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Appointment of Jonathan Godden
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Education

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GODDEN TO 'KICK BUTT' TO SAVE EC EDUCATION
 By Bongani Siqoko
Educational Reporter

EAST LONDON -- Life for incompetent education officials may change soon in the Department of Education with the appointment of first 
superintendent-general Jonathan Godden, 38.
Introducing him to the media, Education MEC Stone Sizani said he had hired him "to kick butt". And he has vowed to do exactly that. Above 
all he wants to redeem the department's image.
Godden is aware that he is joining a department which has been in crisis for a long time and has set himself at least two years to clean up 
the mess -- which will be a crunch period in the life of the department. And he will allow no one to spoil his job.

"I am going to be very hard on managers who are not performing. This is my mandate and my brief. The approach is get tough and nothing 
else," explained Godden.
"I do not want to spend the next two years making apologies for things that have not been done."
Asked if he is really a "butt-kicker", Godden answered with a broad smile: "I will have to kick butt in order to turn things around here. 
Yes, I am not going to be soft."
 Godden has already identified some of the problems which have caused this department to go from bad to worse. One of those is poor 
financial management.
 A strong believer in sound financial management and a strong leader, Godden has promised to come up with an answer to this very soon. 
"Together with the MEC and some senior officials we are committed to bring about change in this particular case."
 The department's framework of 41 districts across the six regions was not a workable one, he remarked.

He claimed that the framework had one flaw -- it neglects the districts. It leaves district offices under-resourced, poorly managed and 
uninformed, not well equipped and poorly funded, said Godden.
 "This is the essence of change I want to bring to fast-track transformation of this department," he added
 .The other problem is the centralised budget system, which does not take into account the historical backlog.
The MECs have to address the backlog, whereas the budget does not. "This province and KwaZulu-Natal have always been poor and people have 
to understand that," he said.
Lack of accountability of teachers, learners and managers, is another problem which begs his immediate attention. "We need to empower the 
community to hold the educationists responsible and accountable for everything.
"If there is one problem which is common in all levels of government, it has to be the overload of policy initiatives. This was a problem 
as it meant dealing with a lot of policy issues at the same time. And this leads to a skewed implementation process."
Godden plans to focus on those policies that are at the heart of the transformation process. This means implementing a few policies well.

Godden has a wealth of experience in education. He started teaching after graduating from Rhodes University in the early 1980's. He taught 
English in Manenberg, Cape Town, only to quit after a year.
After that he worked for a non-governmental organisation for 10 years. During that time he also spent short stints in detention. He was 
jailed for two years between 1986 and 1987.
He joined the African National Congress education desk in 1990, and soon left to study for his masters degree in Paris. He also spent some 
time at Essex University in the United Kingdom.

Godden lives in Beacon Bay with his wife Christine and two children.

Daily Dispatch, 4 September 1999

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