A good week for Patricia de Lille
Patricia de Lille has not missed a beat since moving in to clean up the mess at South African Tourism (SAT). She pulled the carpet from under the silly Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship deal, began setting up a new board and has put a stop to a New York junket for three MPs that would have cost SAT about R500,000. The trip had been promised to MPs who serve on the tourism portfolio committee. Even if it wasn’t the intention, it would have compromised those members. Good on Auntie Pat for stopping it.
A bad week for Angie Motshekga
Whichever way she reads it, Angie Motshekga and her department of basic education are again failing South Africa’s children. When the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study revealed that our children came last in a study of reading ability conducted in 50 countries, she unashamedly reached for the most convenient excuse: Covid. Children learning to read need help to build their vocabularies and develop a passion for books. But in many homes there is not a single book to be found. Instead of throwing money at the problem, as Motshekga is inclined to do, how about throwing books at the kids?