be concerned with teaching and learning in classrooms.

Although school governance and school management are different domains, there is something that can tie the two together – common values. Our values and beliefs influence what we think is important. Section 20(a) of SASA states that the function of an SGB is to “promote the best interests of the school and strive to ensure its development through the provision of quality of education for all learners at the school”. If all stakeholders, especially SGBs and school management, work together to promote quality of education, it is more likely that schools will fulfil their purpose. Examples of values that promote quality include making sure everyone is in class and learning (teachers and students), that there is a display of professional behaviour, and believing every student is able to achieve academic excellence.

cORe fuNctIONS Of SGBS (SaSa, SectION 20)SASA tells us that all SGBs are responsible for a number of core functions. These functions should be done in ways that promote the best interests of the school and all learners:1. Create a constitution that says how

the SGB will work. How often will the SGB meet? When will the SGB report back to parents? What sub-committees will be set up? Is there a fund raising committee? Is there a finance committee?

2. Create a mission statement for the school. What are the school’s most important beliefs? What are the goals of the school?

3. Decide on the school’s policies. What will be the language policy? Admissions policy? Religion policy?

4. Determine the school’s code of conduct for learners. What are the rules for behaviour? What happens when the rules are broken?

5. Support the principal, teachers, and other staff members to perform their duties. What are the needs of the school? Of teachers? Of principals?

6. Determine the times of the school day. What time will the school day start and end?

7. Control the school’s property, buildings, and grounds. How should the school’s property and buildings be used?

8. Encourage parents, teachers, staff, and learners to volunteer their time. How can we get more parents involved in the school?

9. Give recommendations to the Provincial Head of Department on the appointment of educators and non-educator staff. What kind of teacher does our school need?

10. Provide use of the school’s property to the Provincial Head of Department for other educational programs.

allOcated fuNctIONS Of SGBS (SaSa, SectION 21)An SGB might decide they want to take on more responsibility to improve the quality of the school. To do this, SGBs must apply in writing to the Provincial Head of Department and be able to budget and manage the school’s funds very well. Allocated SGB functions include:

1. Take care of and improve the school’s property. How can we make our school more safe, secure, and orderly?

2. Buy textbooks and other educational materials and equipment. What kinds of resources do our teachers and learners need?

3. Determine the extra-mural curriculum of the school and/or subject area options. These must follow the province’s policy on curriculum.

4. Pay for services at the school, such as water and electricity.

pROmOtING qualItY Of educatION All SGB functions are important, but some have a greater influence on the quality of teaching and learning than others. Research on education tells us there are

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two key responsibilities of SGBs that can strongly promote quality in the classroom:

1. Educator appointments and promotionsOne of the tasks of SGBs is to make recommendations to the Provincial Head of Department on the appointment of educators at the school. Ask yourself: What kind of principal, HOD, or teacher does our school need? What skills are required? How will we know which candidate is best for the job? After all, these are the people who will be providing your children with knowledge, skills, and morals for their future. To answer these questions requires both knowledge of the school and specific criteria for selection. Only then can you choose the most qualified, motivated, and competent person for the job. Consider bringing additional SGB members to the interview committee if more expertise is needed. Selecting candidates because they are friends or relatives, or based on their political affiliation, is not likely to promote the quality of teaching and learning.

2. The use of funds and financial transparencyEducational resources are essential in providing learners with a quality education. Resources can take many different forms, including books, people, ideas, and funds. Moreover, research tells us that how these resources are used is even more important, especially how SGBs allocate funding or financial resources. When we allocate funds, we are actually selecting which

resources are most important. You might ask: What are the school’s needs? Are those needs related to teaching and learning in the classroom? For example, teachers might need more readers in a certain language or equipment for a science lab. In this way the allocation of funds has the potential to promote the quality of learning. That being said, it is of utmost importance to be completely open about where money is being spent. Without transparency, funds could be misappropriated or spent on items that are un-related to the core business of the school. Ask yourself: How will spending this money impact on what’s happening in classrooms?

In light of the above mentioned respon-sibilities, all stakeholders should carefully read the SASA guidelines. It would be beneficial for SGBs to talk about each of their functions, especially with the principal, and be able to answer the question: What are my responsibilities?

INteRpeRSONal SkIllS While the provincial department of education should offer additional infor-mation and training opportunities for SGBs, research tells us there are a few interpersonal skills that are important in most governance activities:

1. Decision-makingMaking decisions should usually be more than general agreement or consensus. There should also be disagreement, negotiation, compromise, and active participation of

all members. Each voice is important and offers different perspectives. For example, there might be disagreement on who is the best candidate to fill a teaching post. It is essential to value each other’s differences in opinion; otherwise you run the risk of maintaining the status quo.

