Let’s be frank, Black Tuesday came and went for the majority of IkamvaYouth without much fanfare as the secrecy bill passed through parliament. A few Ikamvanites wore black, tweeted or re-tweeted on a selection of the events of the day but – by in large – the day was much like any other with immediate concerns such as passing exams and more mundane everyday issues taking priority.
We can safely assume that this scene was repeated throughout township and rural communities across the country and perhaps Steven Friedman has identified one of the key reasons here. Unfortunately, this lack of interest does not mean there will be no serious repercussions for township and rural communities and therefore Ikamvanites (as Friedman points out). There are also major areas of concern in Pierre De Vos’s account of the technical aspects of the Bill and the powers it gives to government to guard and classify information. Given too that Desmond Tutu refers to the Bill as an “insult to all South Africans” and Jay Naidoo issues warnings against “a dangerous and paranoid direction for our country” it is only wise to reflect on the issues ourselves and how they relate to our own positions.
We’ve said it often that IkamvaYouth strives not only to achieve great impact in what we do, but also strives to be very deliberate in the way we do it. As you know, IkamvaYouth operates as a grassroots organisational democracy underpinned by a set of core IkamvaYouth values that seek inclusive decision-making, collective ownership and consensus wherever possible. IkamvaYouth flips the traditional hierarchical top-down approach on its head with branch representatives (including beneficiaries) hiring/firing branch coordinators and branch coordinators hiring/firing regional coordinators (effectively their bosses in both instances). The IkamvaYouth board, in addition to its legal and fiduciary duties, acts primarily as custodian of the IkamvaYouth values (much like a constitutional court) and at all levels, stakeholders are invited to offer input to meetings when decisions will impact directly on their circumstances.
The upshot of working in this way means that a branch of IkamvaYouth does not just work within a particular community but, more accurately, the branch ends up creating a community and it’s a community anchored in and centred around IkamvaYouth’s organisational values. For this to work though, and for any democratic community to work, we have to have access to as much information as possible or we will make poor decisions and/or disengage from the process. What’s more, as Parker Palmer helpfully points out, democracy is fundamentally a matter of the human heart and the great democratic journey is a continual alignment and re-alignment of our individual and collective hearts with the core democratic values. This is the only way we’re able to find the “courage to create a politics worthy of the human spirit”.
In the IkamvaYouth context, ready access to relevant information for informed and engaged decision-making means a transparency on budgetary issues and sensitive topics like salaries. Everyone at IkamvaYouth knows what everyone else is earning and conflicts are discussed openly and honestly trusting the process that collective wisdom guided by the IkamvaYouth values will continue to move us in the direction we wish to go. Like any good democracy, IkamvaYouth is invariably a little messy on occasion and sometimes meetings can be tense. We are also often less efficient than the authoritarian alternative (except with regards to social impact) but the upside in terms of collective buy-in, pride and ownership is significant and the gains are immeasurable in helping to create community.
The problem with the Information Bill (or at least one of the problems) is that it introduces a new barrier to creating the kind of community we long for in South Africa (and we’ve got more than enough barriers already). It makes it harder for us to be engaged active citizens even assuming that there may be some highly-specific pieces of information justifiably held by the state. The members of parliament who voted for the Bill showed little sign that they held every aspect of the Bill up against the light of the values enshrined in the constitution or gave serious thought to the constitutional principal of transparent governance. They also showed little appreciation of the life-lesson that we can’t be in real community when we keep too many secrets regardless of how honourable our intentions at the outset. In short, it feels like our democratic hearts are unaligned and it is instructive that both Pierre De Vos and Jay Naidoo (above) invoke the issue of “trust” as core to what’s at stake.
Experience has taught us that a necessary condition for each of us to remain active, responsible, democratic IkamvaYouth Citizens is for us to have access to as much information as possible in making properly informed and constructive decisions. It is a vital component of our desire to remain rooted in our values and in authentic community with each other. Similarly then, for us to be active, responsible, democratic citizens sharing our lives together in this country the same must surely apply. We need access to as much information as possible to remain an engaged citizenry and to check how the country’s democratic heart aligns with our treasured democratic values. Democracy is not a passive past-time and we’re going to have to work continuously and exceptionally hard to keep it but since it’s a matter of the heart it will bring us great meaning, sometimes pain and often life.
As Ikamvanites, we have an opportunity to be an example to the rest of the country of a functioning democratic grassroots community in our own small way. We can’t work on healing our hearts and aligning our values without also working on healing the social and economic injustices of the past which is why the ‘what’ we do and social impact remains so important but it is ultimately also the ‘way’ that we do things that will determine whether we remain active and engaged and in authentic community with each other and our country.
Highly Recommended Reading: Healing the Heart of Democracy: Creating a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit by Parker Palmer. Good democratic soul-food.
Our Masiphumelele students have been invited to participate to the eMzantsi Carnival. The theme, this year, is focused on sustainable development. All of the costumes have been made from recycled materials. Youth will parade with 800 other young people from all over the South Peninsula Communities. It will be a time to celebrate our cultural diversities.
Save the 3rd of December to watch and encourage the Youth at the Parade on the Kommetjie Road. All information for time, location on their website: http://www.emzantsi.org.za/
The Nyanganites experienced a day not to be forgotten, after hearing about the facts of drug abuse and a talk from Delcia, a recovered addict who spoke about her addiction and how she got help and stopped using. The learners have shared how badly drugs have messed up their families and communities.
Nyanga is notorious for its drug abuse and alcohol abuse and we are faced with learners dropping out of school due to this problem. We have learners who have brothers and sisters highly addicted to drugs and this workshop helped us as staff and tutors to understand better what help we can give to the learners affected by drug abuse.
