Ladies and gentlemen.
As the Minister of Higher Education and Training, I am pleased to see that the residents of Mhlontlo, working closely with their municipality under his Excellency the Mayor Thandekile Sabisa, have taken the initiative to launch Umfundaze the Mhlontlo Local Municipality Trust Fund for the benefit of the children of the area.
It goes without saying that abantwana balendawo bazakuxhamla ngale Trust Fund. Ngokunjalo, this Trust Fund will enable Mhlontlo Municipality to benefit through the skills to be acquired by the youth of this area. Lonto izakusiza uphuhliso apha ebaThenjini. Sivuyisana nolutsha oluzakuxhamla kunye nawowonke umphakathi waku Tsolo nakuQumbu, idolophu eziphantsi komasipala waseMhlontlo.
As the Minister of Higher Education and Training, I have been tasked by the State President, the Hounorable Jacob Zuma, to coordinate outcome 5 of the twelve approved national outcomes, that is, “A skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path”. Your Trust Fund initiative, aimed at empowering the youth, speaks directly to the vision of the President and Cabinet.
As a result I felt that I must be with you here as you launch this Trust Fund. I hope that other municipalities will draw lessons from your outstanding initiative. The launch of this Trust Fund comes when the Auditor-General, Terence Nombembe, has just audited all the country’s municipalities. He completed this task at the end of June 2013.
Bantu bakuthi, the Auditor General is deeply concerned about the lack of skills at municipal level and how this impacts negatively on service delivery. Masiqalise ngoku ukufaka imali kulengxowa yaleTrust Fund so that the government can see that we are responding positively to the concerns of the Auditor General.
Let us provide our children with viable, relevant education and put our critics to shame. Let us remember that Transkei has produced a number of talented, learned leaders. These include the likes of former President Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki and Oliver Tambo all of whom cut their teeth at Fort Hare college. All three were leading figures of the African National Congress le esiphetheyo namhlanje esizisela uphuhliso ezilalini.
We must produce more graduates of this calibre and, my friends, there is no reason why we should not do so.The area of Mhlontlo has produced two judges, both since called to higher service, Judges Patrick Maqubela and Fikile Bam. Brigalia Bam, known affectionately as Ma Bam, the retired chairperson of the Independent Electoral Committee (IEC), an elder sister of Judge Fikile Bam, also comes from Tsolo in Mhlontlo Municipality. AC Jordan the author of Inqqumbo Yeminyana, that great classic novel of Xhosa literature, naye ngowalapha Mbokothwana village, kwalapha kuTsolo. Unyana wakhe, uPallo, is an ANC intellectual and presently a member of the national parliament in Cape Town.
Singabahlali base Mhlontlo we should be proud of these leaders and should follow in their footsteps. The formation of this Trust Fund is a step in the right direction. Masiyivuyeleni le Trust Fund, sizidle ngayo. More than ever before we need graduates in this country who will help run this country and ensure that izidingo zabantu ziyafikelela kubo ingakumbi ezilalini.
When Oliver Tambo was President of the ANC in exile, he made it a point that the movement’s cadres acquired skills that would be required in post-apartheid South Africa. Under his leadership, ANC cadres were sent to various countries to acquire the necessary skills. Indeed Tambo, visionary that he was, was proven right as those ANC cadres came to occupy important positions in the government and business sectors after apartheid.
However, more skills are still needed to run this country and hence the importance of this Trust Fund benefitting local children. There are so many skills that are needed to run Mhlontlo Municipality and I hope that beneficiaries of this Fund will receive these skills and that they will use them to serve and strengthen their home area.
These skills, to name a few only, cover financial management, engineering, town planning, research, tourism and communications. But skills do not exist in a vacuum: over and above this, knowledge of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) is essential for any municipal worker. Students benefitting from this Trust Fund and expected to serve Mhlontlo Municipality upon the completion of their studies, should familiarise themselves with the MFMA.
Sizwe sabaThembu, we should not only think about universities when we recommend beneficiaries for the Trust fund. There are also Further Education and Training colleges which offer the kind of skills that could benefit this municipality. In this part of the Eastern Cape we have the King Sabata Dalindyebo FET college with branches in places like Mthatha, Engcobo and Libode.
KSD FET College offers the kind of skills that this municipality requires ranging from engineering to human resource management, communication and accounting. We should not make the mistake of thinking that FET colleges are low level institutions. Our forbearers and pioneers of the liberation struggle in the 19th and early 20th centuries, like John Dube and John Tengo Jabuvu, were attached to FET oriented institutions such as Lovedale and Ohlange. They encouraged students to acquire vocational skills and be self-sufficient.
In addition, my department, Higher Education and Training, is more than willing to partner with you on municipal issues through the Local Government SETA. The Local Government SETA can identify needs and intervene especially in areas of scarce and critical skills that are required to assist Mhlontlo municipality to realise its vision and follow the path of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP).
Let me take this opportunity to thank Old Mutual for committing R50 000 which has ensured that today’s function is fully covered. You are playing an exceptional role. These days, many businesses have divisions devoted to social responsibility. But I must say that the business community in this country has a lot of ground to make up, and needs to redouble as Old Mutual has done its contributions in this area.
We as the Department of Higher Education and Training, are building a university in the heart of Kimberley in the Sol Plaatjie municipality. But go and have a look at Galeshewe, the nearby township, ngeke nje utsho ukuba there was mining activity in the area dating back to the 19th century when imperialists like Cecil John Rhodes enriched themselves through the minerals of this country.
The capitalists of the time like Rhodes, and his successors subsequently, exploited our people until they dropped, and Galeshewe was left to rot by the apartheid rulers and the business community.
Only after 1994 when the ANC took over did the government began developing the township. The people of Tsolo, Qumbu and other towns of the Transkei had similar experiences around mine exploitation. Baninzi abantu balendawo that worked in the mines who were terribly exploited and given a pittance xa bethatha umhlalaphantsi. Such miners baphila ngendodla as we speak.
NgesiZulu kuthiwa badla imbuya ngothi, in other words bayahlupheka. The mine bosses often do not bother to find out about the well-being of the miners after retirement, and do not even know nokuthuthi bahlalaphi those ex-miners. These are the people whose children should be considered for lomfundaze ocetshwayo and that is why I say that Old Mutual is playing an exceptional role. You have succeeded where other businesses have failed.
I have also heard that apart from paying for today’s expenses, Old Mutual may commit some funds towards this new Trust Fund. We welcome this and hope that other big businesses will soon follow along this path.
Let me also appeal to osomabhizinisi bakuTsolo naku Qumbu to invest kwesisikhwama somfundazwe. Indima yenu mayicace, maqabane. Akhe niphose ilitshe esivivaneni. Ndizakubacela abaholi bendabuka ukuthi babambisane no Mayor and the Trustees of the Fund in ensuring that this initiative is a success.
Lastly, I would like to thank Mxolisi Hoboyi and those who have worked closely with him in initiating this Trust Fund. This is what all unionists like you should do: plough back to our communities the skills, networks and experiences of which they are in dire need so that they are able to develop and prosper. This is exactly what Govan Mbeki did after completion of his studies at Fort Hare. As a Marxist, imbued with socialist ideas, he went to live eNqamakwe eDutywa.
Govan Mbeki humbly chose to live with amaqaba (the so-called uncivilized) instead of with amagqobhoka (the civilized) and encouraged all around him to be self-sufficient. This is what this Trust Fund seeks to achieve for the people of Mhlontlo Municipality. It must achieve just that, fellow citizens.
Ndiyabulela mawethu. Mazenethole.
