'You can't eat self-pity' – Motshekga to Vuwani pupils

13 September 2016

Vuwani – Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga warned pupils of violence-crippled Vuwani that they should expect no sympathy when they sit for exams, adding that no special examinations would be arranged.

Motshekga toured Vuwani for the first time since schools re-opened following a three-month shutdown in the area as a result of a municipal demarcation dispute.

Violent protests erupted and several schools were torched.

Motshekga said violence in Vuwani and the destruction of school property had plunged the school system into disarray.

"The crisis was very traumatic in many aspects. It destroyed our property, it destroys our assets and also disorganised the pupils," said Motshekga.

Addressing pupils, Motshekga said they were faced with unsympathetic systems and no preferential treatment would be given.

"If you don't pass well here, no one will recognise that you are from the burnt school, so it does not matter anymore. You will be treated like other children who never had difficulties," she said.

Some pupils had been away from school for nearly three months while the municipal boundary dispute raged.

She told pupils that they must do whatever it takes to succeed as the examination they were due to write would not take into account that they lost time during the protests.

"Do whatever it takes to succeed, you can't eat self-pity," she said.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.