http://botshabelosangels.blogspot.com/"how many different ways can a small citizen be intimidated?
FOR ALL OUR SUPPORTERS WHO ARE FOLLOWING OUR STRUGGLE, THIS IS THE LETTER WE SENT TO GOVERNMENT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The children all came from an organization called Botshabelo Community Development Trust, based outside of Magaliesberg. It is a non-profit organization begun in 1989 in Lonehill, Fourways, Johannesberg.
Botshabelo has matured and grown into an established Poverty Alleviation Village specializing in women, men, children and elderly that have been afflicted by a myriad of economic, health and Apartheid fallout difficulties and trauma. In respect of time constraints facing the reader, our background information is available on both our web, (
www.botshabelo.org) and movie Angels in the Dust [filmed by Participant Productions, which produced Al Gores ‘An Inconvenient Truth’].
Suffice to say that against the most enormous odds from 1989 we have attempted ( and been extremely successful) to provide a future for learners that have grown up on the farms. We felt that it was not prudent for their futures to send them to local schools so we registered our school, that had run from 1989 in Lonehill, and moved to Magaliesberg in 1990, with GETC. We have numerous learners that have achieved degrees, college diplomas and jobs and of course, many have died of AIDS, fallen pregnant, went to work on farms, or lived with men for support. But the mean was that most improved their lives dramatically from that of their parents.
We did initially have the school running up to matric but found that such a small percentage of learners had the academic potential to obtain an acceptable matric ( academic) to go further, that it was against their human rights to make them believe that they would be able to obtain any substantial further education or vocation or job, based on a poor matric. Our last matric, written in 1999, gave us a hundred percent pass rate, but all poor marks. After travelling and researching the problems facing other countries, the future, and the youth, seeing first hand how their relatives and friends, especially if poor, usually end up sitting at home. Botshabelo decided to go the FET route, which on paper looks extremely attractive. Some of our youth left to go and live with relatives and continued to go through normal high school, even though they did not have the academic strength, but it seems that government promises something unattainable and is not pushing skills training enough.
However, we discovered over a period of three years that, in practice, it is an impossibility for any person without means to be helped. We first attempted to send learners from our Village to Orbit FET college in North West which failed, because, only after we had delivered the learners and left , did our learners discover that they each required R60-00 a day for food. This was unattainable for us and had to travel 110km that same evening to go and fetch them. No official at any time had advised us that food was not covered in the accommodation and education.
We then attempted to find family members, because, most of the learners had grown up under us, under welfare, to take on the burden of looking after their family members. However, most relatives found themselves in such dire economic conditions that they could not begin to assist. We then began to teach Level 2 at Botshabelo, we got funding to obtain textbooks, with our teachers, two of whom are technical teachers and Marion Cloete facilitating. Mr. Louis Coetzer from Westcol, Randfontein, an experienced educator, attempted to assist us. We were later told that the learners had not reached an acceptable level with practical’s, even though the practical meant to cook a breakfast. However, in 2010 Botshabelo and Westcol entered into an agreement that our lecturers would work in conjunction with Westcol and the learners would write external exams on their premises.
In October, officials from Mr Mokgatle’s department from Head Office, came to visit Botshabelo and informed us that they would definitely help us. All our learner’s were duly registered to write their finals at the Westcol,Magaliesburg campus. Everything went quiet. We waited and eventually called Mr. Louis Coetzer to find out about registration etc. for 2011. On Monday the 19th January we had a meeting, only to be told , that Westcol would no longer be able to assist Botshabelo, although all the learners were back in class. Late in January, an urgent meeting was convened in Director Mokgatle’s office. This was attended by Mr. Con Cloete from Botshabelo, Mr. Louis Coetzer from Westcol, Mr. Mokgatle and a lady called Portia from Mr. Mokgatle’s department. In the meeting it was reiterated that neither Gauteng Education nor Westcol could offer any further assistance because what Louis Coetzer did was illegal, and as we don’t have an accredited site we could not under any circumstances continue teaching at Botshabelo. Furthermore, we did not have accredited teachers for FET hospitality. In the same meeting an option was proposed, that even though Magaliesberg campus (Thabo Mokote)does not have a required site for hospitality nor the staff ( the same staff from the Westcol Randfontein campus) would open a hospitality program and teach our 24 learners in Magaliesberg.
Botshabelo was told that their assistance would include education, books, and bursaries but not transport. A new contract between Westcol and Botshabelo had to be drawn up with more emphasis on the learners, We had a meeting with the learners and Botshabelo and agreed that it is a good offer and that we need to find the same assistance we did the previous year but for transport. Our Norwegian sponsors agreed to assist us with transport to begin with and we decided that it was prudent to begin.
We have not received monies from our Norwegian Sponsors as yet so we went to borrow money for transport in and out every day at R300-00 a day [24km]. This is how we began our year and everything appeared positive for Botshabelo and the learners. Even though it did seem unsustainable in the long run, we did not want the learners and future learners at Botshabelo and environs to suffer.
Botshabelo did not initially take cognizance of the learners’ complaints in the first two days because we hoped that it was merely ‘teething problems’, having experienced it in the previous year. But as the week progressed we became more concerned at the daily reports, until on the 04/02/2011 Botshabelo Management decided to go and visit the campus to see if the learners were not merely exaggerating.
On our arrival, the campus was dirty, which with the rains we could still overlook, we discovered some administrative staff and we asked for the campus manager only to be told he was not available as he had gone to a meeting. We asked to see our learners. The following was discovered:
1 No teaching in level 2, the lecturer had personal problems and the learners were told she
2 would be back on Tuesday. This was from Wednesday.