2. Problem-solvingWithout a doubt, SGBs and schools will experience problems from time to time. For example, you may want to come up with ideas to increase school fund-raising, find additional support from local NGOs, or provide more security for the school’s property. Similar to decision making, it is important to voice your opinions about the causes of problems and to suggest possible solutions. Two different heads are often times better than two similar ones; there is a greater chance at finding the best solution.

a fINal thOuGhtRegardless of your role, whether you are a principal, a teacher, a parent, a learner, or a community member, we all promote the quality of education in different ways. As a parent, promoting quality includes nominating and voting for the best candidate for your school’s SGB. It also includes talking to your child’s teachers about how you can support them outside of school and attending parent meetings. Children are the future of South Africa. Our collective responsibility demands that we provide them with the best opportunity to achieve their dreams. Schools need our support! Let us work together.


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ReflectIONS fROm equal educatION’S eaSteRN cape OffIceBy DANIeL LINDe

classroom made from corrugated iron. The children in that classroom get ill from the conditions, and it’s often too hot or too cold to learn inside. The classrooms are not con-ducive to health or to learning. At another primary school, Siyibane – located in Colly-wobbles, Dutwya – 10, 11 and 12 year olds struggle for hours during their school day to carry gas canisters to the school for cooking. Their school has no water, no electricity and no sanitation. The entire school structure is

made from corrugated iron.These conditions are not rare in this Prov-ince. According to the government’s latest statistics, published last year in the National Education Infrastructure Management Sys-tems Report, in the Eastern Cape: • 366 schools have no sanitation facili-

ties (3479 have pit latrines);• 339 schools have no water (1791 have

an unreliable water supply); and • 377 schools have no electricity (1450

have an unreliable electricity supply).

On 29 November 2013, Equal Education members, and learners around the country, won a significant victory. On that day, Minis-ter of Basic Education Angie Motshekga ad-opted the Regulations Relating to Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure. The regulations, which create a binding legal obligation that

339 SchOOlS have nO water

377 SchOOlS have nO SanitatiOn377

SchOOlS have nO electricity

the fix our schools campaign continues:

members of Equal Education in the Eastern Cape are visiting schools around the Province to connect principals, SGBs,

parents, educators and learners to the new law for school infrastructure, and to empow-er schools to participate in ensuring that the law is implemented properly and on time. At Overton Primary, in the East London District, the Grade R teacher wears overalls to protect her clothes from the dust in her

JUne/JUly201525

the government must deliver infrastructure to schools, were a culmination of more than 3 years of committed activism, mobilisation and analysis, led by Equal Education or-ganisers, facilitators, parents, teachers and, more than anyone, Equalisers. Less than one year later, on 10 October 2014, Equal Education established its first permanent office in the Eastern Cape, the Province which is most affected by the school infrastructure crisis. While there is no doubt that the creation of the norms and standards was a crucial and necessary step in the right direction, the next phase of our “Fix Our Schools” cam-paign – the implementation phase – re-mains the most important, and certainly the most challenging. EE calls this work “The Mi-chael Komape” Campaign, in honour of Mi-chael, a 6 year old learner who died last year when he fell into a dilapidated pit latrine at his school in rural Limpopo. The campaign to fix our schools demands that learners no longer spend their days in the type of un-

safe conditions which Michael faced, and that schools are built to provide an environ-ment conducive to teaching and learning.To move the Michael Komape Campaign forward, and in addition to building the movement in the Eastern Cape, the man-date of EE’s new provincial office is to lead mobilisation and analysis around the rights of learners and educators in the Province under the norms and standards. The norms and standards obligate the state to ensure that, by no later than 29 November 2016, there are no more schools made from mud, asbestos, wood or metal, and no more schools without any access to water, elec-tricity or sanitation. In 2014, EE made an application to the De-partment of Basic Education (DBE) in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, requesting from the Department a list of the schools which meet any of the criteria to be addressed during this first time frame. In the Eastern Cape, organisers, facilitators, Equalisers and staff are working to verify the information in the lists which the DBE subsequently provided. School visits are an important part of this work. At these visits, school infrastructure is surveyed, and hun-dreds of photos are taken. These surveys and photos allow us to verify the DBE’s list and to assess, at a later stage, whether infra-structure developments have taken place at the school. Another aspect of our work involves community meetings around the Province, at which hundreds of parents, educators and learners representing more than 80 schools have had the opportunity to learn about the work of Equal Education and the norms and standards for school in-frastructure, and to discuss how to join us going forward.Some important lessons have emerged from our work in the Michael Komape Cam-paign. Our schools visits, infrastructure sur-veys and community meetings have taught us that:

