THE Head of the Mkhwanazi Traditional Council, iNkosi Mandla Mkhwanazi, has appealed to education authorities to consider bringing back boys to Dlangezwa High School.
He was speaking at the school’s first reunion last weekend.
Mkhwanazi said he was proud to have been a product of the school.
‘We need to credit our teachers who instilled a culture of discipline, because that is what made us to be where we are today.
‘I must single out people like Mr Noel Yeni, who was our principal. That man contributed immensely in shaping my life and many others before him. He used to hit us hard, and I am wondering whether I should charge him and collect a fine for hitting an ‘iNkosi,’ he said jokingly.
Mkhwnazi’s call was also echoed by another former student, KZN MEC for Health, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo.
Dhlomo said he would be happy to see the return of boys in the school.
‘We were a happy family when we had both girls and boys in the school. My personal feeling is that the vision of a girls only school needs to reviewed.’
According to Yeni, now a Senior Manager in the Department of Education’s uThungulu District, the concept of a girls only school was introduced by education authorities of the erstwhile KwaZulu Government, after a 1986 strike in which boys were fingered as the perpetrators of that riot.
The reunion, the first since 1969, came as a result of concerns that the school’s reputation was slowly dwindling. ‘Pioneers and Eagles’ of the school felt there was a need for intervention.
Reunion’s convenor Zwe Mzolo said they were unhappy about Dlangezwa becoming an ‘ordinary’ school, compared to what it was during earlier times.
After a lengthy discussion and a walkabout, it was agreed that the infrastructure needed urgent attention as some classrooms were in a shoddy state. It was also agreed that ablution facilities needed refurbishment as some water pipes were leaking, while the old roofing structures were also pointed out.
Financial pledges of more than R122 000 were made on the day, and an organising committee was mandated to draft a programme of action.
