As long as the government’s priority remains affirmative action instead of quality education, delivery problems such as the current electricity crisis will be unavoidable, Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille said on Friday.
Writing in her weekly newsletter, SA Today, Zille said the many delivery challenges faced by South Africa could only be resolved if the country’s education system improved.
”Without an education system that provides enough graduates with the necessary skills, our country will lurch from one infrastructural crisis to another,” she said.
The government should make sure that young South Africans, particularly the previously disadvantaged, received high quality education on key areas such as engineering.
”This approach will provide far more opportunities for black South Africans than the current preoccupation with racial targets,” she said.
The only way the government could address historical education deficiencies created by apartheid was through improving the quality of education.
”The Democratic Alliance believes that this tragic legacy must be reversed by making excellent education and skills training the nation’s top priority.
”The skills pool must grow rapidly enough to sustain economic growth and provide opportunities for all,” Zille said.
Education was one area where South Africa’s democratically elected government had failed.
”Declining education for the majority of South Africans is the greatest failure of our new democracy.
”It is difficult to identify, because, unlike the provision of electricity, the lights do not suddenly go out,” she said. — Sapa