1. Schools have not been informed about the norms and standards and infra-structure upgrades due to them, and are therefore lacking the necessary tools to hold government to account;

2. Principals, educators and SGBs are dis-illusioned about the prospects of roll-out of school infrastructure;

3. The Province is moving very slowly to

implement the norms and standards;4. IInformation on schools provided to us

by the DBE is wrong. Information given to us on many schools contradicts the infrastructure we are seeing.

These lessons emphasise the urgent need for the movement, and the public, to see Provincial implementation plans for the norms and standards. The regulations re-quire each education MEC to provide Min-ister Motshekga with a plan which sets out the norms and standards backlog in the relevant province, and specifies the pro-gramme for building infrastructure in accor-dance with the required time frames. These plans were due to be given to the Minister by no later than 29 November 2014, but they have not yet been made public.The end of May 2015 marks the half way mark in the first 3 year time frame for imple-mentation of the norms and standards. Hav-ing learned that the information which the Department of Education provided to us is incorrect and that schools have largely not been made aware of the rights contained in the norms and standards, EE considers the publication of these Provincial plans urgent and overdue. From 1 to 3 April, EE’s equalisers led pro-tests in Gauteng, the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape. The Equalisers articulated the demand for the immediate release of all the Provincial implementation plans. In the Western Cape, Equalisers slept outside Par-liament for two nights, and in the Eastern Cape close to 50 Equalisers slept outside the Eastern Cape Department of Education, in Zwelitsha. Equalisers sang late into the night, and held a vigil in honour of Michael Komape and all South African learners in schools with poor infrastructure. As a result of this mobilisation, the Acting Head of De-partment for the Eastern Cape Department of Education has arranged to meet with EE members to discuss the Province’s plans for school infrastructure. While we welcome the meeting with the Acting HOD, Equal Education in the Eastern Cape will continue to demand the release of the Provincial implementation plan, and to mobilise our members, and communities around the Province, as we move forward in the struggle to fix our schools.

the fix our schools campaign continues:

Photo: africa check

28TheeQUAliZer

i was born on March 13, 1971 in a village called Sterkspruit, surrounded by the Drakenberg Mountains in the Eastern Cape. Most of my childhood was

characterized by constant traveling in and around South Africa, from Johannesburg, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape and Lesotho. My parents moved around a lot in search of a better life under Apartheid, but did not have passes and so we were always in flight from the police, fleeing arrest or persecution. I got affected by this, because I didn’t have a stable school life, as I was rotating to different schools every year.

patrick ralehoko

The one thing I can take away from my childhood was when my grandmother used to praise me for giving her cows the best names. As silly as it sounds, that’s the most endearing moment in my childhood.

After constantly moving from one place to another, in 1990, we finally settled in Cape Town. By then, I was 20, had just failed my matric, and wanted to work. Since I was always on the road, changing schools ev-ery year, my schooling became affected. I am now working towards completing my

schooling matric because I want to pursue further studies in business.

Since I did not experience childhood the way I could say a parent wished for their children, from an early age I was always drawn to helping people. I could relate to their pain and wanted to help them change their lives for the better. This was what led me to work for a number of NGO’s and grassroots organizations such as SANCO, as well as serving in a number of street and community committees. All these made this

below: Patrick teasing baby equal. right: Getting ajax (the dog) excited.

my StOry: Parent Organizer

mY lIfe, mY GReateSt INSpIRatION


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desire to help practical and from it emerged a community leader.

In 2012, I was working with the schools Ntwasahlobo and Sobambisane Primary school in Khayelitsha. I got invited to an Equal Education meeting, where there was a presentation on our country’s education system, how it was paralyzing our children, instead of helping them, and how this could be changed. Most importantly, how I could contribute to this change.

I signed up as a member and decided to vol-unteer as a community coordinator, since I already had experience with the communi-ties EE wanted to work with. All I had to do was to galvanize the parents, learners and community members in these communi-ties to not only know about the situation of education in the country, but on how they could take part in changing it for the better. In 2013, I was finally appointed as a parent organizer for the Community Department.

