Statement by Cameron Dugmore, the MEC for Education

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) launched a range of projects on 16 July 2004 to support the national Urban Renewal Programme (URB) and the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP).

The following is the text of the speech given by Cameron Dugmore, MEC for Education in the Western Cape, at a function to mark the occasion at the Good Hope College, Khayelitsha.

Honourable Deputy Police Commissioner Renay Ogle
Members of the Education Department
Trainees participating in the programmes
Members of the Khayelitsha Development Forum and the Mitchell's Plain Development Forum
Representatives of the City of Cape Town, and its Traffic Dept
Ms Elmien Steyn from the Department of Local Government

It is an honour to be with you as we launch the contribution of the Western Cape Education Department to the urban renewal and rural development programmes.

As the SG said, it is in response to President Thabo Mbeki's call in February 2001, that today we are announcing our R3 million investment.

Now, it's been more than three years that the President first declared the 21 nodes as areas for integrated development to fight poverty and create work.

Here in the Western Cape we have two urban nodes, which is Khayelitsha and Mitchell’s Plain; and one rural node, Central Karoo, consisting of Beaufort West, Laingsburg, Prince Albert and Murraysburg.

But the Western Cape has a bit of a backlog. During the term of the previous administrations, there had been none or very few initiatives, in spite of the fact that money was available for the kind of developments we are rolling out today.

The focus of the previous administration - on spy-games, continuous running battles with national government, and PR jobs to defend money laundering - did a grave injustice to the beneficiaries of this presidential programme.

They could have benefited much earlier. We could have launched the second or even third intake of interns. Instead, we are only getting out of the starting blocks now.

But there's an old saying: rather late than never. And so, we are determined and focused to start with real delivery.

When the ANC-NNP took over the provincial government after the April elections, the President called on us to put clear targets to our delivery performances. The provincial government has adopted Ikapa Elihlumayo - the strategy to "Grow the Cape".

The Premier and Cabinet expect the WCED to provide the human resource strategy to grow the Cape as a Home for All.

The Head of Education, Mr Swartz, has outlined to you the context within which Ikapa Elihlumayo has been launched. One of the most worrying aspects for me is the fact that only half our learners who enroll in Grade 1, make it to Grade 12. This poses all of us with a serious challenge.

What happened to those children who have dropped out? We know part of the reasons are drugs, peer pressure, family pressure to help put food on the table, and maybe generally a breakdown of family units among some sections of our communities.

Whatever the reasons, we need to confront it as a government on all fronts, and certainly for us it means improving access to the education system and providing better products who are able to compete in the increasingly competitive global economy.

The programme we are celebrating today, is an important part of our campaign to develop our human resource capacity to truly build the Western Cape as a Home for All.

In terms of this programme, 262 out-of-school youths, from both the urban and rural areas, are benefiting from courses in entrepreneurship and business skills, early childhood development, carpentry and computer literacy.

Furthermore, 326 young people are benefiting from a driver's training project.

I want to illustrate an example of how we as government, working together and thinking outside of the box, can bring about results. The education department has an arrangement with the SAPS to train applicants in driving skills, should they meet all other requirements.

Currently this programme is accommodating 56 police applicants, of which 18 have already successfully completed their courses and are now working in the SAPS.

Ten others are trained as driving instructors so that they can start their own driving schools.

The Khanya Project was also asked to redirect some of their funding to the nodal zone schools. A total of 21 schools have been supplied with complete Khanya laboratories and 37 schools are in progress, leaving only 83 to be done. All schools in Laingsburg and Prince Albert have been fitted with complete Khanya laboratories.

By the end of next year, we want to make sure all high schools have computer laboratories.

I must say, I'm really pleased that early childhood development is among the courses. The development and education of a child starts before the child even gets to school. And I am very passionate about this. I have committed the department to ensure that by 2010, we provide education to all grade R's, which is pre-primary education.

Both Mitchell's Plain and Central Karoo, according to their 2004/05 projects, are training ECD practitioners to open their own childcare centres.

We have to think outside of the box, to start pioneering innovative modes of planning, budgeting, delivery and governance.

We have to do this through shared decision-making; redistributive justice and poverty targeting; demand-driven development; economic empowerment, community participation and mobilizing local resources.

If we are going to make a substantial contribution to reduce and alleviate poverty and under-development, we have to bring the poor to the centre of our developments, through local innovation and partnerships.

The Department of Local Government is the department chosen by Cabinet to champion and drive all provincial nodal zone developmental initiatives.

I cannot talk on behalf of my colleagues in Local Government, but I know that some of their priorities over the next three years include:

I hope they don't mind me mentioning this, as it is impacting on all of our work.

Funding for the development of skills as identified by the three nodal zone development forums, was obtained from IKapa Elihlumayo as part of our mandate to develop the human capital of the province. For this, 300 bursaries of R2,500.00 each were allocated to the three nodes.

Our partners, the False Bay College, South Cape College and Boland College were identified as vehicles for training and administration of the bursaries. All funding was transferred to the three colleges, and the courses are running over six to 12 months.

The recognition of the colleges as vehicles for training, has proven to be an invaluable tool of empowerment for these colleges particularly as they prepare to offer demand driven courses.

As I said earlier, partnerships play a vital role in the development of our programmes. For this I want to thank the Department of Local Government for spearheading this important programme, the City of Cape Town, and the coordinating agency - the Provincial Integrated Development Team.

I am told that the acronym for the coordinating agency, is P I E T - meaning Piet. We all know the name Piet, like in Piet van Tonder, or Piet Pompies. I am told the logo for Piet is a smiling figure; and that this name and logo represent the marginalised, poor citizen of the Western Cape.

It is important that communities must buy in and take ownership of developmental projects. At the end of the day, it is about what they need.

Therefor, the inputs and roles of the Khayelitsha Development Forum and the Mitchell's Plain Development Forum, are of vital importance. I want to thank you for the constructive role you are playing in the fight against poverty.

I wish to thank the department officials, Mr Swartz, Sindi Shayi and her team, and all others who are playing an important and critical role, for their hard work and dedication.

With this kind of commitment and dedication, there is no place for despair, no time for pessimism, and no option BUT success.

We are going the change the Western Cape! Siza kuyitshintsha le Ntshona Koloni!