service of the 13 teachers of Diphetogo Primary School, lost to a tragic
accident near Lichtenburg, the Great Hall, North West University,
Mafikeng
1 July 2006
Programme Directors
Minister of Education, Honourable Naledi Pandor
North West MEC for Education, Reverend Tselapedi
COSATU President Willie Madisha
Baruti ba rona
Members of the Bereaved Families
The remaining teachers of Diphetogo Primary School
Children of Diphetogo Primary
The Community of Mafikeng
Bagaetsho Dumelang!
I thank you for this opportunity to bid farewell to a whole troop, those of
our builders of the nation who left tragically in the circumstances, which we
all know. We can never begin to quantify this loss in any real terms. What
happened on Saturday can perhaps be translated to a loss of a total year of
service to our people in excess of 160 years which as a province we lost in one
fell swoop, in one incident in one day!
If we were ever to replace them, it would take us more than a quarter of the
whole century to regain this total service to the call to empower our children
with skills. So when we say as a province that we have lost, it is to that
extent. It is beyond quantification!
In an African perspective, we always say the death of an old man is a loss
of a whole library. In this case, the death of a teacher, a single teacher, is
a loss of a whole reservoir of knowledge that would benefit the entire
village.
At the same time, we cannot as Government ignore the fact that some of the
deaths in our roads are as a result of the attitudes of some of us when we are
on the road. These tragic deaths must therefore make us change those attitudes
on the road. They must make us realise that we are still breadwinners and
nation builders away from society.
We must no longer accept, as if it is inevitable that people will die on our
roads. It should not be! All road users have an obligation to be considerate to
others, to drive carefully and abide by the laws of our roads, to be mindful at
all times that failure to use the road properly and legally leads to the loss
of such innocent lives.
Of very moving importance to us, is the fact that these women met their
death doing what most women instinctively do every step of their lives; that
is, supporting each other in times of need. They were not on a jolly ride; they
were on a sisterly solidarity mission to support one of their own who had lost
a family member.
Do we as a society begin to understand this cost of sisterhood, do we as a
society understand that this expression of sisterhood tragically led to their
dying together as one; do we understand that women would go to such great
lengths to share each others grief and burdens?
We therefore pay tribute through the death of these sisters, to the
sisterhood that brought them together and ultimately led them to their last
hours together. We hope that this sisterhood will remain with us, with their
families, will be supplanted in the children they were teaching, will be
implanted in our communities until the end of time.
Individually in their lives, each of these teachers told a tale of
commitment to improve not only themselves, but other members of their community
and the nation at large.
Also collectively in their death, they serve as a call to the province not
to abandon the responsibility of investing in the skills of our children to
develop our communities.
We want to say today as we bid farewell to these teachers that their loss
affects not just their families, not just Diphetogo Primary School, not just
the community of Mafikeng, but the entire nation of South Africa.
I am most certain that when the schools re-open, we will together with the
school honestly deal with the reality of facing a new day with this loss. We
will be starkly reminded again that this is not a normal loss but one whose
severity can only be equated to a national catastrophe!
Our thoughts and prayers, our condolences as government are therefore with
the families, the school, the Mafikeng community as well as the province and
the country as we come to terms with this darkest hour.
Words fail us! We can only reiterate here Governmentâs sadness at the loss
of these mothers of our nation. May their souls rest in peace!
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
1 July 2006