A big Thank You goes to Call The Rain for running the workshop for us. Call The Rain is an organisation that specialises in storytelling. In their workshops, people share personal stories. The hope is that people will hear the message in the story and consider changing. Call the Rain is clear that they can never make the change for others; that is peoples’ own decision.
Thanks to Sabrina for making sure our Life Skills workshops are going well.
The Masiphumelele Library was a flutter with excitement on Saturday afternoon when it was announced that a very special visitor was coming to see the library and to converse with the organizations working in the library.
Welcome Camilla Parker-Bowles, The Duchess of Cornwall, wife to Prince Charles!
She arrived at 1pm, and was barely visible through the hoard of paparazzi and officials. However, when she did emerge from the crowd, she chose to sit at the table with several hard-working Ikamvanites! With heads down studying diligently for their pending matric examinations the Duchess was obviously impressed with their commitment.
Phindi Buhlungu, Vuyelwa Adonisi, Khanya Gutyana, and Anathi Bekiswa were the lucky ones who had a good chat with Camilla. They spoke about the IkamvaYouth programme, how their exams were going, how often they come to the library, why they come and what they want to do in the future. They were all impressed with her and said she was very friendly and they were proud to speak to her about IkamvaYouth.
We waved the Duchess goodbye but not before we managed to sneak a copy of Flying Colours to her! I am sure it will be viewed by the entire royal family – The Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Camilla all snuggled up on the sofa on a Sunday evening!
Whether or not it does get viewed and whether or not she will remember the learners she spoke to, her visit highlights the importance of the Masiphumelele Library and recognises Susan Alexander’s, Thando, and Veronica’s hard work in making the library a vibrant centre of community activity. IkamvaYouth is proud to partner with the library. A big thank you to the Library Team!
By Liesel Bakker
It’s been hard to ignore these past few weeks the coverage at Chris Hani High School in Makhaza involving a brutal attack leaving Malibongwe Melani, a grade 12 student, severely injured in hospital. (See articles in the
Voice of the Cape and
Cape Argus) Students are feeling very embittered with school life, the dysfunctional state of the school and the powerlessness of feeling unsafe in the very place they’re supposed to be learning and developing. A small group of students vented these frustrations in a very destructive way, making fires, throwing desks, rocks, sticks and other objects off the 2nd floor school building, at the principal, police and whoever was unfortunate enough to be in their path, shutting the school and disrupting scheduled exams.
However our amazing Ikamvanites are not letting this huge disruption to their exam period and school life get in their way of being the agents of change in their lives and of their friends. The Grade 11’s from Chris Hani came to us asking for extra physics classes to catch up not only the 12 weeks of work they missed by not having a teacher as well as the 2 weeks of disruption to their regular school day. So today, while the sun is blazing and their friends are all playing soccer in the road, they are instead sitting in our office learning about lenses and light with practical examples taught by our newest volunteering ikamvanite, retired UCT lecturer
Prof John Greene.
These learners are really inspirational not only to other Ikamvanites but to their friends as well as the small group of destructive students. These are truly learners making the impossible happen for themselves, showing the others how no one can stand in the way of being the change in their lives.
Well done Ikamvanites, and Big Up to Prof John Greene!!
As the rain poured down, there was a fear spreading amongst us that no one was going to turn up; left with an empty library with rain tapping depressingly at the windows…
Thankfully, our fears were completely unfounded. More than 2500 students braved the weather and came to the Harare Library on Friday afternoon to explore their post-matric choices. The majority of students were Grade 12s but there were also a large number of Grade 11s, some Grade 10s and even some Grade 8s. It was great to see the younger learners beginning to think about their futures from a young age.
The queue to sign up for the workshops delivered by Jean Alfeld, Sizwe Matoti and Lindela Mjenxane
IkamvaYouth’s founding motto is one of future oriented thinking and pro-activity. The Careers Indaba is a fundamental step in fostering this mind set in the youth of South Africa. It is challenging to dream of a better future and to aspire to goals without knowing the realities of these goals and the opportunities that are available.
Universities, companies, and NGOs from all over Cape Town attended the fair. They did not merely provide factual information about careers and studying opportunities, but they also conversed with these young people and delivered a message of hope and possibility. This message is crucial for youth who are the victims of poor education systems and who live in a community plagued by poverty and all its products:
‘Academic failure is a consequence of the beliefs that students hold about themselves and about their ability to have control over their environments’ (G. Hutt & F. Pajares)
IkamvaYouth focuses on changing the mindset of youth, to think beyond their immediate circumstances and to believe in themselves and the possibilities that their futures hold.
When interviewed by The Sowetan reporter on Friday both Equal Education and IkamvaYouth agreed that this event is vital for youth in township schools and must be expanded. Tsepo Khanye, (NSFAS representative) also agreed: ‘This is a fantastic event and is well patronised. We need to make this bigger and longer, we need to get more youth exposed to it. Next year we should partner and hold something at Oliver Thambo hall to build on this success.’ Lets hope!
It was inspiring to see that there was appreciation for the event, both from exhibitors as well as students. Many learners commented at how much they had gained from the experience. An un-named Grade 12 from Mfuleni High School commented that ‘I have so much to think about now. About my future and about how I can get there’. More events of this nature are needed to make more youth believe that there are accessible and obtainable options for their futures.
Equal Education was the partner on this event and produced amazing publicity materials and helped to organize the day. IkamvaYouth is hugely appreciative to Ntshadi Mofokeng and her team for making it happen! A huge thank you to Lulama Langeni from the Harare Library for letting us take over her space for the whole day!
Lloyd Lungu