WATCH: Maimane accuses ANC of extending Bantu education

Build One South Africa (Bosa) leader Mmusi Maimane on Wednesday accused the ANC government of extending the apartheid-era Bantu education over the past 30 years.

In a campaign video, Maimane decried the state of education in the country, comparing it to the substandard, poorly funded, widely-criticised and legally enforced education programmes forced on black children before democracy. Bantu education saw racial segregation and discrimination and focused on training for menial jobs and manual labour that the National Party deemed appropriate for black people.

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Bantu education also comprised severe staff shortages and teaching in Afrikaans rather than native languages.

Watch: Maimane on SA’s education system

The greatest tragedy of the last 30 years is that instead of ending bantu education this government extended bantu education. pic.twitter.com/hQvsdwY7ux

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13-year-old boy arrested for stabbing fellow pupil

— Mmusi Maimane (@MmusiMaimane) May 8, 2024

Failed by the quality of education

Maimane said education has the power to free or enslave people, and under apartheid Bantu education showed how its architect Hendrik Verwoerd never believed black people could be doctors, lawyers, teachers or other professionals.

But the ANC failed to reset this crisis in 1994, nor did they build a future where the next generation prospers, he said.

“The last 30 years of education has been a start where we began to prioritise funding under the presidency of Nelson Mandela, and now to today where we’ve got access to education but in truth the quality of that education has not been what has allowed for South Africans to be free,” Maimane said.

“Our education system is still divided on the basis of wealth. If you’ve got money you can go to what is quintile five schools, private schools, IEB education, and you’ll get a quality education.

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“But if you don’t, and you end up in quintile one, two and three, or no-fee-paying schools you end up in a space where your education is poor.”

According to statistics provided by Bosa, 1.2 million children started Grade 1 in 2012 but 40% dropped out before finishing matric.

The Bosa leader said this was a cause for unemployment in townships.

“We know factually that when kids don’t finish school, they don’t work,” Maimane added.

‘Meaningless’ matric qualification

He said the government was committed to the idea that children should pass at 30%, and only 27% of matric pupils passed mathematics at the 50% benchmark in 2023.

“We are either enhancing that kids should pass school at 30% and ultimately have a meaningless matric or we are letting young people drop out of school, rendering them not only to unemployment, but to unemployability.”

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Maimane said an overhaul of the education system was needed.

This includes raising the pass mark to 50%, he said, so young South Africans are able to compete in a digitally-savvy world.

This, rather than relying on labour jobs for drop-outs and matriculants who finished with low marks, or TVETs colleges for others.

The government-proposed Grade 9 exit certificate was also not the answer, Maimane said.

“If we are going to create more artisans… we have to ensure these are electricians and plumbers who can do mathematics, that can do core subjects, get a better understanding of those subjects, passing them at 50% so that we up the quality of the skills base in our country.”

Stop neglecting the youngest pupils

Maimane said early childhood development (ECD) centres were supposed to be prioritised by government but were underfunded – something he said Bosa would rectify.

He called it a crime that eight out of 10 children could not read for meaning by the time they reach Grade 4, as it sets them up for failure throughout their schooling careers.

Maimane also called for the removal of the life orientation subject in high school, replacing it with critical thinking skills.

Good maths and science teachers also needed to be incentivised to stay within teaching, as they are being underpaid, he said.

Maimane concluded by slamming the fact that many rural schools still had pit toilets, and called for a look at funding for schools and pupil transport.

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