Speaking during a schools’ awards ceremony held by the Greater Giyani Municipality in the Community Hall on Friday, Machumele said the performances in Giyani shaped the matric results of the whole Mopani East cluster. Machumele said Greater Letaba has six circuits, followed by Greater Giyani with five, and lastly Ba-Phalaborwa with two circuits. “Out of these 13 circuits, Greater Giyani Municipality constitutes 46.3% of the district’s results,” she explained.

She said despite Greater Letaba having more school circuits, it constitutes only 34.4%, while Phalaborwa contributes 19.1%. She said five schools shaped the results. “In the Mangombe circuit, we have Giyani High, Rasinga and Hanyani Thomo; Nghonyama in the Klein Letaba circuit; and Gija Ngove High School in the Shamavunga circuit.” She said the results of especially three schools influenced the results.

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“Giyani High, Risinga, and Hanyani Thomo caused the district to perform below 80% because normally they would perform at 100%, and now they have performed around 70%,” she explained, urging them to return to their former standards. She said that other schools were improving and were close to reaching ‘premier league’ standards. “We have Mahumani in the Shamavunga circuit, and Sasekani and Macena in the Greater Letaba circuit.”

Machumele said, however, that generally, the district did well in last year’s matric results. “Our target was 73.6%, but we ended up getting 77.3%,” she said. She urged parents to elect suitable school governing body (SGB) members to help schools perform better. “Our SGBs play a very important role in our schools, and this is why parents need to elect people who will add value to schools when it’s time to elect SGB members. We don’t need people who will destabilise schools,” she said.