Dear President Zuma
It’s two years to the day when Gareth Cliff, a local media celebrity, wrote an open letter to you.
It caused quite a stir at the time. And as I was thinking about what I was
going to say to the Class of 2012 of my school, his letter came to mind. As I
re-read it I realised it was about time for another one. Not quite as
controversial perhaps but nevertheless another open letter borne out of my
desire to see the 200 matrics that we’re about to send you, fulfil their dreams
in a positive, dynamic South Africa.
My name is Stephen Price. I am the Principal of Bergvliet
High School here in the Western Cape. Some would describe this school as a
‘former Model C school’... a description generally used to justify why other
schools are underperforming. But that is another discussion.
You see, right now I am addressing close on 1000 teachers,
parents and pupils at the Valedictory Service of the Class of 2012 of my
school. It is a special occasion, full of excitement and expectation, of joy
and sadness, of hope and trepidation, and it will be a day for them to
remember. Their last official day of school. I’d like to tell you a little bit
about them. But, before I do, consider this.
For the past 12 years or so every single person in this hall
has been working towards this one goal. Their educators, their families and
themselves. And in the past 5 years it has been our mission at Bergvliet High
to develop in these young people, a revival of respect, a unity of purpose, a
spirit of participation and more importantly, a sense of hope. Values we
believe that will stand them in good stead in the ‘big wide world’ out there.
Values that we should be seeing in the leaders of our country.
In Gareth’s letter he outlined various suggestions that he
believed you needed to pay urgent attention to. Sadly you, and our Government,
have not responded with anything resembling leadership and we have lurched from
one crisis to another over the past 24 months. I believe that many of Gareth’s
suggestions are still valid notwithstanding the crudity of his delivery at
times. But I share his deep sense of frustration because, like him, I believe
in the future of this country and our youth.
What follows is what my staff and I have taught our 200
matrics at Bergvliet High and I would venture you and our Government could do
with a few lessons in this regard. Let me tell you what we have done.
A Revival of Respect – we have taught these youngsters about
our shared heritage, about our country, about each other, about the value of
treating others with respect, about being proud of who they are and about
loyalty and integrity. But this is what we were up against from you and our
Government, our elected leaders – continuing rampant corruption, fraud, self
enrichment, misuse of public funds, the appointment of family and supporters
regardless of ability, the manipulation of the justice system by convicted
criminals - Shaik, Selebi come to mind and finally the massacre at Marikana.
You let us down at every turn. You did not care. You lacked leadership. But
most importantly you have undermined everything we tried to teach our young
charges. Our Government has not, under your leadership, develop a revival of
respect. Well, we are sending you 200 young South Africans who know what
respect is, who know the value of others, who are proud of where they come
from, who are proud of this country and who are loyal, passionate and honest.
My request to you is that you show them the respect they deserve. They might be
young but they are citizens of this country and they will be our leaders one
day. Take them but don’t mess them around. Provide them with opportunity – they
will create the jobs you need – we taught them how. Respect them sir. I do.
A Unity of Purpose - my staff have taught our matrics to
work together, to understand that each of them has a different and unique role
to play in achieving the common goal, that without a vision people will perish,
that if we all pull in different directions we will never achieve anything and
that our strength is in the whole not the individual. Again you and our Government
have let us down. We have watched in dismay as the unions, the factions within
the Government, the personal agenda’s of our elected leaders and influential
individuals, have dragged the people of this country further apart, ever deeper
into a pit of despair and ever backward and away from the vision that we all
bought into in 1994. Why did you do that? Is the Alliance more important than
the future of our matrics? Is Mr Malema so important that he can do and say
what he wants and, by doing so, undermines any unity of purpose? Is it all
‘just politics’? Is the culture of entitlement that prevails amongst our people
and fostered by union, alliance and populist leaders, worth more than the value
of hard work? Again we are sending you 200 young South Africans who know the
value of hard work, of having a vision and working towards it and who
understand that in order to achieve the vision they have to work side by side,
shoulder to shoulder with each other. We are giving you 200 young South African
eager to be a part of the solution. Please use every single one of them. I
personally recommend them. They won’t let you down. They will work hard. I
know.
A Spirit of Participation – my staff have worked above and
beyond the call of duty to provide every opportunity for our children. Clubs,
societies, community service, sport, art, music, drama, endurance, debating,
quizzes, National Olympiads, culture, recycling, continuing education, incoming
and outgoing tours, exposure to exchange students from Germany, USA, Reunion,
Canada, Australia, China and the UK, refugees from French speaking Africa and a
myriad of extracurricular courses on project management, philosophy,
engineering, design, music and art to name but a few. Every one of our students
has had equal opportunity to be part of a vibrant 21st century South African
school and the benefits have been incredible. Sportsmanship, empathy,
understanding, comradeship, connection, health and wellness, competition,
talent, strength, intellectual growth, stamina, love of learning, service to
others, understanding the needs of others over self, leadership, courage,
passion....I could go on and on.