What I find most difficult and unique about being a community and parent organizer is taking decisions. It’s like running a public company, where with every major decision you have to consult the shareholders. If a decision has to be made right now, it has to stall because you have to communicate with each and every parent in your branch,

and they are already busy and many have extraordinary schedules, and so it’s a very unique relationship. It’s not just the same as organizing a group of young students after school or on a Saturday.

Aside from walking long distances going through different communities, working mostly with poor working class communi-ties, I try to keep a healthy life. I gym, medi-tate and always try to keep a positive state of mind, by relaxing and being positive about life. The mind is where it all starts. Also, I am a fanatic of Afro -Jazz, Afro-pop, Soul, RnB, Blues and anything else that helps me main-tain a positive outlook

The amusing thing about me, which I think most people do not know about, is that I like to play with kids and put myself in their shoes when I am with them. I already have four children. I just feel happiest with them, like I have nothing to worry about. That moves me and helps invigorate my purpose even when I sometimes feel down or do not have one.

I wish the youth of today can embrace their chances in life and opportunities, respect themselves and other people. That way they can effectively determine no only their fu-ture, but the future of this country.

above: Getting work doneright: Making his way to the gym


JUNE 2015 B

I cONtINue tO educate mYSelf aNd

leaRN eveN at mY aGe.

Julian Goldswain PhotoGraPhy© Julian Goldswain PhotoGraPhy©


my StOry:

wiseman: a shepherd’s memoire

32TheeQUAliZer

wiseman Mzwendoda Din-gani, better known as “Madiba”, was born in 1960, Cofimvaba, Eastern

Cape. Being born and raised in Cofimvaba, Eastern Cape, Wiseman’s most vivid memories are from when he was a young shepherd, looking after his father’s cattle. Since education was seen as a pastime vocation, it was never really encouraged in his household. What was encouraged was for him to become a man by leaving his home to establish his own or by finding employment. After undergoing circumcision for initiation into manhood in 1979, he left school in grade 9 at age 19 and relocated to Kimberly, where he took temporary jobs as a construction worker.Given the temporary nature of employment for construction workers, retrenchment would be a defining factor when it came to work for Wiseman. His entire working career, since his arrival in Kimberly in 1979, was characterized by constant retrenchment and shifting from one job to another and from one city to an-other. After losing his job, he went back home to the Eastern Cape, where he resorted to his most endearing vocation, looking after his fa-ther’s livestock. It was around this time that he met his wife, Nosizwe, got married, and togeth-er they embarked on their greatest journey yet – coming to Cape Town.“I hated Cape Town”, he says to me with such intent, “People [black migrant labourers from the Eastern Cape] in Cape Town were so poor. They were so poor that when they would re-turn from Cape Town after being gone for the whole year or more, they’d return to their families with only live chickens or sometimes a mere R200. Imagine being away from your

By DuMISA MBuWA

34TheeQUAliZer

family for so long, and only being able to bring chickens to show that you are work-ing. It was so disgraceful”.As disgraceful as it was for him, he had no prospects for employment in Gauteng, even in the mining sector, where employment opportunities had been declining since the late 1970’s. Eventually, there were no jobs, and so, men like Wiseman found no better alternative than relocating to Cape Town. In 1984, they moved to Crossroads, an in-

formal settlement which emerged when workers were forcibly removed from a near-by farm (Brown’s Farm) in the 1970’s and were relocated to Crossroads, which was a plain bush where they erected shacks for their homes. By the time Wiseman moved into the area, there was deep tension and violence between community members in Crossroads and the Apartheid, because the latter was trying to force people to move to Khayelitsha, “New home” (which was being

built at the time). And so, the forced remov-als were met with a lot of violent resistance, especially in Crossroads. As the violence in Crossroads was escalating, Johnson Ngxo-bongwana’s Witdoek (a vigilante group) was spreading to other townships which the Apartheid government wanted destroyed, in order to move people to Khayelitsha. These men, the Witdoek, distinguished themselves by wearing bits of white cloths, like the Klu Klux Klan did in the US during the early 1920’s. They had close links with security forces, especially the riot squad, and their collusion with the police led to the total destruction of huge living areas in the Cape Flats. Townships such as Nyanga Bush, Portland Cement, and Nyanga Extension were destroyed in the fighting and an esti-mated 30 000 people were left homeless. Meanwhile, the national Stay Away protest, calling for the release of then imprisoned Nelson Mandela, was already in motion in many parts of the country, and was begin-ning in the Cape Flats areas in Cape Town. This was the world Wiseman was now mov-ing into, to start a new life for his family.

above: at the beach after a long day andweek of work. right: buying airtime while the little ones take their time.below left: Just got off a taxi, going home.



