LIFE LESSONS | It’s been a journey of learning from my fellow South Africans — thank you

After 15 years, this is my last column for The Times. I was told there would be layoffs because of the financial woes of media companies from the Washington Post to our own City Press. Change happens and yes, it hurts.

It was, nonetheless, my privilege and pleasure to write for you every single Thursday (I did not miss one column due), even on days when I did not need to such as a public holiday or the end of year break. Throughout, I have had excellent editors and sub-editors at the Sunday Times and later @Timeslive even if, initially, it irritated me that some young subs believed they had a better grasp of the English language (which was possible), but then distorted the meaning of what I wanted to say. Sometimes I cringed when I read a headline that had nothing to do with the substance of my article — it was hard to convince readers that the columnist does not choose a striking, and sometimes misleading, title.

Such minor alarms apart, to my editors and colleagues at the newspaper, thank you for your kindness and support over the years. From the patient Rhina Matjila, who harassed us to send invoices on time, to Fienie Grobler, who held my hand in the early years, to my editor Makhudu Sefara, a smart, decent and kind-hearted man who struggled to find the words that would put me out to pasture. I learnt at least five things about South Africans who read my education column, especially from the days when there would be long and intense responses in the commentary section below an online version of the publication.

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Maybe it is because of the Soweto uprising that sparked a national revolt which would re-energise and rebuild activism since the Sharpeville massacre. We know the stakes are high for individuals, families and country if we get education wrong. There would be cursing, debates and, sometimes, threats Two, I would learn over the years that virtually every South African knows that to change the school system we should rebuild the foundations of education and forget this obsession with the“matric” (NSC) results, which only half of our children get to anyway.

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