Botswana depended on van Rensburg�s curriculum
Onalenna Kelebeile | Wednesday June 28, 2017 17:13
It was said during the recent memorial service in Serowe that now defunct Botswana Training Authority (BOTA) was created to improve skills training, but it closed shop before they could come up with an alternative to his robust curricular in any of the vocational trades.
Brigades representative, Paul Mosimanegape said the only thing that changed was to repeal the Apprenticeship System Act. He said in 2009 brigades thwarted production from the concept of training with production so production and practicals are now moribund.
“The trouble is that we are implementing his curriculum without the 70% practical and production component. Now the industry is complaining about the mismatch of the skills to the requirement of the industry,” he said.
He said the memorial service offered an opportunity to reflect on the heroism of van Rensburg who sacrificed everything so that Botswana could develop and prosper, but said the country has done very little to appreciate and honour him.
“We hope that Serowe Brigade could be named after van Rensburg so that his legacy could be preserved. I personally am a student of his philosophy and a component of training with production balanced with academic education,” he added. He, however, said that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Mosimanegape said RraMasego, as the late stalwart was affectionately called, relentlessly defended his principles and his model of education with production has been copied to SADC countries such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa.
He launched education with production in 1980 with the support of the Swedish government to expand his vision beyond Botswana borders. He received a Right Livelihood Award from RLA Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden and from contacts he made there, he came back and introduced the practice of permaculture in Botswana.
Swaneng Hill School head, Gabalape Autlwetse, who is also the school’s alumnus wondered where many of them would be if it were not for van Rensburg. She said some of the structures at Serowe Brigade and Swaneng Hill School were constructed by van Rensburg and three years later laboratories and workshops were added. Students did gardening and maintenance of the structures themselves, she said.
International Affairs and Cooperation minister, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, who is the former Minister of Education and Skills Development said changing education to include vocational training was all van Rensburg’s brainchild. She said it was necessary to adopt his ideals so that no students are left out after the possibility of failing junior certificate.
“That is the best he could do for this country. I personally learnt a lot from him,” she said.
Joel Pelotona, a friend to the deceased said RraMasego did for this country beyond measure and that he came into the country with good intentions to do his best. He started Swaneng Consumer Cooperatives with just a small shop behind Serowe Hotel.
“We were just a few members, therefore we could afford to construct a building and stock up the shop with a meagre monthly subscription of only P0.10. However, the small coop gave birth to a big cooperative society in the Main Mall as well as Tshwaragano Hotel and a butchery,” he said.
Pelotona said his friend was not in Serowe for selfish intentions of self-enrichment, but had the welfare of Batswana at heart.
He even started Boiteko Self-Help Trust where elderly women who have exceeded schooling age would meet for pottery and weaving. The trust has been involved in charitable activities such as donating P6,000 and a computer set to an orphanage and building a house for orphans. It was also revealed that despite the immense contribution to the establishment of cooperative societies, van Rensburg died without holding any shares because his intention was to empower Batswana, not to enrich himself.
Van Rensburg and his wife, Elizabeth were granted permission to build a school in Serowe in 1962 and Swaneng Hill opened its gates for its first students the following year. The school soon became widely known for its policies of non-racialism, self-help, community service, voluntary student labour and became an educational model throughout the region.He then raised money in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to construct Shashe River School in Tonota as well as Madiba Secondary School in Mahalapye.
On vocational training that would later include farming, textile work, tanning and mechanics, van Rensburg solicited aid and volunteers from abroad to launch and run brigades. However, due to financial constraints brigades were taken over by government in 1996.
Following the collapse of Apartheid, van Rensburg returned to South Africa in 1990 where he initiated some modest urban and rural projects and lectured at various universities, according to his obituary statement. He became the first honorary member of the South African Comparative and History of Education Society, a professional body that continues to promote his work. He came back to Botswana in 2003, pursued a low-key life in Gaborone and continued to contribute to Mmegi as a columnist.
He then moved to Serowe to be in the care of his son, Mothusi as he was now suffering from dementia. He died peacefully at his home on May 23, 2017. His memorial service was attended by a majority of Swaneng Hill School alumni among them, the likes of Leach Tlhomelang, Autlwetse, Sebego Kgosi.
Others were former president Festus Mogae, Kgosi Mokhutshwane Sekgoma, representatives from Serowe Printers, Boiteko Trust, Foundation of Education with Production, the likes of Michael Dingake, former Madiba Senior Secondary School student, Duma Boko as well as ministers Venson-Moitoi and Dikgang Makgalemele.