The Mpumalanga provincial government is on a mission to hold schools accountable for their failures, determined to push the province’s matric pass rate beyond 90%.
On Tuesday at 7am, learners at Orhovelani Secondary School in Thulamahashe were already taking lessons in their classrooms by the time premier Mandla Ndlovu arrived.
The school, once a beacon of academic excellence, stunned the country with its humiliating 33% matric pass rate in 2024.
Its fall from grace has tainted the legacy of esteemed alumni.
They include former Mpumalanga premier and ANC treasurer-general Dr Mathews Phosa, African Christian Democratic Party leader Dr Kenneth Meshoe, esteemed businessman Dr Reuel Khoza, and the late rector and pastor Dr Israel Malele, among others.
Determined to get answers, Ndlovu locked school leaders in an intense four-hour meeting, forcing them to explain the shocking failure.
“We have got three of the youngest doctors in the country who were produced by this school after matriculating at the age of 15,” Ndlovu said.
“This is a school that produced influential figures like comrade Mathews Phosa. We are here to ask them a simple question. What went wrong? This school is one of the non-performing schools in the province.”
A school in disarray
Ndlovu warned that Orhovelani’s collapse threatened Mpumalanga’s progress, dragging the province further from its 90% target.
But academic performance was not the only concern. The premier was also disturbed by the shocking state of the school environment.
“You can see that the school is not clean. The best-performing schools that I’ve visited — the first thing you realise when you arrive is that they are clean.”
Inside the four-hour interrogation, educators struggled to defend themselves against Ndlovu’s piercing questions, but a fresh promise was made.
By the time the meeting ended, one thing was clear — lack of planning was the key factor to Orhovelani’s downfall.
Ndlovu laid bare the poor leadership and planning that sent Orhovelani into free fall.
“There was no planning. They were giving our children an extra load. You can’t have children doing eight subjects when other schools only do seven.
“What is worse is that for one subject, they did not even have a teacher,” he said.
Yet, despite the chaos, the school made a daring commitment: it would achieve a 100% matric pass rate in 2025.
To pull the school out of the abyss, Ndlovu vowed to deploy additional teachers and resources to strengthen its crumbling academic foundation.
The principal who once brought glory
Former Orhovelani principal and current school governing body chairperson Dingiswayo Mthethwa told Sunday World that Ndlovu’s visit was critical.
Mthethwa, once celebrated for producing top achievers, was tasked with guiding the school back to its former glory.
“The visit was very important because it followed a plan that the SMT [school management team] had already submitted to the department of education through the circuit and district,” Mthethwa said.
“The commitment to produce 100% has been made official, and the premier has announced it to the nation. Orhovelani has no option but to return to its former glory.”
Principal Faniki Machel, who inherited the chaos mid-year in 2023, assured Ndlovu that he was ready for the challenge.
“We’ve all agreed to make this a project. We will be victorious, especially with our commitment to work together as school management and everyone on our staff,” Machel said.
A worse crisis uncovered
Just as Ndlovu thought he had seen it all, another shocker emerged — the near-total collapse of ES Malele Secondary School in Gamotibidi, Bushbuckridge.
The school recorded a disgraceful 9% pass rate, with only three learners passing out of 32 who wrote.
“It is embarrassing that a teacher and a principal will go to school on a daily basis to impart knowledge to our children, and when our children sit for their grade 12 exams, only three learners pass,” Ndlovu said.
He added that the head of the education department will be directed to demand answers from the school.
