‘My father would be proud of me’
Woman is principal of school where her father was a gardener
● When Margareth Phalane began her new job this month as the first black principal of Hillview High School in Pretoria, there was a sense of déjà vu.
That is because more than two decades ago she used to slip into the former Model C school at night, where her father was employed as a gardener. While Sebapola Lebotse never got to see his daughter’s achievement — he died in 2002 — Phalane said he would have been proud of her.
“He would have been proud today if he knew I am the principal of the school where he once was a gardener,” said the 43-yearold widow.
Phalane, who graduated with a doctorate in education management from Unisa in March last year, spoke proudly of her father’s love for gardening.
The white stinkwood trees, the brush cherry and pineapple guava trees on the school grounds remind her of his hard work.
Lebotse started work as a general assistant at the school in 1989 and worked there until his death.
Financial difficulties forced Phalane to stay at home in Senotlelo village, Mpumalanga, for two years after she matriculated in 1990.
She said her father gave her R590 at the beginning of 1993 to register at a teacher training college in the former Ndebele homeland in Mpumalanga. She qualified with a teacher’s diploma in 1995.
During the two years after matric when she was at home, as well as the three years while she was studying, she and her mother would sneak into her father’s dingy room at the school at night at month-ends to receive money from him for the family.
“We would share the room with my father. I used to heat water in a kettle and use a small container to take a bath in the room.
“My father would make sure we were not seen. We did not enter through the main gate at the school.”
Phalane’s teaching staff of 49 includes 26 Africans, 19 whites, three coloureds and one Indian. There are 1 166 African pupils, eight Indian, two coloured and one white.
“I feel honoured to lead such a big school like this,” Phalane said. Pupils had told her that her story had inspired them.
One of the first things she did in her job was to write to taxi officials informing them that no loud music would be allowed outside school when taxis dropped off or picked up pupils. She also told them the school’s security and management staff would randomly check taxis to see if pupils were hiding in them during school hours.
Naomi Myburgh, the headmistress of the school during the time Lebotse was employed as a gardener, said “he was really very reliable”.
Alfred Hlongoane, 52, a gardener who worked with Lebotse, said he would have been proud of his daughter's achievements.
One of the school’s deputy principals, Ansie Neethling, who was also at the school while Lebotse was there, said she remembered his name. “It’s a story that can be used for motivation. Her dad must have worked extremely hard to get her through college.”