Weekly Newsletter

MKI NEWS

MKI OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER | ISSUE NO: 1 | APRIL 2017

NURTURING LEADERS THROUGH SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS INTERVENTIONS

Editor’s note

Welcome to the first issue of the Moses Kotane Institute (MKI) quarterly

newsletter. We have been working diligently to bring this newsletter to life and

we are extremely excited to present it to you as an additional communication

channel between MKI and our stakeholders.

As our primary mandate is to embark on improving the access and participation

of previously disadvantaged students and learners to Science, Technology,

Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programmes, in this edition you can

expect to read about the Digital Terrestrial Television Programme (DTTP)

training that took place in partnership with the office of the Premier, you can also

read about our adopted learners that excelled in their 2016 matric results, please

do also check our photo gallery of our recent STEM activities.

With all this, our appreciation and heart felt gratitude is due to our shareholder; the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN)

Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) and all our stakeholders

both internal and external for their contribution and commitment in ensuring that we continue availing our STEM

programmes and much needed skills in order to enhance our economic growth and for poverty alleviation.

Furthermore, our grateful thanks go out to the MKI Board of Directors for their constructive guidance and their

great efforts in ensuring that the institute provides quality and relevant programmes that address the mismatch

between labour market needs and the availability of critical STEM skills.

I hope you will enjoy reading this edition as much as we enjoyed putting it together. Although we currently don’t

have any feature article in this edition, we therefore would really appreciate to walk the journey with you. For any

STEM related feature articles please contact me via email: mthokozisi.buthelezi@moseskotane.com

Best regards, Mthokozisi Buthelezi

Marketing and Communications Administrator.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. MKI joined forces with the office of the Premier to train 500 youth on DTT Programme

2. MKI learners excelled in their 2016 matric results

3. Clean Audit for the institute

4. How to partner with us.

5. The 2017 bursary intake

6. Staff matters

7. Photo gallery

MKI joined forces with the Office of the Premier to train 500 youth on Digital Terrestrial Television Programme.

The Moses Kotane Institute (MKI) recently revised its mandate to be more responsive to addressing the issues around shortage of skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This necessitated that the institute deploys various strategies to expand its reach. Partnerships are important in terms of casting the net wider, one such partnership is that between MKI and the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Office of the Premier (Poverty Eradication Unit). The two have partnered to train 500 out -of- school youth in Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) migration project. The Poverty Eradication Unit took to the ground on the outskirt districts of the province to carefully screen and select beneficiaries of the programme. The project was financed by the National Skills Fund. Students were selected from Umhlabuyalingana, Nkandla, Msinga and Maphumulo local municipalities.

The DTT skills programme focused on two categories; firstly, Business Planning that will enable them to plan and manage their businesses and finances competently and secondly the practical aspects which is the actual digital installation of Set-Top Box (STB). “As the country prepares to migrate from analogue TV to digital TV it is important that our youth is afforded the necessary skills to grab opportunities in this regard. Given the high rate of unemployment, the DTT skills programme will contribute to the skilling of our young and alleviating their unemployment situation. The programme will empower them to be entrepreneurs and to contribute productively to the analogue to digital TV migration.” Says Mr Ranveer Persad: Acting Chief Executive Officer at MKI.

Msinga DTT Group with MKI Staff and Msinga Councilors

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On 28, 29, 30 and 31 March 2017, the first group of 158 students that have been found competent were presented with certificates and start-up toolkit as part of SMME development. The issuing of the tool-kits took place at Mbazwana Art Centre, followed by Nkandla Multi-Purpose centre, Maphumulo Town Hall and Msinga respectively. The former Minister of Communications, Ms Faith Muthambi visited the province in December 2016 in order to raise awareness of the project and give her support for this skills programme which she believed will develop youth for an inclusive growth path.

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The Moses Kotane Institute’s Learners Excelled in their 2016 Matric Results. The Moses Kotane Institute (MKI) goal is to develop a long-term interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects and to encourage learners particularly those who come from less resourced schools and disadvantaged backgrounds to produce outstanding post matric results in STEM subjects in order to have a sturdier workforce of experts in KwaZulu-Natal and for our economic expansion to be sustainable.

