Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation: Empowering the needy through education

EXECUTIVE Trustee of the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation (KMF), Gugu Motlanthe, is a community builder on a mission.

The plight of learners from previously disadvantaged backgrounds is her top priority as she steers KMF towards alleviating hardships and modern-day challenges.

The truth about democratic South Africa is that virtually everybody with a semblance of honesty can attest to Thabo Mbeki’s lamentations of “one country, two economies” — one white and affluent and the other black and in dire straits.

It is against this backdrop that Motlanthe and KMF remain resolute and relentless in their programme to help take children from impoverished township and village backgrounds out of their perennial hardship through educational empowerment initiatives.

Together with other media, I was privileged to receive a KMF invitation to join a group of Grade XI learners from Forte Secondary School in Soweto and Westbury Secondary School in Johannesburg on “extra-curricular activities” at the KMF HQ in Houghton, Johannesburg, recently.

The KMF philanthropic mission includes offering disadvantaged children training in, among others, robotics and coding, computer gamification, multimedia podcasting as well as drone technology.

The aim, of course, is to bring South Africa’s lower rung learners up to speed with their affluent counterparts in an economically unequal country they all call home, and owe allegiance to at least, just perhaps, such interventions could assist in producing learners equipped to tackle tertiary education with fear or intimidation.

It is easy to take things for granted, but many village and township learners become exposed to today’s opportunities for the very first time when they are invited by Motlanthe to visit the KMF premises to learn.

There is also a hidden bonus for the visiting learners, always. They get to meet face-to-face, for the very first time, with South Africa’s former President Kgalema Motlanthe, who is the patron of the KMF.

Although the groups of learners are often large as they straddle from one side of the KMF premises, the lucky ones also get to shake the hand of the unassuming former President, and also pose for photographs with him and Motlanthe and other staffers of the KMF, including the security personnel. The learners are also well looked after. They are served a delicious meal with drinks in a country where one meal a day is a luxury for many.

Speaking in her capacity as the executive trustee, Motlanthe says: “As a Public Benefit Organisation, the KMF is intentional on bridging gaps in education, with the target being the youth of the country. The research and curriculum development are currently underway for the KMF to soon offer solar and wind energy training to unemployed youth.”

This will help tackle the runaway youth unemployment in the country, where an astronomical number of youth graduates are sitting at home without jobs, some for as long as 15 years.

Additionally, in a country facing increasing energy insecurity over the past decade, training in solar and wind energy could bring about new opportunities for the fast-becoming hopeless unemployed youths. Solar installations and maintenance have become a key industry in an era of load shedding.

I watched a podcast training session underway at the KMF. The learners were visibly elated, over the moon. Some were seeing the live studio for the first time. As they took the mic one after the other, some became too emotional to handle the joy of the opportune moment. Overcome by emotion, they sobbed and cried, as if they never believed such abundant love could be shown by the caring KMF.

The KMF premises are a hive of activity. At the back end are digitised vegetable gardens from where frequent harvest takes place for distribution to the needy. Even a small poultry project comprising a few dozen egg-layers features among the myriad programmes. Occasionally, Motlanthe does donate free eggs as well.

The KMF is an entity that keeps both Motlanthe and the former President busy as bees. However, watching them at work, it is easy to tell that they both have a heart to render assistance to others, especially the less fortunate. There can be no doubt that contribution, albeit in relatively small measure, will help to make South Africa a better place for all who live in it.

* Abbey Makoe is the chief executive and editor-in-chief of the Global South Media Network.

** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, Independent Media or IOL.