Education MEC Mandla Makupula on January 6, 2012 in Eastern Cape, South Africa. Picture: Gallo Images
In what some have called a rather bizarre interview in the wake of the announcement of the 2016 matric exam results, the Eastern Cape MEC for education, Mandla Makupula, told reporters that he “never chose” to be an MEC and doesn’t know why he was chosen for the job.
He said it had never been explained to him even once. He has been in the job for a number of years.
The Eastern Cape, much as in previous years, was the worst-performing province in last year’s matric exams, with only 59.3% of its matric pupils managing a pass. This is slightly higher than the 56.8% of 2015.
Makupula seems to be taking a rather philosophical attitude to his responsibilities.
“I never chose to be an MEC of education. I’m a teacher by profession. That’s what I was trained for by my parents … they gave me that, and they can never take it away from me. I’m a maths and science teacher. I teach maths and science.
“But politics-wise, the ruling party saw something in me that they’ve never even told me what is it that they saw in me. You just get a phone call … ‘come here, we’ve decided on you to become the MEC of education’.
“‘Oh!? OK.'”
He later waxed lyrical about how he would not be the last MEC in the province, pointing out that he knew he would have to vacate the position eventually: “As it rises up … it must also come down.”
The interview was captured and uploaded by the Daily Dispatch. Watch the rest of the video below.