Deputy President, Mr Kgalema Motlanthe,
Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga,
Awards recipients,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
I would like to express, on behalf of the Ministry and Department of Basic Education, our heartfelt gratitude to the Deputy President of the Republic, Mr Kgalema Motlanthe, for having graced the 2012 National Teaching Awards with his presence.
We thank warmly the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, all government ministers, deputy ministers, parliamentarians and MECs present, for putting all else aside to honour with us South Africa's greatest teachers in whose nurturing arms rest safely the future of the nation’s children.
Indeed we are indebted to all of you here, including the public broadcaster and all media, for making it possible for us to package a memorable 'thank-you' gesture of this magnitude for our teachers. All thanks to the adjudicators for pulling such a mammoth task.
I would like to thank warmly all the sponsors for making this possible. Among them: Telkom Foundation, Vodacom Foundation, SABC 2/SABC Education, General Motors of SA, Independent Newspapers, Paarl Media, Intel, Macmillan Publishers, Oxford SA Publishers, ViaAfrica Publishers, Nestlé, South African Diplomatic Mission to South Africa, Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre and Travel With Flair Events and conferencing.
The valuable support extended to this ceremony, and to education in general, by higher learning institutions, foreign donors and governments, our social partners and the broader South African society is highly welcomed. It is this that shows that education is a societal issue.
It would be remiss of us to overlook our hard-working collective at Basic Education, under the stewardship of Director-General Bobby Soobrayan, who make it possible for us to uphold Batho Pele. Thank you, wholeheartedly, for ensuring we honour the best of our dedicated teachers with all the dignity and respect befitting the noble profession.
The constellation of tributes for educators, from the Deputy President, the Minister of Basic Education, and other speakers, should spur all educators to strive for even greater heights in the pursuit of excellence, for the sake our people, our country and our future.
Deputy President Motlanthe, be assured that the teachers we honoured today have devoted their lives, selflessly, to the development of the nation's human resource capital.
Through their efforts, we can and must meet the challenges of the 21st century and be able as a people to compete with the best in the world. We salute these great men and women for helping us to reach the goal of an improved quality of basic education in our lifetime.
Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the dessert!
