HOD's speech at Graduation Ceremony - KwaZulu-Natal ...
HOD's speech at Graduation Ceremony - KwaZulu-Natal ...
HOD's speech at Graduation Ceremony - KwaZulu-Natal ...
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
The future we choose<br />
by: Dr Nkosin<strong>at</strong>hi Sishi<br />
Head of Department:<br />
<strong>KwaZulu</strong>-N<strong>at</strong>al Department of Educ<strong>at</strong>ion, RSA<br />
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Zululand, Professor<br />
Fikile NM Mazibuko<br />
The Administr<strong>at</strong>or ,Council Members of the University,<br />
Executive Management<br />
Executive Deans of Faculties<br />
Members of the University Sen<strong>at</strong>e; Members of the<br />
Institutional Forum<br />
Members of Convoc<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
Government represent<strong>at</strong>ives present here today; our<br />
business partners<br />
Members of academic and support staff<br />
Members of the Students‟ Represent<strong>at</strong>ive Council;<br />
Union represent<strong>at</strong>ives<br />
Graduands<br />
Parents<br />
1
Members of the local community (particularly the<br />
Mkhwanazi Tribal Authority)<br />
Distinguished guests<br />
Ladies and gentlemen,<br />
Programme Director, I am honoured to speak <strong>at</strong> this the<br />
gradu<strong>at</strong>ion ceremony of the University of Zululand, an<br />
institution I am proud to have gradu<strong>at</strong>ed from, a<br />
university amongst a few th<strong>at</strong> have passed the test of<br />
time, an institution th<strong>at</strong> took the side of the underdog<br />
back in the dark days of Apartheid when opportunities for<br />
higher educ<strong>at</strong>ion and training for marginalised groups<br />
were limited to areas defined for the ideological purposes<br />
serving the interests of the dominant society. In this<br />
regard you will understand why I have titled my address<br />
“the future we choose”. By 2030 and beyond we will be<br />
speaking of the future we chose.<br />
Whereas we are currently faced with the difficulties<br />
inherent in the legacy of past, faced with enormous<br />
poverty, inequality and unemployment, whereas we are<br />
2
faced with complex contradictions such as labor versus<br />
capital, black and white, Afrikaner capital and liberal<br />
capital, fascism and democracy, fascist semi-feudalism<br />
and capitalism, fascist labor and capital, n<strong>at</strong>ional<br />
beugiosie and n<strong>at</strong>ional petty beugiosie, town and<br />
countryside, races and races, ethnicities and ethnicities,<br />
tribes and tribes, languages and languages, religions and<br />
religions, we stay committed to the <strong>at</strong>tainment of the<br />
goals of equity and quality in educ<strong>at</strong>ion, educ<strong>at</strong>ion for<br />
sustainable development and educ<strong>at</strong>ion for human rights<br />
and democracy.<br />
If today we choose wrongly, a South Africa th<strong>at</strong> is deeply<br />
divided along the lines of race, class, gender and HIV<br />
st<strong>at</strong>us leading to increasing social conflict and violence, if<br />
we choose a South Africa where the poor get poorer and<br />
those in lower rungs of the ladder begin to feel an<br />
increasing sense of alien<strong>at</strong>ion and disaffection, where<br />
the prices of basic goods fluctu<strong>at</strong>e widely, where fear and<br />
insecurity contamin<strong>at</strong>e and hamper the supply chain,<br />
where South Africa loses its competitive edge, where<br />
unemployment increases uncontrollably, where small,<br />
3
medium and micro criminals compete with the big fish for<br />
the loot, where mining benefits are lost to graft and illicit<br />
trade, where interracial tension increases in the struggle<br />
for opportunity and resources, if we choose the future<br />
where the spoils of growth and prosperity increasingly go<br />
to the developed world, where the African Union exist<br />
only in name, if we choose the future where the First<br />
World comes first and the third world follows orders,<br />
where there is no unity in the land, where leadership is<br />
weakened and rendered unable to improve the lot of<br />
ordinary people, where the majority of the popul<strong>at</strong>ion are<br />
disenchanted with the formal political process, where<br />
factions seek to impose their will on the broader<br />
community, where the Youth gets frustr<strong>at</strong>ed by a<br />
growing lack of economic opportunity and begin to seek a<br />
home outside their country of birth, where the st<strong>at</strong>e<br />
struggles to put a brake on the vicious cycle of illegal<br />
economic activity, where provincial and local<br />
governments slide into bankruptcy and more people turn<br />
to crime, where the engine of our economy coughs,<br />
splutters, and grinds to a halt leading to No Jobs, No<br />
Money No Food, the future will be - God help us all.<br />
4
I wish to advance an argument for a different choice of<br />
