Inspiration: Minister Gayton McKenzie turned his life around. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane / Independent Newspapers
It’s so wonderful to see all the many colours at the Paris Olympics.
It has prompted me to think about the things our new sports minister has been saying.
Gayton McKenzie has shown that he understands the power of the rhyming quotable quote.
One of them is “a child in sport, is a child out of court.”
The other relates to his plan to make wheel spinning a national sport: “When a boy has an interest in cars, he doesn’t have time for drugs.”
These both resonate with me, because like I said previously, McKenzie has the portfolio that can make the greatest impact in our communities.
I can only hope that he is not all bark and no bite. Because if reports are to be believed, then together with other non-ANC ministers in the GNU, the ANC fears that they are being outshone and being made to look bad.
But I dare say that it wouldn’t have taken much at all to make ANC ministers look bad.
The battle to outshine each other can only play in our favour when it comes to service delivery and will of course also benefit those parties in the 2026 Local Government Elections.
All of this brings me to what I actually want to say to Minister McKenzie.
He needs to use his term in office to address the problem at its roots.
Because of our history, white parents have long since understood the power of a good education and school facilities.
And while many of them still have the resource-advantage, many black kids in poor schools have proven that hungry determination can be their own advantage.
So you have one group with so much resources that failure would require extra-special effort; and on the other hand, a group for whom success would require an almost superhuman effort, but would also mean a boost out of poverty.
But where does this leave the Coloured kids from the Cape Flats?
Many of them are gifted with awesome physical ability and academic potential.
Their schools always had just enough to get by, but never enough to excel with.
They are not starving most days, so there’s no desperate hunger to escape poverty.
But they also don’t get exposed to their dreams, so there’s no casual acceptance of eventual success. No inspiration!
To illustrate my point, I want to remind you of a moment I related to you a few years ago.
The occasion was a fund-raiser braai at one of the most prestigious schools in the leafy southern suburbs.
It was a beautifully cool evening and the field was littered with all manner of picnic blankets, sleeping bags, camping chairs and groups of jovial people catching up.
The army of kids had invaded the entire area and their parents didn’t have to worry, as the high spiked fencing, electric gates and vigilant security guards kept them safe.
Most were on the flood-lit, astro-turf hockey pitch, others were next door on the carefully-manicured football field, while a few were playing in the cricket nets and others were hanging out in the clubhouse overlooking the sparkling swimming pools.
It was a pleasant gathering, with lovely treats, including ground coffee on sale, and not a whiff of alcohol, while every family collected their own rubbish on their way home.
I enjoyed that evening a great deal and I felt proud that my kids had such wonderful facilities where they spend most of their days, but I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about the potential on the Cape Flats that needed and deserved it even more.
A potential that erodes with every passing year and eventually leads to mediocrity at best; and gangsterism at worst.
McKenzie himself is an example of this potential having been briefly squandered, before he eventually found his way.
Had he been at a school like this as a young boy, he may have found his passion for public service nurtured much earlier on. Others are not so lucky and are lost forever.
It’s for this reason that his statements interest me. Because it holds the promise of hauling a lost generation of young people out of their dire circumstances and giving them hope of a better life for them and their families.
Formalising spinning may be controversial, but there is an age-old interest in our communities in modifying cars.
I remember going to spinning meetings at Strandfontein Pavilion as a kid.
And I know the pride young men feel in their cars and being able to perform certain tricks.
It is a global phenomenon that has spawned movies like “Fast and Furious” and Charlize Theron’s “Hyperdrive” show.
But I would advise Mckenzie to also work with his education counterparts, so that facilities at our schools are improved as a matter of urgency.
The structure should be dismantled, because our children should not have to fight for these basic rights.
Perhaps government should flatten all gutter schools and start from scratch, so that all pupils have exactly the same facilities and the same opportunities?
Now there’s a lofty goal that McKenzie should set his sights on. And design a quote for.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za
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