First lady Zanele Mbeki was inaugurated as the first chancellor of the Cida (Community and Individual Development Association) City Campus in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Mbeki, who has been involved with Cida since 2002, accepted the chancellorship saying Cida was an institution responsive to the needs of the underprivileged.
”Cida is fundamentally founded on principles of sustainable poverty alleviation, offering development for those who would not otherwise get access and to extricate larger numbers of families from abject poverty,” she said.
”I know that through education lies economic freedom for more of our people.”
Cida, founded in 1999, offers tertiary education to students in commerce and computer science. Cida is privately funded, mostly by business. While scholarships are offered by the institution, many students’ fees are paid through the ”sponsor a student” programme.
”Mrs Mbeki is very supportive to the needs of the poor and from today [Saturday] she will officially play a role at the campus,” said Cida spokesperson Michelle Blumenau.
”Before this she used to help with the capping of the students and motivation and stuff, but her duties are now official. She will now confer degrees and diplomas and work for social upliftment of the students.”
Campus chief executive Taddy Blecher said Cida and its students would benefit from Mbeki’s commitment to the upliftment of the marginalised in society.
After the inauguration ceremony, a German industrialist and foreign investor in South Africa, Claas Daun, donated R10-million towards the Cida Diamond Fund.
The money will be used to finance scholarships.
”This is real and meaningful empowerment, literally pulling families out of poverty and into the middle class, thereby creating long-term stability and economic democracy,” said Daun.
Blecher said graduates would earn or generate between R800-million and R1,5-billion in income over the course of a 40-year working career.
”This is over 100 times more than the cost of the investment in their education. These earnings will go directly into the hands of the historically disadvantaged families.”
Blecher said more than 2 500 Cida graduates were currently working in full-time jobs.
He said most of the graduates were earning in a year what their families could not earn in a lifetime.
Blecher said 500 scholarships valued at R25-million would be available for 2007.
Pupils who matriculate with a minimum of 950 points and who pass mathematics and English may apply for a scholarship. — Sapa