Sipho Seepe is superficial and contradictory. He accuses the government of failing to deliver while he failed to deliver at Vista University Sebokeng campus.
When Seepe assumed the principalship of that campus he promised to “guide the university’s curricular transformation, its social role and its place in the national and international landscape”. He also promised to rewrite study material. Seepe has not delivered on any of these promises. He is not an active academic in the institution but a virtual clerk and his campus remains a “bush” college.
Seepe’s belief that maths and science would excel in Sebokeng Vista under his guidance is not bearing fruit. It is obvious that he is not committed to the training and development of previously disadvantaged youth. He should not question people’s integrity if his own is questionable. He should practise what he preaches.
Seepe’s research and academic interests (exploring the cultural, social and political dimensions of mathematics and science education) have never produced tangible results. This should be attributed to the fact that his academic endeavours place more emphasis on thought and theory than action and the application of research. Seepe does not help our people through research to live better lives. The principalship position allows him to implement his grand ideas.
Seepe could also have influenced Curriculum 2005 when it comes to maths and science but he did not make any submission. During the interview with Focus (September 23 2001) Seepe argued: “I do not however subscribe to the notion of African solutions for African problems. We should seek the best solutions, wherever they come from.” This is another contradiction because Seepe criticises Mbeki for “handing round the begging bowl in the West” and interacting with “colonial masters”. The president never begged the West but he is aware that Africa cannot develop without the assistance of the developed world.
Countries of the north cannot succeed without trading with us. America tried it in the 1920s and that led to the Great Depression, which affected the whole world. Globalisation compels countries to interact with each other. Self-reliance should not be confused with isolation. Seepe himself agitated for a tertiary system that matches “global” trends. He once praised his “high quality teachers who studied abroad”.
Seepe studied at Harvard and thus there is nothing sinister about the president going abroad to seek solutions. He criticises the president for appointing people who are not educated. Our people do not care about the qualifications of their leaders. They are primarily interested in service delivery.
There are many people who made it in life without university degrees, like Jacob Zuma, Bill Gates, Ken Owen, Richard Branson and Mbhazima Shilowa, who have added a lot of value to people’s lives without degrees. These people are also intellectually rich and sought as speakers at conferences and business diners. The results of educational qualifications are not always tangible, but they are important. Professor Derrick G Kourie of the University of Pretoria put it well: “Post-graduate qualifications are not the only road to success. They provide no such guarantee, neither at the individual level, nor for the country as a whole.”
Readers of this distinguished paper do not deserve Seepe’s mediocre work. Rabelani Dagada, Johannesburg