the characterized by an imagery of a sleek streamlined<br />
train, not an expensive car, making its way through a<br />
diverse and abundant landscape. I urge you to choose<br />
the future characterized by unity in diversity, where<br />
poverty declines, a South Africa where the popul<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
and prosperity grows, where improved learning outcomes<br />
in the schooling system secures a brighter future for all<br />
our children, where the GDP grows above average, we<br />
choose the future where the provincial and n<strong>at</strong>ional skills<br />
base feels the benefit of better teaching and learning,<br />
where more than two thirds of the n<strong>at</strong>ional work force is<br />
employed by SMMES and joblessness is elimin<strong>at</strong>ed<br />
completely, where South Africa our beloved land<br />
becomes a preferred technology partner to the rest of the<br />
world producing many innov<strong>at</strong>ions including those in the<br />
area of fuel cell technology, where through educ<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
South Africa continues to play a key role in sustainable<br />
development of technology as means of allevi<strong>at</strong>ing<br />
poverty, where the African Union draws strength from<br />
multil<strong>at</strong>eralism, where South Africa enjoys a period of<br />
long awaited growth and the one superpower gives way<br />
5
to the power of one world, partnering the developing<br />
world to grow and prosper, where the first gener<strong>at</strong>ion of<br />
learners becomes the new gener<strong>at</strong>ion of doers, where a<br />
thriving democracy, business leaders, politicians, clerics,<br />
educ<strong>at</strong>ors and activism hotly deb<strong>at</strong>e the value of values,<br />
where a social revolution to a classless society is reality.<br />
In educ<strong>at</strong>ion we choose the future characterized by<br />
vigorous democracy and new social compact on non<br />
negotiables characterized by hard work, accountability<br />
and commitment to excellence putting South Africa on<br />
the fast track to a better quality of life for all, on track for<br />
a better tomorrow.<br />
In order to ensure th<strong>at</strong> we achieve the above, we must:<br />
1. Get the right people to become teachers: „the quality<br />
of an educ<strong>at</strong>ion system cannot exceed the quality of<br />
its teachers‟<br />
2. Develop them into effective instructors: „the only way<br />
to improve outcomes is to<br />
improve instruction‟<br />
6
3. Ensuring th<strong>at</strong> the system is able to deliver the best<br />
possible instruction for every<br />
child: „high performance requires every child to<br />
succeed‟<br />
We urge our children to study:<br />
space science and technology<br />
earth observ<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
communic<strong>at</strong>ions navig<strong>at</strong>ion<br />
engineering<br />
to help our country to become a key to contribution to<br />
global space science and technology, contributing to the<br />
n<strong>at</strong>ions growing s<strong>at</strong>ellite industry and a range of<br />
innov<strong>at</strong>ions in space science, earth observ<strong>at</strong>ions,<br />
communic<strong>at</strong>ions navig<strong>at</strong>ion and engineering.<br />
The schooling system, government and the people of<br />
South Africa broadly must encourage our youth:<br />
to explore opportunities in energy security<br />
7
The race is on for safe, clean, affordable and reliable<br />
energy supply. South Africa must meet the n<strong>at</strong>ions<br />
medium-term energy supply requirements while<br />
innov<strong>at</strong>ing for the long-term in:<br />
clean coal technologies<br />
nuclear energy<br />
renewable energy<br />
hydrogen economy.<br />
Our youth must be encouraged to take up the studies on:<br />
clim<strong>at</strong>e change or global change science<br />
Human and social dynamics<br />
In this regards South Africa‟s geographic position enables<br />
us to play a leading role in clim<strong>at</strong>e change science.<br />
Graduands, I wish you well in your future endeavors.<br />
Accept my warmest congr<strong>at</strong>ul<strong>at</strong>ions as you go out into<br />
the world and join thousands of gradu<strong>at</strong>es from this and<br />
other universities in changing our society. The future you<br />
chose should be the future th<strong>at</strong> we should be proud of.<br />
8
There are many roads and journeys but one future and<br />
one n<strong>at</strong>ion; we must choose now; today will be history<br />
and 2030 will be today and the fourth decade of freedom<br />
will be upon us.<br />
Go out there and change the lives of all the people of<br />
South Africa, the continent and the world for the better.<br />
Congr<strong>at</strong>ul<strong>at</strong>ions to you and your parents and those who<br />
supported you and remember, this is the beginning and<br />
not the end of the journey to the future you have chosen.<br />
Thank you for <strong>at</strong>tention.<br />
9