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TSA graduation ceremony
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Premier's Office

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EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

SPEECH BY PREMIER M.A STOFILE

AT THE TECHNIKON S.A GRADUATION CEREMONY

ON  4 SEPTEMBER 1997



Chancellor  Dr NH Motlana
 Vice Chancellor  Prof AIH Buitendacht
 Vice Principals - N. Morgan and DM Moore
 Chairperson, Members of the Council
 Members of the teaching and administrative staff
 Graduates, parents, ladies and gentlemen,

I am deeply honoured to have been invited to celebrate with you on this auspicious occasion.

May I at the outset congratulate all of you who are graduating this evening. I also want to congratulate and thank your parents and 
families for the sacrifices and hardship they have endured to enable you to be what you are today.

It is with a great sense of pride also that I observe how this institution has grown, not only quantitatively by increasing its numbers and 
regional satellites, but also qualitatively by locating itself strategically within the national agenda of inter- alia:

* economic development
* increasing access and opportunity for the disadvantaged.

The paradigm shift that your institution has undergone will contribute immensely towards the mission of re  building our country and 
creating an enabling environment for the equitable distribution of its resources.

As the government, private sector and all organs of civil society are reviewing their contribution to, and rededicating themselves to their 
contribution to, and rededicating themselves to the reconstruction of our country through the Masakhane Campaign, it is critical that we 
briefly examine the role that tertiary institutions in general and Technikon S.A in particular can play.

Often we get reports and sometimes interact personally with people from countries in Asia and the Pacific Rim that are seen as success 
stories in terms of their economic development and domination of World Markets. What we often fail to acknowledge however, is that at the 
centre of that success lies a well thought out, long term strategy that has human resource development as its supreme priority. Human 
resource development, ladies and gentlemen is the nucleus of all growth. The wisest investment we can make to guarantee as stable South 
Africa for the coming generations is investment in our people.

The character of Technikon S.A as a distance learning institution places it in a more strategic position to deal with these challenges 
because it reaches out to more people than residential institutions. The successful application of it programme will therefore naturally 
empower more South Africans.

Also, the location of the Technikon in regions should enable it to respond to the unique challenges and demographics of each region. I do 
not intend to preach to academics and technocrats about the levels of illiteracy and innumeracy faced by the Eastern Cape, but I think we 
shall agree that the litmus tests to measure the efficacy of your programme is the extent to which they address or fail to address the 
needs of those citizens who do not even have a matric certificate. What they have in abundance is an insatiable quest for learning and 
training. The solution in this regard lies in the provision of short courses in the fields of

* business management
* training of civil servants
* governance
* environmental awareness, etc.
One of the stark realities of the Eastern Cape is that it is a vast, rural Province. In the past, programmes of our Technikons and 
Universities have tended to focus only on communities in urban areas. Today I want to make special appeal to all our institutions to 
include rural development in their mission and planning. The provision of running water and access roads requires engineering expertise. At 
the moment these services are provided mainly by consultants at astronomical amounts. The involvement of your personnel will certainly 
provide a huge relief to our budget.

Information Technology and partnership are some of the vehicles we can use to engage such communities. In this regard the Eastern Cape 
government signed a Sister State  Province Agreement with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA on 30 January 1997. We hope that one of 
the major spin offs of this agreement will be co  operation with the Massachsetts Institute of Technlogy ( MIT).

Again on 23 July 1997 a representative of Massachusetts met role  players in the Province who are instrumental in the implementation of 
the agreement. Technikon South Africa was represented in this meeting by Ms R.G.Wessels, your Tutor Manager in this region. We expect all 
our institutions to grab this opportunity with both hands.

Chairperson let me say a few words to the graduates.

It goes without saying that this is the most exciting period of your lives. It is exciting because it opens a window of opportunity for you 
and puts you in an advantaged position to conquer the world. I know very well that it is also a confusing period, confusing because of the 
high expectations that we have on you.

All the missions and programmes mentioned above are doomed if they are not matched by eagerness and commitment on your part to contribute 
to the reconstruction and reconciliation of our country.

Your technikon education has empowered you with these skills that our country desperately needs. I encourage you to use this skill not only 
to develop yourselves but also for the benefit of the whole nation.

I wish you every success in your future careers.

Thank you.

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