Learn from the Boks and give it all you've got, KZN premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube urges matrics

KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube says the province has pinned its hopes on finance minister Enoch Godongwana to lift some of its austerity measures, which would address some challenges facing the education sector.

These challenges centred on the financial dilemmas schools find themselves in, together with unfilled teacher posts which prompted a march by teacher union South African Teachers Union (Sadtu) in Durban earlier this month.

Dube-Ncube was speaking after a visit to Umlazi Comprehensive Technical High School (Comtech), where matriculants wrote their first English paper on Monday.

“We have the grievances detailed in the memorandum. The issues are genuine. But there have been challenges with the fiscus. We are confident that the minister would deal with those challenges,” said Dube-Ncube.

She said the province was thrown another challenge with adverse weather conditions which saw more than 42 schools being damaged this month.

“We are very grateful to be here at Umlazi Comtech. It's just to give the learners the assurance that they are not alone. We are here to assure them that they can do it.

“We believe in them. They have worked very hard during this weekend and we really want to say they must calm down. They must not rush, they must not panic. We want them to read the question and understand it fully and attempt the question.”

The premier, who matriculated at KwaShaka High School in the same township, called on the community, parents and guardians of matriculants to avoid disturbing them during this critical period.

“This is their last chance. This is their life. If you break the life of our child at this time, you would have destroyed the child. This child would have been in school for 13 years in preparation for this,” said Dube-Ncube.

She also appealed for the youngsters to invoke the spirit of the triumphant Springbok rugby team.

“When you want something, you go for it with everything you have. Don't let anything stand between you and your lifetime joy and satisfaction. You have got to just push on, soldier on, take it until your last breath.”

Deputy education minister Dr Reginah Mhaule said her visit was aimed at rallying behind the province, one of the biggest in the country.

"[All] Provinces are very important, but the two provinces KZN and Gauteng are key. They carry the biggest numbers. If KZN gets it right, then the rest of the country [will do the same],” said Mhaule.

“We encourage [pupils] to stay focussed, listen to teachers. Let them go back and learn until they write the last paper.”

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