Naledi Pandor, the new Minister of Education, has proved through her years as community activist, academic and politician to be as calming an influence as she is an authoritative presence.
No doubt these qualities are going to come in handy as the
former chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) steps into an arena that is not exactly in crisis, but often resembles the proverbial hornets’ nest.
Pandor will have to grapple with the pressing issues of tertiary institution mergers; accessibility at every tier of the education system; questions about standards and the need for further transformation; the uneven performance of the schooling system in different provinces; and the question of why so many youth end up unemployed in a country crying out for skilled people.
Little wonder that a day after being sworn into office, Pandor was already setting about acquainting herself with staff, issues and workload.
Some of the preliminary priorities she has identified are initiatives already under way.
These include further education and training; the Department of Education’s interface with its counterpart in labour; the arena of teacher development and the training of more teachers; and two reports about to be submitted about the problematic areas of rural education and language in education.
Pandor says that during the next few weeks she intends to meet with a variety of role players and engage with their views.
‘Luckily we are not in crisis mode,” says Pandor. ‘I don’t need to go in there with a hammer – I can proceed steadily.”
At the same time, she is not averse to putting her foot down when she must.
‘Education is so important to the national interest that no one can say it is not my responsibility to deal with all problems,” Pandor says.
Her intention is to give the necessary support to provinces and, where she must, ‘some push”.
On the question of affordability of education, Pandor says a clear
system has to be devised where learners who can’t afford schooling are exempt from paying fees.
‘The policy exists but we must look at the procedure to apply for exemption. We need to work out criteria – should blanket exemptions be area-based, should it be based on parents who qualify for child-support grants? We need to examine this.”
Pandor envisages dividing her vast portfolio with her new deputy minister, Enver Surty.
The two have had a long working relationship since Surty, a human rights lawyer and constitutional litigation expert, was the African National Congress’s chief whip in the NCOP. There Surty, who comes from Rustenburg in the North West province, was responsible for assisting Pandor to maintain the rules of Parliament, oversee the functioning of the NCOP and planning its programme.
Surty was also a key negotiator in the ANC team that helped draw up the country’s 1996 Constitution and gave considerable input on the Bill of Rights.
Surty might well take responsibility for dealing with the controversial issue of school governing bodies (SGBs) – an area where Pandor says there seems to have been a misinterpretation of the government’s policy and provisions.
Surty has first-hand experience of serving on an SGB – he was a member of the progressive body at Zinniaville Secondary School in Rustenburg from the 1980s to the mid-1990s when the school led the way in defying apartheid policy and admitted African learners.
He says he is immensely challenged by his new job since education is so critical to the country’s future – not only in terms of broadly raising standards of living, but also in making South Africa a viable participant in the global economy.
Finding the answer to one of Pandor’s own burning questions will be important in achieving this. Says Pandor: ‘One issue that really concerns me is what happens to young people when they qualify. Why are so many unemployed in a country crying out for skills?”
Both Pandor and Surty emphasise working with other ministries and their departments – from labour to science and technology, as well as arts and culture.
Pandor (50) brings both practical and academic knowledge of education to the table.
She has hands-on teaching experience both at secondary and tertiary level and, like her predecessor, Kader Asmal, is an academic at heart.
Before coming to Parliament in 1994, Pandor lectured at the University of Botswana and later at the University of Cape Town.
She has two master’s degrees under her belt – the first a master in arts from the University of London, and the second a master of linguistics she obtained from the University of Stellenbosch – an achievement she especially relished since that university was the alma mater of the very apartheid politicians the ANC deposed.
By the time she obtained her second master’s degree, Pandor had already spent three years in Parliament, where her career followed a steady upward trajectory: from whip to deputy chief whip; the NCOP’s deputy chairperson in 1998; and after the 1999 elections, chairperson of the NCOP.
As chairperson she was responsible for the overall running of the NCOP, a forum intended to ensure the voice of provinces is heard in national legislation, including supervising debates and keeping order in the chamber.
While still in the National Assembly, Pandor served on several portfolio committees, most notably as the convener of the sub-committee on higher education. The education committee, graced with leadership from MPs such as Blade Nzimande and Pandor, played a key role in scrutinising proposals for new education laws and policies.
Despite her busy parliamentary schedule, Pandor has still found time through the years to maintain ties with educationists and community activists. Her reach stretched out to organisations ranging from the Joint Education Trust and the Forum of African Women educationalists to the Black Management Forum, an
initiative Pandor strongly supported for its work in promoting affirmative action.
When Pandor was appointed chancellor of Cape Technikon four years back, the then-minister of education Kader Asmal pointed out the irony that she was heading up an institution quite literally built on the razed ground of District Six, an international byword for the horror of apartheid-era forced removals.
Asmal also relished the closing of a circle in that Pandor’s grandfather, Professor ZK Matthews, had been hounded from his post at Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape – and in the end from South Africa – because he refused to turn his back on the ANC.
Matthews was the first African to gain a degree in South Africa.
Pandor herself grew up in other Southern African countries, as well as the United Kingdom. She now lives in Cape Town with her husband, Sharif, and their four children.