Patrick van Rensburg

As is already public knowledge, the founder of Mmegi, of the Brigades and driver of the concept of Education with Production in Botswana, Patrick van Rensburg, passed away Tuesday morning. In this tribute, we have pulled from the files a paper by his longtime friend, and protge, METHAETSILE LEEPILE who is also the chairman of the Mmegi Investment Holdings, on the importance of promoting Education with Production i(EwP) in a competitive, knowledge-based economy. This is an edited version of the presentation he made to a Vision 2016 workshop last year

l The legend bows out

This paper attempts to do three things: address the theory and application of the EwP model in Botswana from an historical perspective, assess challenges and constraints; and conjure the role EwP can play within a knowledge-based economy. The author is a product of the model, having been educated in Swaneng Hill School in Serowe during the heyday of the model, and being a protégé of the master, Patrick van Rensburg, better known as PvR by friends, with whom he worked at the Foundation of Education with Production (FEP) and Mmegi wa Dikgang newspaper in the 1980s. This is a reflection on PvR’s ideas to the extent possible, and how these can be applied within the context of the national vision.

Editor's Comment
Get back what was stolen, and lock the door

That a single private law firm pocketed P6.5 million for just four cases, out of a total P11.1 million paid for 25 matters, reeks of a system that was not merely disorganised but open to abuse.Bayford has taken a welcome first step by telling the Public Accounts Committee the truth. Now he must act decisively to ensure it never happens again and that any money lost to wrongdoing is recovered.The figures are staggering. Whilst ordinary Batswana...

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