Mr Phalatse, Chairman of Da Vinci Holdings
Prof Marcus, Chairman of the Da Vinci Institute Board; Prof Anderson, CEO/Vice-Chancellor of Da Vinci Members of the Da Vinci Council;
Visiting Chancellors and Vice Chancellors: Members of the Institute Faculty;
Our distinguished Chancellor Designate; The Kieswetter Family;
Mr Victor Ritchie: ladies and gentlemen; friends all
We have gathered here primarily to share in the installation of Ed Kieswetter as the Chancellor of the Da Vinci Institute. That is, without doubt, a very good reason to gather in celebration. To my mind, however, that is only one reason – a very important one, but one reason among a few.
I would have this gathering be convened in praise of learning. The poet Bertolt Brecht wrote a poem titled, “In praise of Learning”. It reads
Learn the elementary things!
For those whose time has come
It is never too late!
Learn the ABC. It won’t be enough But learn it, don’t be dismayed by it! Begin! You must know everything. You must take over the leadership. Learn, man in the asylum!
Learn, man in the prison! Learn, woman in the kitchen! Learn, sixty year olds!
You must take over the leadership.
Seek out the school, you who are homeless. Acquire knowledge, you who shiver!
You who are hungry, reach for the book: It is a weapon.
The leadership.
So, when we gather as friends of the da Vinci Institute, we must do so in praise of learning. We must do so because of the nature of the Institute. It is an institution designed to advance the knowledge base of people who work and who need to expand their horizons. This makes it different from tertiary institutions established primarily for school-leavers. The issues of context and systems are so fundamentally important for a learning environment focused on workplace performance. So, yes, it has to be, as Brecht reminds us, about learning the ABC, but more importantly, it is recognising that knowing the ABC is not enough.
This Institute has appointed as Chancellor, a person whose life is the embodiment of the quest for lifelong learning. I can only read his CV in total awe – his study has seen him attain qualifications in Electrical Engineering, Education, Business Administration and Taxation. When one adds to that diverse list, the reality that each discipline has a number of layers of study – so ‘education’ includes a diploma in Engineering Education, a Bachelors Degree focused on the teaching of Mathematics and Science and a Masters Degree in Cognitive Development.
So, if Bertolt Brecht were writing of the Chancellor-designate, he would write : Learn school-leaver, Learn! Learn, Engineering Technician, Learn! , Learn educator, Learn!, Learn banker, Learn! Learn tax administrator, Learn! Learn, CEO, Learn!
But, if that is all there is to Ed Kieswetter, then we can tick the box that would confirm him as a highly learned individual. But, being a highly learned individual is nothing if he does not live out what he is and the values he holds dear. When I pause and reflect on the many academic achievements that come to mind, the one issue that heightens the quality of the achievements is that Edward did not leave school and spend the next ten years at university accumulating a string of degrees. The bulk of these he attained, while holding down a paid job. Moreover, he was never merely content to study in order to add another accolade to his name.
The Ed Kieswetter I know has devoted most of his non-working hours in the service of his community through the church. I recall how he explained the challenges of juggling work, spirituality, study and family. How he would, only if asked, explain what his weekends were like. At one point, I asked him if he needed to do the things that he’d just told me of – preaching on a Sunday, training priests, visiting the sick in hospital, and his reply was, “I don’t have to but I want to.”
For people who do not know this, Ed is also an exceedingly accomplished musician. I recall an interview with his son Mattheu, now a highly skilled conductor in own name and right, who described his inspiration as that moment, when at the age of three he saw his father conduct the church choir. Now, both his sons, Lance and Mattheu, are studying music in Scotland.
But similarly we should ask whether in the endeavour to succeed, any part of family life has ever been sacrificed. And don't even bother guessing – the answer is a very resounding no!
The one feature that stands out about Ed for me, is that “half-hearted” is not a word that features in his vocabulary. To the best of my knowledge he has only taken up positions that he has been fully committed to. Apart from his jobs – at Eskom, where he was both awarded Boss of the Year and received the Productivity Institute’s Gold award for Sustainable Business Transformation; or at Firstrand, where he was asked to Preside over the Institute of Bankers; or at South African Revenue Service (SARS) , where he established the Large Business Office and was our representative on the International Centre for Tax Administrations or in his present job, as CEO of Alexander Forbes where he has driven the battle for ethics in business really hard, Ed’s life is marked by total commitment.
The quotation from him to students at the University of the Free State, for me, sums up his life in a single sentence, “If you have nothing to die for, then what is there to live for?”
It will, of course, be remiss of me not to bask in the reflected glory of your Chancellor. It is a matter of great pride that we grew up in the same township, went to the same high school, attended the same college – you will appreciate that that sameness was a result of apartheid designation of Group Areas and Separate Education, not of individual choice – his glory and achievements have nothing to do with me. His achievements are a consequence of his hunger and thirst for knowledge, and the relentless commitment to give the very most of himself.
In celebration of Ed Kieswetter, your soon-to-be-Chancellor; Ed Kieswetter the inspiration; Ed Kieswetter, my friend and Ed Kieswetter, the accomplished, I want to end with a few lines from the poem, “Freedom’s Plow” by Langston Hughes.
When a man starts with nothing, When a man starts out with his hands Empty, but clean,
When a man starts out to build a world, He starts first with himself
And the faith that is in his heart – The strength there
The will to build.
First in the heart is the dream.
Then the mind starts seeking a way. His eyes look out on the world,
On the great wooded world, On the rich soil of the world, On the rivers of the world.
The eyes see there materials for building, See the difficulties, too, and the obstacles. The hand seeks tools to cut the wood,
To till the soil, and harness the power of the waters. Then the hand seeks out other hands to help,
A community of hands to help –
Thus the dream becomes not one man’s dream alone, But a community dream.
Not my dream alone, but our dream. Not my world alone,
But your world and my world, Belonging to all the hands who build.
Ed, I’d like to congratulate you on this installation and I do so on my own behalf, on behalf of my family, on behalf of the many friends and admirers, and I also take liberty to do so on behalf of all University Chancellors – welcome to the club!
Thank you all.
