On the question of excellence!
Growing up in rural Limpopo during apartheid times there was not so much to look for inspiration.
As a child you have dreams, you want to be this or that in life. But when you look around you don't see any medical doctor, lawyer, engineer or something. The only careers we were accustomed to were those of a teacher, a nurse, a police or a priest. I am not implying the latter are not important or ‘essential' professions as one politician would say. The point is there was no pool of successful people to look up to.
The same was the case in sports; you couldn't come across a person who made success out of sports, say a professional footballer. The result was that such a lack of role modelling would give the youth less hope to be anything in life. You really had to dig deep to get extra motivation and in most cases you had to get that inspiration within you. You had to take a vow that the peripheral rural conditions and underprivileged surrounding are not going to pull you down and make you lose hope about the future.
One magazine that I found enthralling to read during those times was called "Tribute". Painted in black colour on its cover page the magazine was imprinted with these fulfilling words, "Tribute to black excellence". In its editions it featured black personalities who made it in various areas aspects of life, be it education, science, arts, business or sports. Well now the magazine is no longer in publication but what we can denote from it is the concept of excellence.
Do we believe in excellence as South Africans? I listened to the interview of the Afcon LOC Chief, Mvuso Mbebe by Metro FM sports anchor Robert Marawa based on problems that football fans experienced during the Afcon tournament, mainly the purchase of tickets. Most listeners called expressing their frustrations about the ticketing system which was mainly dysfunctional. Instead of lending an ear and sympathy to the callers Mr Mbebe kept on defending the system. He repeatedly said for some of the supporters the system worked fine; even though the overwhelming evidence pointed to the contrary as most callers during the show expressed unhappiness.
The memory of a man who called and expressed a painful experience on how in the Afcon final he and his wife had to return home after they could not find a sitting space at the stand even though they possessed tickets still haunts me. So you see Mr Mbebe what makes football special is that it is the game of the billions and it's not an exception here in South Africa.
To the majority of South Africans football is about life experience, it's about culture, an expression of one's desires and a beacon of hope. It's something they look into to derive pride of their nationhood. Of course Mr Mbebe apologised after being pressed so hard to do so by the interviewer and callers but he kept on qualifying his apology that mainly there was nothing wrong with the ticketing system.
Now that is like spitting in the face of football fans and South Africans at large as one famous trade unionist would say. Whereas the African football confederation commended the general organization of the cup given the short space of time for arrangements, limitations and setbacks should be acknowledged. That's how we learn and improve as a nation. Mediocrity can't be condoned and accepted at any rate, no matter the excuse.
The whole notion of excellence should be revisited by South Africans in all walks of life. More especially in the fields of education and health, this would be the measure for government's efforts to improve lives of citizens. The 2009 ANC manifesto correctly identified education and health to be among its top priorities but if you contrast government performance in the two departments you don't feel in basic education the energy that is there in health. We learn there is a social pact between government unions and other stakeholders in education but we don't see it in motion and practice.
If there is any area where Patrice Motsepe should channel the fortune or ‘surplus' he amassed through the sweat of toiling mineworkers it's education. Motsepe should start by empowering families of mineworkers and surrounding communities in terms of increasing their prospects for education and skills.
So far if one takes a walk around the communities where ARM operates there is little evidence for one to believe in his philanthrophical motives. We still await to see if he wasn't embarking on one big publicity stunt. We will commend his motives when we see a lowly paid mineworker being able to afford education for his children. I would be impressed to see a destitute family around one of his mines being able to afford higher education for its children.
Interesting to see the likes of Mamphele Ramphele going on preaching excellence whereas there is little to show on what she had done when given a chance to occupy educational edifice.
We need real commitment to excellence by South Africans who mean well!
Walter Mothapo is a member of the Provincial Executive Committee of the SACP in Limpopo. These are his personal views!
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