Programme director
The Director-General for Republic of South Africa, Dr Cassius Lubisi
Dignitaries present
Ladies and gentlemen
All protocol observed
We wish to express our delight for being part of this occasion where we are meeting to bid farewell to a colleague, a friend, a fellow activists and one the most valued public servants whose contribution towards shaping the education landscape in our province will forever be a monument to his commitment to change the lives of our people.
Programme director, farewells are by their very nature bitter-sweet occasions for the simple reason that they bring home the reality that one with whom we manned the trenches of changing the lot of our people will no longer within a touching distance to ourselves. But, at the same time, they also open a window of endless opportunities for the colleague who is leaving but they create linkages between us with whoever our departing friend will interact with in his new portfolio.
Today’s occasion, where we are meeting to bid farewell to Dr Cassius Lubisi, who has been called to, if you excuse the pun, higher service in the top office in the land is no exception. We have no doubt that most of us who are gathered here are elated at the fact that one of our own will now serve the highest office in the land, but at same time we fill an immense sense of loss that we will lose someone in our public service whose clarity of thought, coupled with his single-mindedness and dedication to the cause of his people was, by all account, unmatched.
Programme director, those in the know say that there are two kinds of people: those who change the world and those who become part of change. Many of us fall in the latter category. Those who change the world are special people who are endowed with the foresight to see things before they happen, who are constantly pre-occupied with trying to understand the terrain in which they operate and seek solutions to both the current the challenges and those that are not even on the horizon. Dr Lubisi is such a person. We have no doubt that we are speaking for all the people who are here when we say that Dr Lubisi’s contribution towards changing the education landscape of this province is an achievement of monumental proportions.
For starters, KwaZulu-Natal has the biggest budget for education in the country, big enough to be the budget of a small country. Being at the helm of such a department requires special skills. But more importantly it requires someone who understands that when you are in government your decisions have a direct impact on the lives of the people and the future of the country.
We all know that education is the singularly most important gift that we can give to our children. In this fast paced world of globalisation, it has become clear that nations that prosper are those that invest in the future of their children. But no matter how noble your intentions and how big your budget is you cannot achieve your goals of empowering the nation with education if you don’t have people who are agents of change, steering the nation’s vessel of education.
We all know that for a long time the Department of Education in our province was, to put it mildly in a topsy-turvy state, until 2004 when our movement the African National Congress took power in the province. It took the ingenuity and administrative skills of Dr Lubisi, working with the whole department under the guidance of the then MEC for Education, Ina Cronje as well as current MEC Senzo Mchunu, to lift the education department from the doldrums of under-performance. Today, the department of education is in a better state more than any other time in the evolution of our new democratic dispensation. The fact that the our province’s Matric Class of 2009 was the best performer attests to the tangible change that Dr Lubisi, working with the Members of the Executive Council, had brought to the Department. For this, we are grateful as a province.
We also understand that assuming the position of Head of Department or Director-General in any department, particularly in a country that is undergoing transformation, demands a high level of maturity and for one to be well-versed with all the goals of and objectives of our transformation agenda. We appreciate that those dedicated and brave enough to accept such posts, at times, become disillusioned because of the contending interests from diverse formations which end up making the deployee seem, at least to the media and other information peddlers with their own interests, like an incompetent, heartless and anti-progress individual. Our advice to you this evening is that these detractors should be accepted as the hazard that comes with the territory.
The trick, though, is being able to differentiate between real and genuine concerns and cheap politicking or posturing. We are proud that you have been able to maintain your steadfastness while willing to listen and act on counsel even from ordinary people. That is the mark of a true leader.
Before we conclude there are few things that we have observed working with Dr Lubisi over the years. As all of you know, Dr Lubisi is an academic par excellence, having graduated in one the top universities in the world. However, in spite of his accomplishment he remains a down to earth and humble person who is enriched more by the difference that he is making in the life of his people than being obsessed with his hard-to-match accomplishments.
Dr Lubisi is not like your run of the mill academic whose fetish is to constantly analyse the world without proffering solutions. He is a doer and a man of action. But more importantly, Dr Lubisi is a total cadre who is steeped in the traditions and the culture of our movement.
We are enriched by the fact that Dr Lubisi worked with us and wish him everything of the best in his new challenge.
Ndlelanhle ndoda yamadoda! Asingabazi ukuthi uzokwenza kahle nalapho uya khona! Aluta Continua!