3 Level 3, Selinah Gama had to go and find the English teacher who had not arrived for his class, and was told on questioning why he was not in class and that he should be in class, he retorted, ‘I should tell him something he does not know’, only after she stated ‘if you don’t come I will tell,’ did he make any attempt to go to class.
We agreed with the learners that they were correct and that it appears they will fail the year. We gave them an option of finding friends or relatives in Magaliesberg and remain at Westcol or return to Botshabelo to begin teaching them once again at our premises. We gave them the option four times. They all followed us back to Botshabelo.
We had an alteration with a lecturer, because the administrative staff had asked two of the learners to assist two others at filling in their applications, the mentioned lecturer told them that they are making too much noise and should ‘shut up!’ I requested that she apologize, she refused; same teacher took a piece of paper crunched it up and threw it into the face of a learner. She refuted the above even with witnesses.
SOME OF THE INCIDENTS THAT THE LEARNERS REPORTED [these incidents can be verified independently from any of the learners]
1 Teaching in Setswana, because the teacher’s English is weak and other learners from the area in the class cannot speak English.
2 Cannot spell in English.
3 Reads a short paragraph and tells the learners that they must finish off the work and ask if there are any questions. So no teaching.
4 A maths teacher who cannot remember where he is from one problem to another, always late, no energy.
5 Teachers late.
6 Teachers missing, no substitutes
7 Learner asked by lecturer to substitute from 02/02 until her return on the 07/02 February.
8 One teacher good in reading poor in speaking so teaches in Setswana.
9 One teacher walked in on the 4/02 and asked who wrote on the board and exclaimed ‘bullshit’
10 Cell phones are allowed in .It became so disruptive that the learners had to ‘request’ that the teacher takes action, which was not done and the learner from another area continued receiving calls.
11 With all the above problems the dates for tests and assignments are given.
The above is what Botshabelo educators were told they cannot achieve! They were correct.
We believe that the lecturers are used to dealing with uneducated parents who are not sure how to approach a situation as in the above. We did not send the learners there, because all of them have learning difficulties’ and are alcohol syndrome children, but because this is the future of our country to achieve a matric level with a skill. Our learners have always had teachers who respect them and teach what they are supposed to teach. We have been adopted by both Mount Grace and Extrabold, that own the Mount Grace and nine other hotels and have access to a further 26 hotels. During the duration of the Word Cup, all hospitality learners from Botshabelo worked in different departments at Mount Grace, Magaliesberg. Many of our other youth have attained jobs on a fulltime basis at Mount Grace. We were told that having contracts and jobs for the learners is irrelevant to FET hospitality.
The management of Botshabelo would like to say that even though we have had no assistance from Government, who seem to work in a vacuum somewhere distant from poor people, and dismiss our twenty-five year knowledge of working with education on the ground, is still tolerable, because we are all capable of debating and taking the criticism and humiliation. However, when young people, whose parents have already, through Apartheid, been robbed of all decency, dignity, human rights, inadequate living conditions, and mostly died from not receiving ARV’s and then orphaned and treated as if they have never had hardships, are economically capable of looking after themselves as if they come from well-to-do families, is something that is inhuman and unacceptable. And Welfare that no longer pay the welfare grant because they are no longer ‘at school’ if they go to college. One begins to realize that there is a time-bomb ticking in the rural areas.
When the government delegation came to visit Botshabelo, it was intimated that we are being cruel to the learners by giving them this offer; we attempted to counteract their concern over an ‘inadequate site’ and teachers not registered to teach the subjects, yet are all qualified teachers. Yet what we discovered that what the learners were being offered at Westcol, is against the learners rights. Literally, against their Constitutional Rights, of a quality education. It must be mentioned that our learners were taught from childhood that when something is wrong, it is wrong, no matter how many ways you colour it in. These are the same youth who are requested to become registered as voters.
The above mentioned delegation could not answer why Botshabelo could not have the same arrangement with Westcol as last year. The learners cannot cheat their marks. it is an external exam. We would also like to state that only Mr L Coetzer from Westcol, that put his reputation on the line, and it was not seen as an attempt to help poor communities of which Botshabelo is merely a drop in the ocean, but it seems that Head Office made it abundantly clear that it was illegal for him to help us and that is how the law reads.
However, having experienced a reputable university (Wits 1986) as an educated parent, Marion Anne Cloete is not surprised at the horrendous pass mark of colleges, which are kept out of the press.
In summary, we are requesting intervention from National Government, if Provincial is unwilling. We request that we enter into the same contract as last year with Westcol. We are not asking for any subsidies, teachers, in fact, we are asking for very little in order to continue with the original contract up until Botshabelo is registered. All exams to be written externally at Westcol’s, Magaliesberg campus and marked externally.
We have begun our registration as a FET college and have received notification of funding from an American donor for the kitchens, and lecture rooms. If government is unwilling to find a way forward we will merely move on with donors as we did with the independent Category A free school with donor help. But it will be a shame for the thousands of youth living in rural areas that could become educated through a new system, losing nothing to quality and quantity.
Thanking you,
Marion Cloete,------------------------------------------------Founder of Botshabelo and Recipient 2003 Gauteng Premier’s ‘Woman of the year Award’ for Community Building.
Con Cloete.---------------------------------------------------Co-Founder of Botshabelo Community Development Trust and C.E.O.
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