/ 21 April 2005

Queen of the classroom

In the dust bowl of rural Nongoma, deep in the heart of Zululand, the Grade 5s and 6s at Kamsweli Primary School have an unusual dignitary as their teacher: the youngest of the five wives of Zulu monarch, King Goodwill Zwelithini Ka Bhekuzulu.

An educator since 1997, Queen Nompumelelo (28) describes some of the more amusing spin-offs to her title: ‘When the children come to school they are often confused about whether to call me ‘Queen’ or ‘Madam’. Often it is a case of ‘Queen Madam’ or something similar,” she says.

Simply being royalty was not enough for Queen Nompumelelo, who says: ‘Everybody hopes to become somebody in life. Besides being a queen, I regard becoming a teacher as the fulfilment of a lifetime’s destiny.”

The appalling poverty and unacceptably high levels of illiteracy around her palatial home at Nongoma’s Enyokeni Royal Residence also fuelled her interest in becoming an educator.

‘I felt that becoming a teacher and contributing towards the lives of our young ones would be my ultimate contribution to my nation,” she says. ‘In impoverished rural areas it is the children who are mainly ignored or neglected. There may also be instances of serious abuse that come to the fore because the nature of our job allows us to connect with the children.”

In addition to two of her own children, the queen has also become guardian to two learners who were recently orphaned. ‘While the palace is not an orphanage, as the mother of the nation I am mothering these two youngsters because they have no one else to turn to”. she says

The young queen says her main inspiration comes from her role model, the late English Princess Diana. ‘She used to be a kindergarten teacher but even when her royal orders pulled her away from her profession, she tirelessly worked as a servant of her community, particularly at grass-roots level.”

Buoyed by a similar determination, Queen Nompumelelo is hopeful that all educators will push themselves to ‘go beyond the call of duty and remember that anybody who becomes anything in this world does so as a result of their teachers and quality education,” says Queen Nompumelelo.

And the fruits of such efforts are many: ‘When you are dealing with young minds, you are dealing with carefree souls. There is nothing greater than the sense of reward and fulfilment you experience when these youngsters master the skills you impart to them,” she says.

However, her enthusiasm for her job is tempered by the inadequate resourcing of rural schools like hers. ‘I’ve even implored the king to try and raise funding to resource the schools in our community. The financial predicament in our area is so bad that most parents can’t even afford the annual school fees of R30.”

With unemployment and poverty rife, the ‘Queen Madam” is also pained by the high incidence of schoolchildren who report to school hungry. ‘Our feeding schemes are not enough. The government needs to make funds available so that our children have sustenance to last the day at school and concentrate on their lessons.”