"It strikes me that a key to success in Cape Town is to have a clear and well-articulated vision of where we want to be. I see a city which has cast off the shackles of a divided past, which is focussed on being globally oriented and connected and which attracts, develops and retains young, talented people from Cape Town, South Africa and the world.
This vision is one where the economy is robust, where all of our residents have a stake in the future and where the vagaries of birth are overcome through social mobility and inclusion. This is what business means when we speak about Cape Town as an African global city of innovation and inspiration."
So says Chris Whelan, CEO of business think-tank Accelerate Cape Town, which counts more than 45 of South Africa's largest corporates among its members, was introducing University of the Free State rector and vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen, who took the opportunity to focus on the critical role that education must play in the future success of Cape Town, the Western Cape and South Africa.
Jansen said that there is enormous wastage in the school system. "When you look at last year's Grade 12 results, you will see that less than 25% of pupils achieved 50% in physical science, mathematics and life sciences. If you are talking about talent, start there."
He said that this failure comes down to our school system's inability to give every child a fair chance at success in their lives after school. "Unless you sort out the schools, you cannot have anything resembling a decent society. The business sector will not be able to resolve the issue of the talent shortage until we have a stable school system for at least 80% of our children, instead of the 20% we are currently sitting with."
The problem, he said, is not one of education - it is one of politics and power, and as such it can only be resolved politically. "We need our president to step in and tell his partners in the unions, specifically COSATU and the South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU), that the government is taking back the schools. The government then needs to run our schools in a way that does not undermine the children of the poorest of the poor."
He was furious over SADTU's ongoing strikes and go-slow that has affected schools across the country. "It is immoral for our union leaders to disrupt schools for the vast number of poor children in our country, while their children attend schools which are undisturbed."
Despite the enormous challenges faced by the South African education system, Jansen was full of praise and hope for the next generation of leaders emerging in the country. "Aside from the broken education system, our other key challenge to ensure a healthy society is one of human relationships. South Africans have great difficulty in understanding each other, which is a result of our administration systems that insist that we are divided into four types of people: African, white, coloured and Indian - and which gets in the way of us simply living as human beings."
From his own experience as the head of the University of the Free State, he said that he saw at first-hand the incredible anger and separation between white and black during the Reitz saga. "This was a problem of intimacy, an inherent distrust between two groups of students that led to a crisis. In an effort to resolve this, we put black and white students together, in the same residencies, to overcome the fear and distrust. To the surprise of many, no further crises or controversies reared their head."
His message to business was framed in the context of his experience in handling racial conflict at the University of the Free State. He encouraged the development of a corporate culture that emphasises nearness - not just in physical terms, but through social media, and stressed that distant and inaccessible leadership is an unacceptable legacy of the past. He also encouraged the concept of reciprocation - that any assistance given should be matched by some form of giving by the recipient."
For more information about Accelerate Cape Town, go to www.acceleratecapetown.co.za.