But what example do you set? Instead of building up, you
break down. Lack of school sport structures, bureaucratic interference in
performing schools, constant changes to curriculum, lack of text books, lack of
community infrastructure and your lip service to policy that outlines wonderful
aims and objectives. We couldn’t wait for you to deliver. So we did it
ourselves. Our parents got involved, paid their school fees, supported our
teachers, gave them benefits that you should have provided and this allowed my
staff to give more and more. Do I hear the hadedas shouting ‘former Model C
school’ at this point? Probably....but that’s your fault I’m afraid. You’ve not
done enough to raise the level of involvement in education. We witness the
collapse of the Eastern Cape Education dept, Limpopo and instead of solutions
we have officials avoiding accountability, scurrying for cover and making
excuses.
But here’s a thought. We have just produced 200 hundred
young South Africans that are not afraid of rolling up their sleeves and
getting involved. We’ve taught then the value of participation. Put them into
work programmes.... Helen might be able to help you in this regard...... into
learnerships.... we have 6 trainee teachers permanently stationed at our
school..... into sport and teaching, into apprenticeships, into corporate South
Africa and I can guarantee you things will start to happen. But don’t delay as
many of them are looking to opportunities across the ocean and we need them
here, you need them here. Tell them you want them to stay. I would.
And finally Mr President -I’ve always wanted to say that - A
Sense of Hope. Hope – not in the sense of wishful thinking, not simply in the
sense of a positive attitude, of being optimistic without reason but rather
hope in the sense of confident expectation based on a solid foundation. That’s
what we’ve given our children at Bergvliet High. We’ve given them something to
strive for, to look forward to, a vision, a better life for all....sound
familiar? Why then does my DUX scholar, scoring over 90% in all her subjects,
not get accepted into UCT or Stellenbosch for medicine? Why are her hopes being
dashed? They should be knocking down the door to enrol her. Not your fault I
hear you say....nothing to do with you. I’m sorry sir but it has everything to
do with you.
Gareth Cliff said “India and China are churning out new,
brilliant, qualified people at a rate that makes us look like losers. South
Africa has a proud history of innovation, pioneering and genius. This is the
only way we can advance our society and economy beyond merely coping.” She IS
one of these people that Gareth is describing…..and, believe it or not, we have
199 more like her. We are giving them all to you. Give them HOPE...because my
staff have nurtured, grown and developed this hope in our youngsters. Do
everything in your power to make it happen. They are ready and waiting and keen
as mustard. Stop focusing on Mangaung. We have 200 matrics that deserve your
attention. And they deserve it now….not after Mangaung.
Thank you for reading this (I hope you do) and I quote
Gareth again to end off.
“We know who we are now, we care about our future – and so
should you.”
Kind regards
Stephen Price
Principal
Here is our newest addition to the family, Miss Georgia Carol, buried in Christmas parcels and happiness - sitting alongside her cousin Olly. (this picture says that it's time to be merry, especially if you are still too young to get amongst the egg nog!)
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Here is a moustached, blow-up Santa on a blow-up motorbike in someones' front garden!.JPG)
And this house was pretty spectacular with a 'light show' appearing on the front lawn at intervals, and "It's Christmas time in the city" playing at full-tilt!
The Hobbit plane has been used to ferry the rich and famous and even did a 'fly over' at 1000ft (which evidently is not that spectacular when one considers that a SAA boeing flew over Ellis Park MUCH lower than that with one or other World Cup Rugby Event) - Needless to say - everything and everyone kiwi has been sucked into the excitement of it all and the newspapers and television are Hobbit flavoured!
The Embassy Theatre in Wellington has had this amazing statue erected beside the hobbit doorway and we watched the huge and incredibly heavy piece being lifted and lowered into place on TV news a couple of days ago. There were some concerns about the weight of the thing being a little more than anticipated, but in the end the lift and lower went without a hitch.
A few thousand people apparently lined the red carpet - all hundreds of metres of it - and some were lucky enough to get autographs from the stars.
And the 'funny' which I came across was particularly pertinent for the upcoming festive season! .JPG)
We had a reasonably sized earth tremor here a little while ago - it sounded like an oncoming herd of buffalo, the ground beneath us began shuddering and then there was an almighty bang! Since the epicentre was not too far from Wanganui, we were fortunate that it was pretty deep down. No damage reported from anywhere around us - our 'damage' documented in the picture alongside! The tippled elephant, just far enough away to avoid a domino effect! .JPG)
The Edmonds recipe book is evidently 'thee' book for all things culinary in New Zealand - by culinary, I am referring to 'at home' and for the 'masses'! A while ago, they ran a competition to find the most loved and most popular recipes from this iconic cookbook and then published a whole new book of 'classics'. 
