‘EDUCATION AND LAND KEY TO RADICAL CHANGE IN SA’
Moseneke says learning vital
WITHOUT good education and giving people land, it will be impossible to achieve economic transformation.
This is according to retired deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, who said the government had achieved a lot after 1994 but people needed to be in possession of land and have good education, and that would change their lives for the better.
Moseneke, who spoke to Sowetan about constitutional democracy, said some parts contained in the constitution such as holding regular elections and establishing institutions of democracy were achieved.
“I do not think our generation sold out but I think the transition is incomplete.
“There are certain things that we should have done but they have not been done … we have never spoken about economic justice.
“We did not negotiate how we will equalise the economic transformation… how are we going to transform the economy,” he said.
Moseneke was referring to the fact that most black people remain poor and are not the majority shareholders of companies that control the economy.
The ANC is currently on a drive to bring about “radical economic transformation” through its policies.
But Moseneke emphasised that as long as the government does not improve education at public schools, it would be impossible to bridge the gap.
It is well documented that SA is ranked 138 out of 140 countries in mathematics and science.
“We still have schools without toilets, electricity and we expect those children to be A students. We cannot grow the economy without the tools.”
Moseneke was clear that he did not understand why television was not broadcasting educational programmes, saying education should be at the centre of transformation.
“Schools should produce people who will be valuable to themselves.
“We need a generation of educated children who will liberate themselves,” he said.
In 22 years after democracy, Moseneke said, the government had not built more institutions of higher learning.
He said it was unbelievable that the University of Witwatersrand was still only admitting 200 students annually to study medicine, saying the number had been the same before 1994. “We should by now have expanded our higher learning institutions.
“There can never be radical transformation without proper education.
“We also cannot have so many people staying in informal settlements, access to land by poor people is vital,” he said.
He said in the 15 years he was at the Constitutional Court there had never been a single case brought to the court about land.
“Government is fiddling around the land issue. [The] State owns a lot of land but [it] is not audited. We need a government that is responsive to the needs of the people.”
“I do not think our generation sold out but transition is incomplete