PRO JEC T C O O RDINATO RM am zile Biyela

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INTERVIEW S AND STO RIES O F AM BASSADO RSHIP IN SC HO O LS

As a member of the governing body, rubbing shoulders with people like Mr Mngadi grew me, I realised how important it is for the parents to participate in the education of their children”

“I have a dream of a community that says education of our children is of utmost significance and we would like to participate in it wholeheartedly. The participation of our communities in the molding of their children’s education give birth to the home brewed ideas and innovation which thus is authentic as opposed to merely adopting foreign ideas, irrespective of how much meaning they make for our schools”

Mr. moroka’s remark.

Foreword

The 1980’s were the years of political turmoil, the prevailing instability permeated into the schools, Sithengile was no exception. In fact the school was the hub of such political turmoil. During the 80’s the school was at its lowest level in terms of stability with regards to teaching and learning. At some point the school was burnt down. Mr Zazi Khuzwayo, the local business man from KwaMaphumulo did a wonderful gesture of �nancing the rebuilding of the school.The arrival of Thusi was a breath of fresh air as there was a total lack of discipline which made all schools, Including Sithengile to be totally ungovernable during mid-80’s in the light of the prevailing political disturbances of the time. The prevailing political atmosphere, marked by the struggle against apartheid also cam with the misdirection, the misconception and the spirit of rebelliousness which spilt over to the schools. Somehow there was an idea that un-governability would speed up the process. Vandalism became the order of the day, institutions of learning were the main targets as they were associated with being the property of the government of the day. The school was vandalised twice, left with no windows and doors for a long time, the conditions were not right due to vandalism. Zazi rebuilt �rst and the government rebuilt after the second act of arson. The classrooms were not enough for a secondary school. The reference to Mr Thusi being the breath of fresh air means that he restored discipline, which had been lost. He was seen as the man of integrity. He brought change in the teaching sta�, teachers themselves had become lax and unruly as they had been without a principal for a long time. He restored everything, learners themselves realised that they were back at school to learn, they soon realised that they could not do as they pleased, but were at school to learn and the teachers to teach. The community notice with the arrival of Mr Thusi the school was back on its business. Thusi restored punctuality, discipline and the school’s identity. Thusi, described as the man of integrity. A man of principles who did not compromise his principles, he stood out in a crowd, not compromising, not afraid to confront issues head on.

Introduction

Students were very unruly and rebellious at the time of his arrival, but he was not afraid to discipline students, unruly as they were, they tried to continue with such behaviour, Thusi put a stop to it. The change was remarkable and noticeable, the school uniform was reinstated, learners also took pride in their prevailing political disturbance, things had generated and escalated into a stage where people were no longer proud of the things they were supposed to be proud of, and hence learners had lost interest and pride in their school uniform. The parents also noticed his innovations, he included the parents in the matters regarding the way forward about the school, not dictating to them. The parent body was a highly educated body. Mr Mngandi, the school’s chairperson was an ex-principal, and proved to be very useful to the school; the governing body utilised his expertise of an ex-professional, he was able to assist to rekindle the parents’ interest in the education of their children, there was consensus on a number of things, Thusi was instrumental in rekindling that spirit.

Introduction

The Mvuzane community had bought the area which was previously farms, or utilised for farming. As there was already a community in Mvuzane, this dictated that there should be a school. The parents were making demands for the school saying, “Si thengile la! (We have purchased land here!), so we need a school here.”, hence the name “Sithengile”. The school started with very few classes, about 12 classes which can be described as today’s grades 8 and 9 blocks and the hall that is still existing. There

was no principal’s o�ce, no sta� room, or any other o�ce for that matter. The principal shared the hall with the sta� as their “o�ces and sta� rooms, etc.” As vandalism was rife at that time, there were hardly enough chairs for the sta�. They used desks as tables, sometimes paint buckets as chairs. At some stage the hall was to be used as a classroom; where two classes had to go on, simultaneously, due to the shortage of �oor space. That posed a serious problem for educators who had to be facing each other as they were teaching at the same time, although the learners had their backs against one another as their lessons, teaching and learning, were taking place concurrently.