Based on this background, in 2014 MKI carefully chose learners that were showing potential in Mathematics and Physical Science from across KZN rural schools and they were afforded a life-changing opportunity as they were placed under the MKI’s four incubator schools namely; Adams College, Dlangezwa High School, Mlokothwa Secondary and Ohlange High School. Learners were selected from different rural schools of KZN after the Institute realised the potential that they had exhibited in their studies regardless of the shortage of learning

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Adams College Learners funded by MKI

material at their schools. They were awarded a full scholarship that covered tuition, boarding fee, uniforms and additional study material. In 2016, all the MKI bursary holders performed exceptionally well on their National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams as they achieved a total of 168 distinctions. Thokozile Thusi who made headlines for receiving a Dux award last year at the prize giving ceremony that was organized by Adams college, this time around the shy pupil was once again announced as a higher achiever in her school. Thusi scooped an impressive seven distinctions, scoring 82% in IsiZulu. 87% in English, 95% in Mathematics, 96% in Life Orientation, 99% in Accounting, 94% in Life Sciences and 99% for Physical Sciences and for the institute this is a major accomplishment as our learners also excelled in Mathematics and Physical Science. “My secret is that I worked extremely hard from the beginning until the very last day of our final exams. This is my way of expressing gratitude to MKI for believing in us, and I hope that they will continue supporting more learners from disadvantaged background,” She said. Thusi and her fellow pupils are currently furthering their studies at different tertiary institutions as MKI further funded them to pursue careers that are related to STEM disciplines.

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Clean Audit for the Institute

oses Kotane Institute (MKI) has come a long way with governance issues including recovery from a qualified audit opinion in 2013/14. Ms Thandeka Ellenson joined MKI in 2014 and instituted a turn-around strategy. She insisted on improved controls, streamlined processes

and strengthened governance structures. This landed the Institute in achieving an unqualified audit opinion in 2014/15. The Board of Directors played a very significant role in supporting management, crafting a direction and directing policy development, and all this resulted in the Institute achieving a clean audit in 2015/16 for the first time in the history of MKI. This is because of continuous learning and improvement, and implementation of audit recommendations from the auditors. Ms Ellenson, the MKI’s Chief Financial Officer stated that a clean audit is a big deal for MKI because the Institute is heavily reliant on external funding as a source of revenue to achieve its mandate of skills development. “Achieving a clean audit means an increased level of funder and stakeholder confidence for us. It further means that we work on complying with laws and regulations such as Public Finance Management Act in each step we take, daily,’ she said. She further stated that maintaining a clean audit is harder than achieving it. “We continuously guard ourselves and ensure that our governance structures are strengthened, that our processes are transparent, fair, equitable, cost effective and competitive as our laws require. Where we have faulted, unintentionally so, we take corrective measures as guided by the law.” Once again congratulations to the CFO, her team, the entire MKI staff and the Board.

M

MKI Chief Financial Officer, Ms

Thandeka Ellenson

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Partner with us

Over the last five months, there has been a number of

new Business Developments and partnerships for us at

the Moses Kotane Institute (MKI) and we have been

hugely humbled by the support that we continue to

receive from different organisations through their

Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programmes. We

are also delighted to acknowledge that we received a

financial support from two major companies namely;

the Southern African Shipyards (SAS) and the Women

Investment Holdings (WIPHOLD).

These donations were made towards the purchasing of

mobile labs that are aimed at igniting interest in the

fields of Mathematics and Science education especially

in rural schools of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

MKI also partnered with the KZN Department of

Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental

Affairs (EDTEA) and Spring Light Gas (SLG) at the I’m

an Engineer competition that was aimed encouraging learners to become future engineers. This competition

resulted with Olwandle high school being awarded the first prize which is the eco-friendly laboratory, the first

runner up Bangani High School won a prize of R80 000 for their school refurbishments and the school in third

place was Mthanti Com Tech and they received R50 000 worth of their school refurbishments.

In addition to this, the SL Gas will donate a science laboratory to the value of R59,896.40 to Thandolwesizwe

High School in Lindelani. But for us to continue driving our mandate and to reach new heights we need all

partnerships that we can get and that’s why we encourage you to contact us in order to find out how our

partnership can create a better tomorrow for our country. Please don’t hesitate to contact our Business

Development and Communications Unit at 031 266 1777 or info@moseskotane.com

MKI Science Lab that assist learners to demonstrate

their science capabilities

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The 2017 Bursary Intake

The Moses Kotane Institute (MKI) has once again contributed towards assisting academically deserving tertiary students from previously disadvantaged backgrounds of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) through the institute’s STEM Bursary programme.

The signing of bursary agreement between MKI and the funded students took place on Friday, 17 March 2017.

