On Friday 4 November 2022, the Temba Education Investment Fund (TEIF) in partnership with the Hammanskraal Principals Forum (HPF) will host two prominent speakers, Advocate Andy Mothibi and Prof. Sekepe Matjila at Morekuri Safari Lodge at the Dinokeng Game Reserve in Hammanskraal.
Both Adv. Mothibi and Prof. Matjila’s educational journeys were shaped in the dusty streets of Temba. But despite the harsh conditions of the township schools, they both succeeded to climb to the pinnacle of their respective careers in the education and legal fraternity.
The two distinguished guest speakers will share their knowledge and experience to inspire us intellectually and imaginatively towards improving the quality of education for learning communities in Temba and the greater Hammanskraal region.
The recent establishment of the Temba Education Investment Fund (TEIF) marks a significant milestone towards renewed community efforts for the improvement of Temba and the greater Hammanskraal region as a reputable study destination, north of the City of Tshwane in Gauteng Province.
For many years since its establishment as a black settlement on the banks of the Apies River in 1942, the Temba Township gradually gained a reputation for itself as a reputable study destination that attracted learners, students and scholars locally and from afar.
By 1972, this emerging, sprawling black settlement and its neighbouring hamlets and villages prided themselves on not only great primary and secondary schools – but also several colleges ad a university campus that produced many internationally renowned intellectuals and professionals.
Just the other day, Temba-born Prof. Sekepe Matjila, of UNISA shared with me how the late Ntate Adolph Phalatse related to him during the casual interview, on how the celebrated Dr Steve Mokone received his early education and footballing tutelage in Temba. And how he later went on to become one of the best exports South Africa has ever produced. https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/steve-mokone-the-striker-who-broke-the-apartheid-barrier-1.502149
So, it is not an idle claim that indeed Temba was once one of the best study destinations in South Africa that produced the best academically gifted individuals from its educational system. Sadly, since the advent of democracy in 1994, Temba has experienced a gradual decline as a college town.
One of the goals of the Temba Education Investment Initiative is to arrest the decline through multi-layered strategic interventions, towards reclaiming Temba and the greater Hammanskraal region as a vibrant educational destination and hub in Southern Africa and the world. And this goal is achievable through smart and innovative partnerships.
To paraphrase Thabo Mbeki in his inaugural speech as the second (after Nelson Mandela) President of South Africa: Temba and the greater Hammanskraal region is in that period which the seTswana-speaking people in Southern Africa graphically describe as “mahube a naka tsa kgomo”, the dawning of a new dawn when only the tips of the horn of the cattle can be seen etched against the morning sky.
As the sun continues to rise to banish the darkness of the decline of the quality of education due to a suite of societal factors – including the invasive social ills – What the rising sun must show is a palpable process of the comprehensive renewal of Temba – its rebirth – driven by the enormous talents of all its people and made possible by the knowledge and realisation that we share a common heritage and destiny, of this place we call home as a place of hope and prosperity.
Collectively as sons and daughters of Temba – or any other gender for that matter – what we will have to see in the rising light is a community that is fully conscious of the fact that it has entered a social contract with the people, to work in partnership with them to build a winning community.
In practical and measurable ways, we must keep pace with the rising sun, progressing from despair to hope, away from a brutal past of degenerative decadence that forever seeks to drag us backwards, towards a new tomorrow that speaks of change in a forward direction.
Temba Education Investment Initiative believes that history and the present opportunities have given us the rare possibility to achieve these objectives. As we gradually move towards the centenary milestone in 2042, we must set our eyes towards Vision 2050 towards the realization of The Community We Want. Or even better, cast our eyes towards Agenda 2063 – The Africa We Want, through our educational endeavours.