Ms Ngonyama

Interview Deputy Principal

F I R S T C H A P T E R

On how the name “Sithengile” came about.

The principal, at that time, came from kwaMashu, many teachers also came from kwaMashu circuit o�ce. Amongst such teachers who came from the start are Ms Ngonyama and Mrs Gri�ths who are still part of the school and have served the school with dedication and loyalty. There were others who followed them, such as Mrs Mcina, Mrs Gumede, Mrs Dlangalala and Mr Zulu. Due to structural changes in the Department of Education during those years, many teachers chose to go to KwaMashu under the department of KwaZulu Natal as schools in Clermont were put under the management of DET, namely the Department of Education and Training.

Mamzile: When was the school completed and where did the learners come from?

Ms Ngonyama: When the school was completed in 1984, the teachers who had been deployed to other schools were then recalled to their rightful posts. As the school was brand new, learners were recruited from almost everywhere. Some came as far as Kwa Santi and some from the outskirts of Clermont and Pinetown. This aggravated the already worsened bad situation/matters, under the prevailing political conditions. Learners from a ll di�erent parts were very much unruly, given the prevailing spirit of rebellion and resistance to authority This posed serious disciplinary problems, especially because everybody was new, from the learners to the educators and even to the principal himself.

Mamzile: Was the administrattion process easy at the beginning?

Ms Ngonyama: Not at all, Matters were exacerbated by learners who illegally bought r eports and used them for admission into the school, as a result, the school had learners who got into grades fraudulently, learners who were over aged for such grades and to be still at school for that manner, this then had serious repercussions for the daily running of the school. There were serious disciplinary problems, very lax management which lacked direction. As people were being killed l eft and right as a consequence of the prevailing political turmoil, learners too were the victims of that time; and many died. At some point, a learner from Sithengile died, due to the political atmosphere and the tone with which the funerals were conducted at that time, educators were afraid to attend that learner’s funeral. This provoked outrage from some of the learners. On the Monday following the learner’s funeral, a group of angry students barged into the educators’ sta� room; demanding an explanation for their absence at their “comrade’s” funeral. One of the educators responded rather hastily, saying, “bekunganyanzelekanga” (we were not obligated to so), and unfortunately, that sparked a �erce and vicious violence within the learners. The teachers were aware that their safety was evidently threatened, and so they took a unanimous decision to not report to school the following day, and instead they would report at the circuit o�ce henceforth. Due to the volatile situation, the teachers spent about two weeks at the circuit o�ce, which appeared to be dumbstruck by what was happening, hence somehow rendered powerless.

Educators at Work

Mr Zazi Khuzwayo was then a local businessman, who showed a keen interest in education. From the look of things, Mr Zazi had clearly spoken to the inspectors, before coming to the circuit o�ce to meet with the displaced educators. Mr Zazi greeted the educators, and asked them to return to school. Zazi had had the opportunity to address the learners and had calmed them down. As a local businessman, learners too, had great respect for him. He invited the sta� to his home and threw them a p arty. Upon arrival, the teachers who had been assured by Zazi that no harm would befall them, were relived to �nd that the learners’ attitudes had drastically changed, there was much cooperation and willingness to learn, Zazi had managed to calm the situation down. Teaching and learning resume with a much better atmosphere prevailing as Mr Khuzwayo had somehow calmed the storm down. His home was the centre of supporting the school too. During speech days, the cooking for the function would take place at his home.

long after Mr his untimely death, Mrs Khuzwayo loyally continued to be a part of the school. During speech and prize giving day, she would grace the event with her presence and not only would she do that, but she’d also donate or give monetary awards to deserving students.His daughter, Queen Khuzwayo, who was very intelligent, was also a student at Sithengile at that time.

Mr Zazi Khuzwayo:Rebuilding Sithengile

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