Mayor bestows honours on class of 2014

MBOMBELA- Mbombela local municipality’s executive mayor, Cllr Sibusiso Mathonsi has risen to the challenge of motivating both learners and educators in his region to perform even better during end of year examinations.

This he showcased when he hosted an awards ceremony on Tuesday afternoon at the Mbombela stadium, whereby, he handed out motivational gifts which included computers, laptops, medals and shield, including T-shirts to the achievers during last year’s matric examinations.

“We are heeding the call that was made by the MEC for education, Ms Reginah Mhaule that education is everybody’s business. It is, however, enshrined even in the Freedom Charter that education shall remain one of the cornerstones of our freedom.

“We have, in our midst, the Junior council, which assists the municipality in motivating the youth to take education seriously in their various areas of residence. They are doing a good job.

As a municipality, we are joining hands with the department of education and are positively contributing to the enhancement of educational achievements within our municipality.

“Nobody knows that even when there was trouble at Cefups Academy, we went there as a municipality, and tackled matters to quell the situation. We have thus issued tokens of appreciation to the learners and educators. The municipality ha also created and education forum that will tackle educational matters.

“It will be a festival of ideas where situations in schools will be rightly discussed and resolved. we are saying, therefore, this is not enough. We’ve since realised that performance standards at primary schools are not satisfactory, hence, through the education forum, we will tackle the matters, head-on.

“as I said before, that education is everybody’s business, the tokens may not be enough, but are a motivation and this event will be hosted annually and we will make it bigger each year, moving forward,” he said.

Also in attendance was the MEC for education, Ms Reginah Mhaule who said: “I felt very excited that the mayor was doing a fulfilling job by recognising excellent performance within his municipality.

We believe, as a department, that this is the beginning of bigger things to come, including a education summit, too.

“We will attribute this success to those individuals who rose above the rest to make a meaningful change in people’s lives. Your district is performing better and Ehlanzeni, I must say, is the best district in the province and was also recognised by national minister, Ms Angie Motshekga for their feat,” she said.

Mhaule further said that she expected all schools in this municipality to increase their percentage passes this year. She said Mbombela has eight circuits, which is their number one circuit, and said expectations are high for it to attain even higher this year.

“White Hazy circuit is relatively new and it obtained 84.2%, White River and Sekhulile obtained above 80%. any school that performs below 60% will be placed on a lifesaving support, but in this municipality there is much potential.

“In Mbombela there are only four schools that require lifesaving devices. my only concern is the decreased number of learners not taking Mathematics and Science. we need to send a clarion call to parents to encourage learners to take these subjects because we have support for these subjects through our academy.

“We need to produce engineers doctors and so on, but at the same time, we should also encourage learners to also take teaching a profession, because under the circumstances, we will end up with a shortage of teachers in 10 years to come.

“On a parting note, however, the department will ensure that working conditions of educators is improved for the better. I must also commend parents and school governing bodies for their support,” she ended.