MKI is pleased to have added more students this year to study STEM related fields in order to enhance the STEM

labour supply and for a sustained economic growth.

Eligibility Requirements:

• Letter of acceptance by a traditional university or University of Technology

• Be from a poor background

• Must have achieved excellent grade 12 results in Mathematics and Physical Science

• Be intending to pursue critical and scares STEM occupation and/or qualification

we wish all of our bursary holders a successful year ahead.

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The Moses Kotane Institute Bursary Holders

STAFF MATTERS

Interim Chief Executive Officer

Mr Ranveer Persad (Chief Director: Regional and Local Economic Development) was seconded from the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) to act in the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at MKI. Mr Persad is a seasoned development professional with 21 years of working experience. In the 1990’s Mr Persad started out as a researcher (Data Research Africa and Policy and Praxis) as well as lecturing at the UKZN Sociology Department for a short while.

In 1999, he joined the Ethekwini Municipality (erstwhile North and South Central Councils) as Manager: Economic Development prior to joining the EDTEA as a Chief Director in 2003 where he has remained to date.

In his academic life, Mr Persad had obtained a Master of Social Science (Industrial and Labour Studies) from the University of KZN (erstwhile University of Natal, Durban) and as a Mandela Scholar, a Master of Philosophy (Development Studies) from the University of Sussex (Institute of Development Studies, United Kingdom). During the period in which Mr Persad will act as MKI’s CEO, he will seek to enable service delivery through ensuring that the management and delivery systems of MKI are maintained and enhanced. He will support the Board and management of MKI in policy improvements, strategic and performance planning and implementation thereof.

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n Wednesday, 15 March 2017 Sinenhlanhla

Ngqulunga (Supply Chain Assistant) attended

a three-day strategic procurement, purchasing,

bidding supply chain and contract risk management

workshop that was held in Johannesburg. She learnt a lot

about SCM trends and practices that she is more than

excited to share it with the rest of MKI staff. Asked about the

workshop, Sinenhlanhla said:

“This workshop will benefit MKI in understanding the newest

purchasing, bidding, supply chain methods and electronic

procurement functionality. It will also measure and improve

on purchasing performance and re-engineer purchasing

operations at lesser risks and combating fraud in the

bidding process and purchasing,”

O

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MKI Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ranveer

Persad

Sinenhlanhla Ngqulunga

We would like to welcome our new Human Resource

Management Intern, Miss Mbali Dlamini. Mbali is currently

enrolled for a Master’s degree in Social Policy at the University of

KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). This is an exciting opportunity for her to

gain professional experience, and to begin her inevitable rise to

the top.

About the internship, Mbali said: “I came to MKI as an individual

with no prior work experience, emotions of excited and fear were

what filled my heart”

She further said “The internship will develop my career in a

manner whereby I believe I will be more employable to other

companies and government sectors as I have a work exposure now on my curriculum vitae.”

Asked about her future plans, she said “I perceive myself holding a managerial post in a company where I will be

employed in. I see myself working on projects that will contribute to community and societal development;

especially working on eradicating youth and graduate unemployment issues with our country. I perceive myself

owning a company as I believe it is wise to have one for personal growth, motivation and assist in lowering the

country unemployment statistics.” She is motivated by her family as they constantly support her.

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We would also like to give a warm welcome to Mr Nkululuko Myeza

who is our Information Technology (IT) intern. He is currently

completing his Advanced Diploma in Information Resource

Management (IRM) at the University of South Africa (UNISA).

Nkululeko is inspired by:

• Young Entrepreneurs in South Africa.

• The Increase and the demand of IT in World Wide.

• Stories about the Breadwinners and opportunities offered by the government Entities to the Graduate Candidates. This is an exciting opportunity for all of us at MKI to learn and receive

input from our new IT intern and we hope that he will also gain useful insight and professional experience from

all of us at MKI.

Mbali Dlamini

Nkululeko Myeza

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PHOTO GALLERY

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Mbono Kwela, MKI Former Bursary Holder Students that are currently enrolled

for MKI Radio Production

Learnership.

Learners excited about STEM opportunities that are

offered by MKI

MKI Radio Production Trainee, with

Vanessa Marawa and the MKI Chairperson

of Board, Dr Sakhile Ngcobo

The I am Engineer Competition, that was

aimed at encouraging learners to become

future engineers. Dlangezwa High School learners that are funded by MKI

demonstrating their Science capabilities.