Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the opening of the Marobathota High School and Evelyn Lekganyane Clinic, Capricorn, Limpopo
Programme Director,
Minister of Basic Education, Ms Angie Motshekga,
Premier of Limpopo, Mr Chupu Stan Mathabatha,
His Grace the Right Reverend Bishop Dr BE Lekganyane,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Mayor of Capricorn Municipality
MECs and councillors,
The leadership of the ZCC,
Head of the Evelyn Lekganyane Clinic, Sister Mapara,
Acting Principal of Marobathota High School, Mr Rampedi,
Chairperson and members of the School Governing Body,
Parents and learners,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great honour to be present at this important handover of the refurbished and extended facilities of the Marobathota High School and Evelyn Lekganyane Clinic.
Today, we are celebrating an outstanding example of collaboration between government and our social partners.
We are celebrating the vision and the commitment of Bishop Lekganyane and the entire Zion Christian Church to the development of the youth and the well-being of the people of this area.
It is a clear and irrefutable statement that the Church is concerned not only with matters of the soul, but also with relieving the burden of poverty and empowering all people to realise their potential.
It is a reminder of the essential role that religious leaders have played in building cohesive communities.
Throughout our history, communities of faith in South Africa have championed the cause of the poor and marginalised, the oppressed and the dispossessed.
Today, they are working in partnership with government to build a better life for all South Africans.
The initiatives that we are celebrating today contribute directly to at least two critical policy objectives of this administration – the improved quality of basic education and improved health outcomes.
Together, we must address with urgency backlogs in the provision of school and health infrastructure.
These backlogs in public infrastructure impact negatively on our children’s basic rights to a decent basic education and to health, safety and dignity within educational facilities.
They impact on the right of our people to access health care services, and, in the most severe cases, on their right to life and dignity.
The work that has been undertaken here at the Marobathota High School forms part of a broader national effort to build a positive school environment.
It is clear that our school infrastructure build programme is beginning to bear fruits for our people.
Our action plan for basic education says that:
“We must ensure that the physical infrastructure and environment of every school inspire learners to want to come to school and learn, and teachers to teach.”
A positive school environment is defined as a school having appropriate facilities, well-managed classrooms, available school-based health support, and a clear, fair disciplinary policy.
We know from experience that poorly designed schools give an impression that learners are a reflection of their school: undervalued, and uncared for.
And yet, the learners of our country are our most dear and most valued national asset – and they need to be treated as such.
Directly linked to the physical infrastructure, we are committed to use schools as vehicles for promoting access to a range of public services among learners in areas such as health, poverty alleviation, psychosocial support, sport and culture.
That is why we have invested significantly in a package of care and support services available to all schools.
We are pleased that this school is part of our pro-poor initiatives, such as the no fee school policy and the National School Nutrition Programme.
We will be rolling out other programmes, such as the National School Deworming Programme and National School Hygiene Programme, among others.
These programmes are not incremental; they are fundamental.
The apartheid legacy of substandard education aimed to ensure that black South Africans were nothing more than a source of unskilled labour for the economy.
They were said to be ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water’.
The low standard of education was paired with inferior school infrastructure, which meant no access to water, sanitation or electricity.
For instance, by the end of apartheid, 59 percent of schools were without electricity, 34 percent without water, 12 percent without toilets and 82 percent without libraries.
Now, 25 years since the advent of democracy, despite the backlogs that still remain, a lot has been achieved.
Some 80 percent of learners attend no fee schools.
Some nine million learners are fed nutritious meals every school day.
Matric results have consistently shown an upward trajectory of above 70 percent in the last 10 years.
This has been achieved through a deliberate programme to undo the legacy of apartheid education mismanagement and poor infrastructure planning.
We have had to confront the reality that several years into our democracy, children were still learning under trees, some schools were constructed from inappropriate materials, such as mud, plankie and asbestos.
We set about correcting this through the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative – or ASIDI.
To date, over 210 state-of-the-art schools have been completed.
We also rolled out basic services such as water, libraries, electricity and appropriate sanitation.
We have also launched the Sanitation Appropriate for Education – or SAFE – intiative, which aims to provide decent sanitation to all school-going learners as a matter of priority.
We are working with the private sector and development partners to eradicate pit latrines and other inappropriate sanitation facilities in all our schools within the next three years.
Since the launch of SAFE in August last year, some 234 projects out of nearly 3,900 sanitation projects have been completed.
An additional 415 SAFE initiatives and a further 787 provincial sanitation projects are being implemented in the current financial year.
Our experience tells us that school infrastructure is the foundation, but effective learning requires a comprehensive approach that addresses not only all aspects of the teaching and learning experience, but also the social conditions under which learners live.
This means we need to support and equip the leadership of the school, the educators and the parents to ensure a conducive and empowering environment.
We need to work together as school communities to end the scourge of violence in our schools.
This starts in our homes, on our streets, in our community centres, in our churches, mosques, synagogues and temples.
We cannot allow any learner to be injured or killed by another learner, and we cannot allow our schools to become places of fear.
They must be places where learners can be safe and cared for.
Allow me to commend the leadership, the staff, the parents and the learners of Marobathota High School for making this school a site of learning and development, of renewal and progress.
You make this community proud and you make our country proud.
Programme Director,
Ladies and gentlemen,
We feel a similar pride when we think about the outstanding work of the Evelyn Lekganyane Clinic.
From its establishment, the clinic has made a vital contribution to the health and well-being of the community.
It has brought together the philanthropic vision of Bishop Lekganyane, the resources and commitment of the Kganya Benefits Fund Trust, and the capabilities of the Limpopo Department of Health to diligently serve the needs of the people.
We are certain that the extension to the clinic will contribute to the provision of even better services, more effectively and more efficiently.
We commend the Kganya Trust for this new investment and for the extensive efforts undertaken to make it a reality.
As we move towards the introduction of a National Health Insurance, we want each and every health facility to prepare for implementation by ensuring it meets the necessary quality standards.
Initiatives such as these are taking us closer to realising our collective national efforts to make quality health care accessible to all.
We deeply appreciate the efforts of all those health workers who patiently provide care to everyone who walks through the doors of this clinic.
This clinic is a worthy tribute to the life and contribution of Evelyn Lekganyane and a priceless investment in the people of this area.
It is through partnerships like this that we will build the nation that our people need and deserve – a nation where we have defeated poverty and hunger, homelessness and disease, and where all people may live in peace and contentment.
Although the task before us is daunting, we need to harness the energy, expertise and the passion of all stakeholders to provide the physical infrastructure that enables us to education our children and care for our people.
We are in this together, and working together, we will succeed.
I thank you.
