Hon Chairperson, I thank you for this opportunity. Hon Minister, Deputy Ministers, chairperson of the portfolio committee, members, ladies and gentlemen, let me start by quoting from the Constitution of our country: "... to improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person".
So declares the preamble to the South African Constitution to all entrusted with the responsibility of improving the quality of life of our people. The link between the quality of education and the quality of the lives they lead cannot be disputed.
A casual look at the legacy of apartheid tells a tale of life embedded with opportunities for one section of society and another for whom the capacity to exploit these opportunities has been limited through exposure to poor- quality education under apartheid.
In order for us to improve the quality of life and free the potential of South Africans, the quality of education must improve. What constitutes quality education for the ordinary folk of the Republic is a schooling environment that provides opportunities for learners to read and write, to count and solve mathematical enquiries, to speak with confidence and to be eager to participate in all activities.
The expectation of the populace, legislatures and government is, simply, to have an education system that provides basic and advanced skills that empower all citizens to lead productive lives and be active participants in the economy.
To put this matter into the proper context, any mandate deriving from the Constitution is indisputable. Accordingly, and in view of the information at our disposal, it is irrefutable that our mandate seeks for us to achieve the following: successful schools that have quality leadership, management and governance practices; quality teachers who create quality teaching and learning environments, and who do quality planning and preparation of lessons; quality structures, systems and processes; and quality intervention programmes by department officials, which include the training of educators and accelerated curriculum delivery.
One of the biggest challenges - and, at times, an obstacle - is the belief that funding will resolve the challenges that face education, hon Mpontshane and hon Kloppers-Lourens. I want us to consider the example of a newly constructed primary school with proper buildings, adequate staffing in terms of the current educator provisioning model of 1:4, and monetary allocation adequate to pay for teaching support material. In this case, government has put in place the necessary funding. If such a school underperforms, what is the cause of such underperformance? Many such examples exist in all our nine provinces, which is an indicator that the attainment of quality education is not limited to funding.
Cha, ayisebenzi. [No, it does not work.]
According to the SA Quality Institute, the SAQI, a quality school or institution must develop a quality model based on the following: values, leadership, improvement plans, communication, and tools and techniques.
Further, the characteristics of a quality school are as follows: a school that focuses on learner needs; invests in people; treats complaints as an opportunity to learn; encourages creativity and innovation, where everybody has a leadership role; and does not use fear to motivate performance.
Therefore, we can't go back to the old system of inspectors. We have to try to find a way ...
... Ntate Kganyago, gore re kgone go humana batho. Re oket?a maikarabelo go motho o mongwe le o mongwe, gore batho kamoka ba kgone go ?oma, e sego fela gore re boele morago re dire t?ela t?a aparteite, ga di ?ome. (Translation of Sepedi paragraph follows)
[... to access the right people, Mr Kganyago. We will appeal to each and everyone of them to work efficiently and not just use the methods that were used during the apartheid era - those will not work.]
The ANC held an event at Kliptown in Soweto, at Walter Sisulu Square, to launch a mass mobilisation campaign in education. The message on the distributed pamphlet read, "The power to improve education lies with all of us. We call on all department officials, teachers and students to work ..."
We see that this has been copied by the Premier of the Western Cape, who has been launching a mass mobilisation campaign in education. We thank the DA for working together with us in promoting quality education, because we can see that you understand the message clearly. And that is what we are talking about as the ANC: working together, we can improve the lives of the children out there.
If we talk about the promotion of mother-tongue languages, it must not be limited to Afrikaans. Let this apply to all the other languages. It's correct to speak about this issue in that context, and not only to promote and protect Afrikaans. So we agree about the context.
I think the public is also confused: Julius Malema has been mentioned so many times in Parliament I might start thinking he is a Member of Parliament. He is not a member. [Interjections.] So when we discuss matters here, we need to understand ... If you want to provide such lessons, you must remember the legacy of apartheid some of us suffered. For instance, that's why I can't speak Afrikaans. I was born at the time when Afrikaans was banned in Soweto. So we have to remember those experiences. We have to remember where we come from, before we can start judging.
The other issue - hon Bhoola - is that we are Members of Parliament. So let's not talk as if we were on the street. I am a member of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training. We never had the problem of students saying they have been denied access because they were white, not black. We would love to go and have hearings as the portfolio committee in order to understand this.
Let's not mislead the public. There are provisions and there are laws. It would be odd if an individual were not able to go to court. Many people have been to court if they encountered such a problem. Let's not mislead the public and say such institutions exist. I have not seen one. I'm still waiting to see one, if it does exist in South Africa. But I don't think so. When we took over in 1994, it was the ANC that promoted equal access in everything that we were doing. We promoted this because we understood that we couldn't stand exclusion. So we can't promote such policies today. If such an institution exists - and the Minister is sitting here - we would love to know about it. We would love to deal with it because ... ayikho vele. [It does not exist.]
There is also the issue of unions joining and wanting to run government. We've got to understand this. Let us be factual: when the President announced the non-negotiables, it was the unions together with student leaders who signed to say they were committing themselves.
We acknowledge that there are weaknesses in pockets of the country, where certain levels of leadership in respect of the SA Democratic Teachers' Union, Sadtu, are not doing well. But nationally and with regard to many provinces, there has been a commitment by Sadtu to ensure that there is an environment where teaching and learning can take place. So let us not generalise. Where there are pockets of problems, let's address them. Where a contribution is being made by union leaders, let's acknowledge those so that we work together to improve the quality of education of our kids in this country. We need to improve that.
Mhlonishwa Mpontshane, uyabona baba wami i-cadre development baba ayisho ukuthi umuntu akanawo amakhono. [Hon Mpontshane, you see, sir, cadre development does not mean that a person does not have skills.
We deploy people, it's true, and we cannot be apologetic about it. We are running the government; we do not co-own the government. We are governing as the ANC. We won in the elections and we will run the country in the best way that we understand. The cadres to whom we have given the mandate, have the skills and capacity to do the work. [Interjections.] They are not ... Baba uMpontshane. [Mr Mpontshane.]
They are deployed to do the work. They understand the policy. [Interjections.] Go and see everywhere. In the DA they are doing it. In Cape Town in the Western Cape, you must go to see. You were doing this in KwaZulu-Natal when you were governing as the IFP, baba uMpontshane. [Mr Mpontshane.] We have also learnt from you. So we have to understand this.
I want to say that as we work together to ensure that education is the number one priority in our country, we need to continually ensure that all of us play a role. I am going to make an appeal - even to the Congress of SA Students, Cosas - not to allow disruption with regard to what is happening in the Protea magistrate's court. We need to support what the President has called for in teaching and learning. Let us allow those learners and teachers to go back to school. I am appealing to members of the national executive of Cosas to let teaching happen so that we secure the education of our kids. An African child needs to learn continually.
In conclusion, working together we can do more in educating an African child and ensuring that this child has a better future. Ndza khensa [Thank you,], Chairperson. [Applause.]