It was a lovely warm Sunday afternoon
in Grahamstown when Nozi, Garth, Ryan and I embarked on our trip to KuGatyana
(Willowvale) for the DST Ministerial Imbizo. The Department of Science and
Technology held a Public Participation Programme at which Minister Naledi
Pandor handed over a mobile science laboratory to the chief of the area, Nkosi
Ngenyathi Dumalisile. As a Research Institute of the NRF, SAIAB together with
other organisations under the NRF and the DST, were invited to exhibit.
We all hopped on the SAIAB EduBus and Nozi
took the wheel. We took the Port Alfred coastal route to avoid the road works
on the inland Peddie route. Just as we passed Port Alfred Ryan offered to help
with the driving while Garth and I were only too happy to sit in the back and
enjoy the ride.
None of us knew how to get to the
venue of the Imbizo. Thanks to Garth’s iphone we were able to find our way
there. The plan was to set up our exhibition then go to the Kob Inn where we
were booked for the night. When we arrived we looked for the SAIAB stand, only
for the security guard to tell us we didn’t have a designated stand but we could
come back in the morning and see if any other exhibitors failed to pitch up and
take one of their spots. We politely agreed with him but decided rather to take
the biggest open space we could find. We began offloading all the material. The
Marquee was set up on uncut grass and after 15 minutes of struggling to set up
the banners and four rather opinionated individuals deciding on where a banner
should go, we eventually decided on the general layout of the exhibition and left
for Kob Inn. We drove about 30 km on a gravel road to our destination. The
resort was beautiful from what one could see in the dark. The old man at the
security entrance seemed oddly happy at our arrival. As he showed us to the
reception area he asked Nozi and I, “Nini abo ooMphathiswa?” (Are you the
ministers?), we laughed and said no. Apparently he was instructed that the
ministers would be arriving around 10pm. We arrived at reception, and shown to
our rooms and were to meet at 5:50 am the following morning. Despite the fact
that there was no cell phone signal, nowhere to charge my phone, I don’t have a
watch and I’m a late sleeper, we managed to leave the resort at 6am to head
back to the venue.
We were some of the first people to
arrive. Angus arrived just as we were about to finish setting up. He stayed for
about 20 minutes walking up and down and disappeared, came back 10 minutes
later and whispered “Guys there’s breakfast in the tent across the street.” Our
timing at the tent was perfect because we got there just as all the dignitaries
were arriving at the Chief’s Palace, where the tent was set up. Among them were
the Minister of DST, Naledi Pandor, Deputy Minister of Basic Education, Enver
Surty, Director General of the DST, Phil Mjwara, Advisor to the Minister, MEC
of Social Development in the Eastern Cape, MEC of Education, Mandla Makupula,
District Mayor of Amathole, Nomasikizi Konza,
and the Municipal Mayor of Willowvale.
People started pouring in around 9am
and the event started approximately an hour late. It would appear that we
picked a good spot for our eye catching exhibition: The coelacanth model and
bottled specimens were crowd pullers. The
SAIAB stand was a hit, not only with the learners, but also with the ministers.
Nozi was great with the kids - communicating science in IsiXhosa really
captured the audience. An old man adorned in IsiXhosa attire was particularly
interested in what we do with the fish. We later discovered he was actually the
father of the Chief. After things calmed down with the kids, the ministers visited
the exhibitions. Angus jokingly said, “Ok guys you’re up.” As we turned our
heads, Deputy Minister, Surty, together with Phil Mjwara approached our stand. Angus
introduced us and Phil Mjwara asked if I would be able to tell him what SAIAB
is about in three minutes. After what
seemed like less than two minutes, he said,
“The minister has to hear this,” and walked away. A second or so later he came
back with her and introduced me. I froze for about a second. I thought of the
previous Thursday when Angus walked into my office and asked if I wanted to
meet the minister. I didn’t think it would actually happen. This was my time to
shine, as nervous as I was, I had to impress.
I was impressed that she recalled
having visited SAIAB for the opening of the Margaret Smith Library. We actually
had a full conversation. She asked what I was doing at SAIAB, what my field of
studies are and was particularly interested in the activities of the ACEP Phuhlisa Programme. After about five
minutes, she went onto Garth who told her more about ACEP Phuhlisa. We were very lucky to be located where we were because
all the dignitaries went into the tent straight from our exhibition without visiting
the other exhibitions.
The programme was kicked off by a
vibrant Master of Ceremonies. The minister was introduced by Phil Mjwara and I
was surprised to learn that she is the granddaughter of Z.K. Matthews (a famous
political activist who proposed the idea of the Congress of the People and the
Freedom Charter to the ANC in the early 1950’s). She spoke of the general state
of the education system and the unacceptable challenges faced by schools in
rural areas. She officially handed over the mobile lab to the chief indicating
that the department is donating eight instead of one mobile lab. The Department
of Basic Education together with the Department of Science and Technology
jointly donated text books and scientific calculators to surrounding schools. After
all the speeches had been made, the show began: the Amakhosikazi Bobumbani come
on stage and dressed the minister in traditional IsiXhosa attire. This was followed
by a performance by old men and woman doing a traditional Xhosa dance and two
more dance items.
After the programme ended, we had a
long debate about whether we should stay an extra night or make our way back to
Grahamstown. Nozi eventually won the debate and we made our way back home. I
was much quieter on our way back. Garth was convinced I was still on cloud nine
about having spoken to the minister - maybe he was right. It was an amazing/
overwhelming/… experience!
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