36TheeQUAliZer

He found employment as a contract builder for a now defunct building and sanitation called Bezel Stark Construction in Cape Town. This was one of the companies that were working on building Khayelitsha, and this was one of Wiseman’s first building proj-ects since his arrival into the city. He would travel every day to work from Crossroads to Khayelitsha, but soon this became more dif-ficult as the National Stay Aways were gain-ing more and more momentum in those areas around 1985. “Everywhere you went there was violence. You just couldn’t escape it”, Wiseman re-marked. “And so, I was always absent from work, and finally, I got fired. If I was to be caught by the protesters going to work, I was definitely going to be killed or severely beaten, because that was going to be seen as protesting against the release of Nelson Mandela, which meant the end of Apart-heid”.In 1985, in this state of pandemonium, his wife gave birth to their first born son, Profes-sor. By 1986, he was unemployed, he had no money to support his family, and couldn’t walk out of the house because the violence was intense. “My son, still a baby boy was

would wail in the bedroom, from being choked by the teargas”. Once again, he had to return home to the Eastern Cape.In late 1987, after spending the whole year in the Eastern Cape, he came back to Cape Town, leaving his family behind, and found that things were a bit calm. He found em-ployment again as a contract builder, go-ing through different temporary jobs right through the dawn of South Africa’s de-mocracy in 1994. His return to Cape Town brought about a new interest: social activ-ism.Before, he was just a worker who struggled to keep a job for more than a year, resent-ed Cape Town and preferred Johannesburg because, as he said, “it was really calm, be-cause my primary focus was to make sure that I had a job and was sending money at home. It was at Crossroads that the actual struggle against Apartheid was more vivid, active and mostly brutal”.Crossroads exposed him to the anti-Apart-heid organizations that were very active (and severely persecuted by the Witdoek and Apartheid government) in the Cross-roads such as the United Democratic Front (UDF). These movements helped shape and

model his social and political conscious-ness. By the time Apartheid was formally disbanded, Wiseman was now a man intent on contributing meaningful change for his community and indeed, his country.Eventually his family moved back to Cape Town to live with him. Things were going well, and together, they were a family again, under one roof. In 2006, after coming back to Cape Town from a traditional ceremony in the Eastern Cape, Nosizwe suddenly fell very ill. Wiseman took her to the hospital to be treated, and her doctors declared that she had been poisoned. After several days in the hospital, she passed away. Trauma-tized, he now had to adjust to the reality of her being gone, being alone without her, and to being a single parent. He totally re-fused to find another wife, but just wanted to devote all he had left to his son, daughter and grand-daughter.In 2012, now a prominent community leader around Crossroads, Nyanga, Mfule-ni, Delft and Khayelitsha through his work with SANCO (South African Civic Organiza-tion), he joined Equal Education. Soon he worked with the Community Department as a community coordinator, and played a crucial role in the establishment of new EE branches in Khayelitsha and surrounding areas. Using his grassroots organization

above: speaking to a parent on the phone, organizing a parents meeting


JUNE 2015 B

networks, he helped bring in not just a lot of members into EE, but a lot of communities into the struggle for Equal Education.“We would organize large meetings in community halls and people would be so keen on hearing about this organization, they thought it was a newly formed political organization. And so we had to make sure that we stressed the fact that we were not here to promise jobs, better houses and electricity, but we were here

eveRYWheRe YOu WeNt theRe WaS vIOleNce. YOu juSt cOuldN’t eScape It”

to fight for equal and quality education for all our chil-dren and needed them to join us. That moved a lot of parents into joining the organization and being active in the branches. “What I like about EE is their ability to educate. When I started here I did not know how to operate a comput-er. Now I can’t imagine doing work without it. This kind of empowerment and giving of knowledge is renew-ing for me”.In 2014 he was appointed as a parent organizer, lead-ing EE’s Parent branches, opening new ones, working with schools and their School Governing Bodies. His aim now is to help strengthen the expansion of this important sector of the Community Department, to other provinces, and to help strengthen other parents in those provinces to carry on this work there.



38TheeQUAliZer

AFriKAMyMUsic

unlike Mphahlele’s first autobiography, Down Second Avenue, the sequel has an unfinished feel. The story emerges from an assembly of rough notes put together for an as yet incomplete manuscript. Its rugged style leaves a distinct impression of a

journeying mind heaving with memories, conversations, interactions, thoughts and feelings of a busy and difficult past.

