“Education is the most important tool we can use if we want to transform South Africa politically and economically.”
“Education is the best form of empowerment.”
“Education is the stepping stone towards economic empowerment and there are no shortcuts. But it is education in all its forms. We should be saying to the government and private sector, let us maximise our investment in education and produce as many people with skills as possible.”
“I’m talking about both vocational and academic skills. We tended to move towards academic skills, but we need to strengthen our basic skills at a vocational level.”
“When the ANC came into governance in 1994, we closed a lot of vocational training institutions. That was a serious mistake. It was a mistake not to increase the number of nursing colleges and teacher training colleges.”
“You cannot get education without the educators. Therefore, we must invest more in educators to be able to educate our nation.”
“The best way of spending on education was to train teachers who would be able to identify which learners would succeed.”
“Not everyone is university material. Teachers must be able to assess this and help children in other areas of strength. A degree is not the be-all and the end-all of success. There are many people who are succeeding despite not having degrees.”
“By educating people, you are empowering them. This is real empowerment. By allocating shares to me, you are not making me wiser, but very parasitic.”
“There’s no better empowerment than education. We must not think that, because we have a black skin, that we are entitled to be a millionaire. The question is what are the skills that we can give to you, which no one can take from you?”