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Launch of National Bussiness Initiative
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Education

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EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE MEC FOR EDUCATION : MR STONE SIZANI

AT THE LAUNCH OF THE NATIONAL BUSINESS INITIATIVE : FET PROGRAMME

03 FEBRUARY 2000



Chairperson, honourable guests, representatives of the National Business Initiative, Senior officials in the Department of Education and 
other departments, honourable guests from universities and Technikons, principals of Technical Colleges and Secondary Schools present here, 
ladies and gentleman, on this very prestigious event, allow me to express my heartfelt compliments of the new millennium to all of you.

The first time I addressed you on FET related issues we were all trying to acquaint ourselves and to conceptualise what the new FET 
strategy is all about.

Today, in less than six months we are gathered here to celebrate, to rejoice, to turn a sod and to make a clarion call to all our 
stakeholders that FET is a reality and a force to reckon with. Unto us a new system is born".

I am therefore not going to bore you by going back into what you are already aware of, that is, what FET is all about.

The birth of this new system has sparked interest not only amongst the internal publics of the Education Department but it has put the 
Department of Education on the private sector and international spotlight. It has led to the establishment of the FET Colleges 
Collaboration Fund  funded by DANIDA as a means of enhancing the business contribution to South Africas success, and to education in 
particular.

It is not surprising that this new FET system seems to be generating interest and enthusiasm to all patriotic citizens. The White Paper on 
Further Education and Training indicates clearly that apart from the sheer scale and complexity of the FET system, its importance stems 
from the fact that learners are situated at the cross-roads between General Education and Training GET i.e.Grade 1  9) and entry to Higher 
Education and the world of work. FET is an important allocator of life chances. As such, it provides both initial and second-chance 
opportunities to young people and adults.

Again it is being emphasised that this FET system seeks to ensure that we invest in our youth. Investing in our youth means investing in 
our future.

The ministry of Education (and we all agree with that understanding) recognises that the inherited poor quality, the lack of relevance of 
much of schooling and the collapse of the youth labour market are critical social, economic and educational problems facing our young 
democracy. Over 2 million of nearly 3 million FET learners are to be found in the secondary school system. A further 2 million, 16-27 year 
olds have completed nine or more years of schooling, but lack employment or meaningful opportunities to improve their knowledge, skills and 
qualifications.

Many are at risk of being permanently unemployed and forced to eke out a living on the margins of the society. Our FET policy must directly 
address the transformation of the senior secondary school system, the present technical colleges and community colleges, and the 
development of new, meaningful education and training opportunities for young people outside formal education. (White paper 4:1998)

Ladies and Gentleman what I have just alluded to is written in black and white in the White Paper on FET. I am not thumb-sucking it, not my 
own creative thought. I am emphasizing this because already red lights are flickering that certain groupings amongst the FET stakeholders 
see themselves as having special prerogatives over other stakeholders of the same FET sector. This is a matter of grave concern. Whilst 
acknowledging that, as an MEC for Education, I have not as yet declared the FET institutions, the FET legislation is in place and whatever 
strategy that is being concerted should be within the framework of the legislation.

I am referring to:

* the White Paper on FET : August 1998
* the national Strategy for FET : 1999  2001
* FET Act  1998
It is therefore not by accident that we have agreed as a Department and NBI representatives that we must include Technical High Schools as 
part of the FET institutions who must benefit from the fund in which the situation analysis on FET will be conducted.

The White Paper again is very vocal on this issue when it states:

"Our concept of FET is broad and inclusive. It is designed to promote the integration of education and training, and to enhance learner 
mobility and progression, which are at the heart of the NQF. FET includes learning programmes that will be registered on the NQF from 
levels 2 to 4, and that will correspond with the present Grades 10 and 12 in the schools system, and N1 to N3 in the technical college 
system" (White paper 4 : 1998)

We should not be trapped in a situation whereby we seek to perpetuate the fragmented and individualised approach that the new FET system 
seeks to address.

Prof. Ben Parker (Colts Conference:1997) puts it very well when he described how apartheid victims were conditioned to adopt an 
individualistic approach to everything. "We were conditioned to see ourselves as alone and powerless, as not having the freedom or the 
capacity to change our circumstances".

The irony is that during apartheid years we somehow managed to overcome this victimization and individualisation. We were able to rise 
above it and participate in the struggle through collective action. The liberation movement overcame apartheids attempts to individualise 
us by joining us together and pursuing a shared vision, using common strategies. But after apartheid, we seem to have lost this ability to 
rise above the grim realities of post-apartheid South Africa. When apartheid was trying to disempower us, we became powerful by joining 
together. Now new democracy is trying to empower us, we seem to have become disempowered, individualised and separated.