Afrika My Music gives much insight into the contradictions of being an exile. Mphahlele, who went into exile in September 1957, had to confront the reality of being an outsider in foreign lands with foreign peoples and cultures, while his “inner compulsion” is “to hold on to the smells, the im-ages of muck, the texture of Southern life”.

Mphahlele could not find peace, neither at home or abroad. He writes: “The truth hits you: you’re going to be out in the cold a long, long time, relief is not in sight”.

Instead, he writes, “you learn the ways of the alley cat before you know it, and colonise the backyards. And yet you also know you’ve got to clear that fence to re-enter broad daylight away from the garbage cans.”

Despite the difficulties, going into exile presented Mphahlele with the chance to regain a pride in an Africa that had been crushed by colonialism and apartheid. “Nigeria and Ghana gave Africa back to me,” he writes, al-lowing him to fully overcome the colonial story that “to be Christian was to be civilised, to be civilised was to be Christian, like the European.”

Mphahlele also devotes many pages to thinking about the reasons he took up the pen when the most urgent demand was political resistance. The book is a sustained meditation on a life in writing. The writer reveals how reading became a combative act, asserting his dignity in the face of a social order which labelled him backward.

He writes, “The truth of it was that I used to pick up any piece of printed paper to read, whatever it was. It became a mania with me. I couldn’t let printed matter pass. I felt inferior to most of my class at school. I was pretty poor in English, which was the medium of instruction. I read, and read, till it hurt. But I also got a good deal of pleasure out of it.”

For Mphahlele, an early practitioner of Black Consciousness art, writing was a daily act of self-affirmation, giving a glimpse into the value imagi-native writing has in speaking truth to power. Writing, though somewhat detached from political struggle, has its own contribution to make. For him, “literature as memorable language was an on-going revolution: it re-newed experience for us, revitalised language”. Everyday prose, he writes, can “move people to action”. If the need for action in the name of social justice has not left us, then neither has the demand for committed, imag-inative writing.

By Joshua Masherow

competitionStand a chance to win

eS’kia Mphahlele’S “africa, My MuSic”, an ee hoodie, & t-Shirt!

Answer the following questions:1. What year did Wiseman move to Cape Town?

2. What is Ma-A planning on doing after she completes her diploma in Adult Education?

3. What year was the first SGB established?

4. Which dates was the EE national three-day sleep for the implementation of the Norms and Standards?

5. Who are Patrickk’s favourite musicians?

6. Which famous Anti-Apartheid struggle heroes went to Forbes Grant School?

bOOk review

win

JUne/JUly201539

In Loving Memory of Michael KomapeOctober 3, 2008-January 20, 2014.

Six-year old boy who drowned in a pit toilet at his school during lunch break a year ago. As the matter is still being handled by the courts, let the light of Michael Komape

continue to shine unto us all as we struggle for the implementation of Norms and Standards for School infrastructure.

Tribute To Michael Komape

donATe

ToeQUA

l

edUcATio

n

#Fixours

chools

Invest in a better future help us make the world sustainable

donATiondeTAils:Pbo:930027221nPoregistrationnumber:028-288-nPObank:Standard bankAccountholder:Equal EducationAccountnumber:270027882branchcode:051001swiftcode:SbzA zA JJ

FormoreinformationJamesMatli:[email protected][email protected]’sworkatwww.equaleducation.org.za

/equaleducation@equal_education

Asalwayswelookforwardtoyour

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7791Tel:0213870022

WhATisee:“eQUAledUcATionisAMoveMenToFleArners,PArenTs,TeAchersAndcoMMUniTyMeMbersWorKingForQUAliTyAndeQUAliTyinsoUThAFricAnedUcATion,ThroUghAnAlysisAndAcTivisM”.

WheredoesMyMoneygoWhenidonATeToee?• developinghighschoollearnerstobecomeleadersand

change-makersintheirschools,• running of our post matric leadership program that

givesyoungpeople theopportunity togainnewskillsandbecomeaninternatee,

• researchintokeyissuesintheeducationsectorsuchasschoolinfrastructure,textbooks,budgetanalysisandsanitation,

• runningadvocacycampaignsthatrevolvearoundequalandqualityeducationforall.

cAMPAignscurrently ee is running campaigns across the country fortheimplementationofthenormsandstandardsforschoolinfrastructure plans. ee also runs campaigns aroundsanitationandsafetyinschools,Furnitureforschoolsthatdo not have any, and scholar Transport for learners whowalkforlongdistancestogettoschool.

Ee june 2015 english digital

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