MBOMBELA – The South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) may soon add the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) to its list of beneficiaries. The company has a long history of supporting educational programmes at universities, and it is hoped that the two will reach
an agreement soon.
Last Wednesdy Mr Nazir Alli, chief executive of Sanral, told students during a public lecture that there was one more important area of investment to infrastructure.
“The single most important investment any country can make is in its people. Investing in education is (therefore) a no-brainer as far as I am concerned.”
Aside from bursaries, Sanral supports a programme targeting talent at the University of the Witwatersrand to help smooth the transition to tertiary study in the city. It also supports a family mathematics and science programme at the University of the Free State where uneducated parents are taught along with their educated children; hence programmes linked to the family.
Last week Alli also commended the newly established university for its demonstrated organic connection to the broader community.
“We have to be mindful of the society we live in. This university is part of the province and a specific community.”
He said the courses on offer showed UMP was linked to society’s needs for teachers and agricultural experts, and hopefully, eventually engineers. “If you look at economic development, at some point people are going to have to be fed. Agriculture is a very important sector.”
He adds that UMP has two distinct advantages for being established after the dawn of democracy 20 years ago: it carries no baggage from the past, and can be flexible to address needs.
“I appeal to you to identify and work to the strengths of the province and its immediate international neighbours. We cannot ignore what is happening in Mozambique and Swaziland. The ideal is for the entire subregion to work to their advantage and support one another.”
Alli is considered as one of the pioneers of public-private partnerships with the development of the Maputo Development Corridor. “You don’t have to do exactly what others have done,” he told UMP students and staff.
“Take the good from them and make it your own. But you may find in this particular province and under your specific circumstances that something different is needed, which will make you an excellent servant of your community and society
at large.”