Ladies and gentlemen we will only be able to record sustainable success for the new FET if we join together.

We are reinventing our government. We are reinventing our education system. The success of that reinvention will depend largely on the 
quality of our leadership. Leaders have a tremendous effect on individual organisations and on the performance of those organisations.

The inability to change the culture has been identified as the most serious obstacles to change or any form of reinvention. We all know 
that the cultures of our institutions are toxic characterised by:

* disintegrating culture of learning and teaching.
* Strained human relations between management and educators, amongst educators and between education and learners.
* Ineffectual leadership and management.
* Lack of shared values.
* Lack of commitment and lack of sense of purpose.
* Lack of team spirit.
* Mismanagement of college funds
The list cannot be exhaustive. We have to change the culture of our institutions away from complacency and entitlement toward initiative 
and empowerment.

It is an acceptable fact that people are generally not born with the essential competencies for success, but these can be developed, honed 
and refined through a variety of specific experiences.

Riches (Management Today : 1997) in an article "Developing leaders of substance" argues that successful leadership hinges on observable, 
learnable set of practices and that it is not something mystical and ethereal that cannot be understood by ordinary people.

Given feedback and practice, those with the desire and persistence to lead can substantially improve their abilities to do so.

It is hoped therefore that the NBI intervention will help you diagnose your organisations, assess your strengths and weaknesses and empower 
you to take change of your institutions and create institutions which are more than ready to confront the challenges of the twenty first 
century.

Of all the categories of institutions in the Department, technical colleges are the worst riddled with conflict. Normatively, colleges are 
supposed to be models for schools but currently that is not the case.

Walters (Management Today : 1999) in his article : Success needs Inspirational leadership describes leadership as a craft skill and, like 
all craft, skills are learned from observing others and adapting the lessons to your own personality.

The first fundamental of leadership is the ability to provide a vision and to paint dreams that excite people to achieve the impossible. It 
is not about dwelling in the past : it is the ability to excite people and persuade them that they can do far more than the present 
situation or resources dictate.

Whilst we recognise that we can still distinguish between PDIs (previously disadvantaged institutions) and PAIs (Previously advantaged 
institutions that should not be the scapegoat for people to lack creativity and dream dreams.

Great leaders have to have eternal energy and an inner strength. They have to be able to keep going and see a way out long after most 
people have given up. They must have the ability to have staying power, both mentally and physically, and come up with the rocket fuel that 
most of us need to prime our will to get going again.

Another key characteristic is the ability to allow people in the team to grow and carry out tasks without interruption. The wise man was 
quoted to have said that what most leaders are good at is destroying people rather than managing and empowering them. Whilst you are task-
oriented you also need to be people oriented. Remember it is in all of us to be wise.

The great word &#145;empowerment means giving power to someone else. Great leaders want others to do things without loosing power 
themselves. The very essence of empowerment is to relinquish power. A good leader does not have power over people but has power with 
people. A good leader is not personality centered but rather principle centered.

Leadership is wanting to see your people grow. They welcome skill and talent and do not take it as a threat. They also allow other people 
the kudos and not take all the praise for themselves.

That is the type of leader that we need in the new millennium. We need to utilise every ounce of intelligence and ingenuity of the rank-and-
file worker in our organisations.

I do not doubt that we all want, a system of education that (quoting the words that one District Manager used in a Strategic Planning 
Workshop), even the smallest worm in the organisation can be proud of and committed to, where all employees have an opportunity to 
contribute, learn, grow and advance based on merit, not politics, favouritism or background.

We want our people to feel respected, treated fairly, listened to and involved.

Above we want satisfaction from accomplishments and friendships, balanced personal and professional lives and more important to have fun in 
our endeavours.

That is the challenge of all of those who call themselves leaders. NBI is affording us opportunity to seriously think about these things, 
to re-evaluate every assumption we have had previously about what ought to be and to subject to some form of enquiry every behaviour and 
practice that we have so much cherished that is neither in our interest nor in the interest of the communities we are serving.

Embrace this opportunity, cherish it, use it, learn from it and sooner or later we will be the Mahatma Ghandis of the 21st century, who are 
able to get ordinary people to do extra-ordinary things.

All the best wishes and success in your endeavours to transform our education system.



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