HOD's speech at Graduation Ceremony - KwaZulu-Natal ...

The future we choose
by: Dr Nkosinathi Sishi
Head of Department:
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, RSA
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Zululand, Professor
Fikile NM Mazibuko
The Administrator ,Council Members of the University,
Executive Management
Executive Deans of Faculties
Members of the University Senate; Members of the
Institutional Forum
Members of Convocation
Government representatives present here today; our
business partners
Members of academic and support staff
Members of the Students‟ Representative Council;
Union representatives
Graduands
Parents
1

Members of the local community (particularly the
Mkhwanazi Tribal Authority)
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen,
Programme Director, I am honoured to speak at this the
graduation ceremony of the University of Zululand, an
institution I am proud to have graduated from, a
university amongst a few that have passed the test of
time, an institution that took the side of the underdog
back in the dark days of Apartheid when opportunities for
higher education and training for marginalised groups
were limited to areas defined for the ideological purposes
serving the interests of the dominant society. In this
regard you will understand why I have titled my address
“the future we choose”. By 2030 and beyond we will be
speaking of the future we chose.
Whereas we are currently faced with the difficulties
inherent in the legacy of past, faced with enormous
poverty, inequality and unemployment, whereas we are
2

faced with complex contradictions such as labor versus
capital, black and white, Afrikaner capital and liberal
capital, fascism and democracy, fascist semi-feudalism
and capitalism, fascist labor and capital, national
beugiosie and national petty beugiosie, town and
countryside, races and races, ethnicities and ethnicities,
tribes and tribes, languages and languages, religions and
religions, we stay committed to the attainment of the
goals of equity and quality in education, education for
sustainable development and education for human rights
and democracy.
If today we choose wrongly, a South Africa that is deeply
divided along the lines of race, class, gender and HIV
status leading to increasing social conflict and violence, if
we choose a South Africa where the poor get poorer and
those in lower rungs of the ladder begin to feel an
increasing sense of alienation and disaffection, where
the prices of basic goods fluctuate widely, where fear and
insecurity contaminate and hamper the supply chain,
where South Africa loses its competitive edge, where
unemployment increases uncontrollably, where small,
3

medium and micro criminals compete with the big fish for
the loot, where mining benefits are lost to graft and illicit
trade, where interracial tension increases in the struggle
for opportunity and resources, if we choose the future
where the spoils of growth and prosperity increasingly go
to the developed world, where the African Union exist
only in name, if we choose the future where the First
World comes first and the third world follows orders,
where there is no unity in the land, where leadership is
weakened and rendered unable to improve the lot of
ordinary people, where the majority of the population are
disenchanted with the formal political process, where
factions seek to impose their will on the broader
community, where the Youth gets frustrated by a
growing lack of economic opportunity and begin to seek a
home outside their country of birth, where the state
struggles to put a brake on the vicious cycle of illegal
economic activity, where provincial and local
governments slide into bankruptcy and more people turn
to crime, where the engine of our economy coughs,
splutters, and grinds to a halt leading to No Jobs, No
Money No Food, the future will be - God help us all.
4

I wish to advance an argument for a different choice of
the characterized by an imagery of a sleek streamlined
train, not an expensive car, making its way through a
diverse and abundant landscape. I urge you to choose
the future characterized by unity in diversity, where
poverty declines, a South Africa where the population
and prosperity grows, where improved learning outcomes
in the schooling system secures a brighter future for all
our children, where the GDP grows above average, we
choose the future where the provincial and national skills
base feels the benefit of better teaching and learning,
where more than two thirds of the national work force is
employed by SMMES and joblessness is eliminated
completely, where South Africa our beloved land
becomes a preferred technology partner to the rest of the
world producing many innovations including those in the
area of fuel cell technology, where through education
South Africa continues to play a key role in sustainable
development of technology as means of alleviating
poverty, where the African Union draws strength from
multilateralism, where South Africa enjoys a period of
long awaited growth and the one superpower gives way
5

to the power of one world, partnering the developing
world to grow and prosper, where the first generation of
learners becomes the new generation of doers, where a
thriving democracy, business leaders, politicians, clerics,
educators and activism hotly debate the value of values,
where a social revolution to a classless society is reality.
In education we choose the future characterized by
vigorous democracy and new social compact on non
negotiables characterized by hard work, accountability
and commitment to excellence putting South Africa on
the fast track to a better quality of life for all, on track for
a better tomorrow.
In order to ensure that we achieve the above, we must:
1. Get the right people to become teachers: „the quality
of an education system cannot exceed the quality of
its teachers‟
2. Develop them into effective instructors: „the only way
to improve outcomes is to
improve instruction‟
6

3. Ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best
possible instruction for every
child: „high performance requires every child to
succeed‟
We urge our children to study:
space science and technology
earth observations
communications navigation
engineering
to help our country to become a key to contribution to
global space science and technology, contributing to the
nations growing satellite industry and a range of
innovations in space science, earth observations,
communications navigation and engineering.
The schooling system, government and the people of
South Africa broadly must encourage our youth:
to explore opportunities in energy security
7

The race is on for safe, clean, affordable and reliable
energy supply. South Africa must meet the nations
medium-term energy supply requirements while
innovating for the long-term in:
clean coal technologies
nuclear energy
renewable energy
hydrogen economy.
Our youth must be encouraged to take up the studies on:
climate change or global change science
Human and social dynamics
In this regards South Africa‟s geographic position enables
us to play a leading role in climate change science.
Graduands, I wish you well in your future endeavors.
Accept my warmest congratulations as you go out into
the world and join thousands of graduates from this and
other universities in changing our society. The future you
chose should be the future that we should be proud of.
8

There are many roads and journeys but one future and
one nation; we must choose now; today will be history
and 2030 will be today and the fourth decade of freedom
will be upon us.
Go out there and change the lives of all the people of
South Africa, the continent and the world for the better.
Congratulations to you and your parents and those who
supported you and remember, this is the beginning and
not the end of the journey to the future you have chosen.
Thank you for attention.
9