Corruption stains EC reputation for producing legends

For a change, the Eastern Cape is in the news for the right reasons. In a world short of investors, our headline story today is about Zuko Mandlakazi who, at the age of 33, is listed among Africa’s top 50 innovators.

A Walter Sisulu University accountancy alumnus, Mandlakazi invented a wrist-wearable device that picks up sound to help deaf people communicate.

His achievement comes amid what, woefully, is becoming the usual litany of headlines – maladministration and corruption across municipalities and government departments. The province is also known for producing the worst matric results in the country.

This is in stark contrast to the quality of the human capital it produces. These include the likes of Professor Bongani Mayosi, the University of Cape Town academic who died last month. Mayosi was a world-renowned cardiologist. He was the dean of the faculty of health sciences at the University of Cape Town.

Mthatha-born Mayosi was part of the team that discovered one of the gene mutations responsible for causing a life-threatening heart disease. Mayosi is a matriculant of the very St Johns College in Mthatha that produced the likes of Siyabulela Xuza, an engineer by trade and Harvard University graduate. Xuza’s remarkable journey began at 12 when he used utensils in his mother's kitchen to bake rocket fuel “like cookies”. Four years later, his “safer, cheaper” solid rocket fuel won him the top prize in its category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in the US.

It won him a gold medal in the 2006 Eskom National Science Expo, as well as a trip to the Nobel Prize ceremony in Sweden. Xuza’s homemade rocket fuel also earned him global recognition and a scholarship to Harvard University. Nasa’s Lincoln Laboratories then gave the name Siyaxuza to a giant asteroid near Jupiter, discovered in 2000, which they describe as “minor planet 23182”.

This is the same province which produced Pam Golding, Tiyo Soga and John Tengo Jabavu, as well as Madiba, Robert Sobukwe, Steve Biko, Oliver Tambo, Chris Hani, the Mbekis and the Sisulus. We have our Makhaya Ntini, Siya Kolisi, Vuyani Bungu and Mark Boucher in sport, who also hold our flag high.

When we tell stories about the Mandlakazis of this province, we want to remind everyone that this is a province of legends. If we can just do away with the rampant corruption in our public service, the Eastern Cape will a better place to live in.

When we tell stories about the Mandlakazis, we want to remind everyone that this is a province of legends