The first black African township in Cape Town, Langa, renowned to have produced some fine jazz musicians, actors, soccer, rugby and cricket legends, is in crisis.
Teenagers who have dropped out of school to form or join gangs, claimed four teenage lives between November and December last year (See story on page 5).
It is of a high concern that in June 2011, former minister in the presidency, Trevor Manuel released a diagnostic document and vision statement for 2030, calling for public comment on nine identified key problems (poor education, divided communities, uneven public service performance, unsustainable resource intensive economic, high disease burden, unemployment, existing spatial patterns, crumbling infrastructure and corruption).
As a visionary, I fully supported the National Planning Commission concept of 2030 and believe we have to protect the Langa community, tourists and business investors.
This is a wake up call to the Langa community, based on the National Planning Commission’s objective on divided communities.
We have the responsibility to put in place proper parenting, strong leadership, and a united community and to inform our teens what has made us who we are – respect for the elderly people, education and sport.
It is only if we put strong emphasis on these areas, with the assistance of the National Planning Commission, that we will get these teenagers to school.
I personally have a strong drive to work with the community and the Commission to ensure that there is no possibility of teen school drop-outs, because I have identified that it is a root cause of crime.
As parents, it is our responsibility to protect a child’s education from primary school to the highest level of education.
This exercise is to ensure that a child is fully committed in his or her education and is trained to grasp the essence of education. I am not asking what my country does for me but, this is what I want to do for my country.
