Bias. The one thing all people have in common is good old-fashioned bias.

The mark of a good journalist is recognising your bias and using that awareness to improve your writing and your fact-checking. The closer a subject is to your heart, the harder and more essential this becomes. Case in point was writing this week’s story on the proposed new school for Ballito. I sat in the ward meeting held to discuss the school wearing three hats: Editor, parent and resident.

After rewriting the article several times and asking a colleague for feedback, I turned to my AI assistant and asked it to flag any bias in my writing. Once both the humans and the robot gave me the go-ahead, I published the article online. It was a valuable exercise and a rewarding one.

Whether you are for or against the new school, I believe one thing the residents of this town share is a passionate love for Ballito. My hope is that both sides can find common ground and a way forward. It would be a great pity not to unlock the potential of this land in a positive way.

Affordable education is a real need in our area, and many families simply cannot afford private schooling. Umhlali Prep is at capacity and must turn families away every year.

This land presents a unique opportunity: To place a custodian on it who will not only rehabilitate it, removing alien vegetation and planting indigenous species, but also allow our town to help shape future generations.

Living alongside nature is not a foreign idea. Simbithi, once ecologically barren sugarcane fields, now thrives with wildlife. The same can be achieved here. It’s only five hectares (half allocated to the school), and it is far from a pristine wildlife sanctuary in its current form. When pupils visited earlier this year armed with gloves and bin bags, they removed piles of illegally dumped rubbish.

ALSO READ: UPDATE: Petition launched as debate over Ballito school intensifies

The school’s leadership is attempting something radical, making private-school-quality education, traditionally reserved for the wealthy, available to marginalised and ordinary local families.

As a non-profit, it will not enrich any single entity, but it will enrich the lives of the children who attend and the neighbours who live around it.

Property values are likely to rise. Statistics tell us that homes in desirable school zones sell for more than similar homes outside them. Yes, traffic will increase, but with proper planning it can be managed. This is not a 1 000-pupil institution; the cap is 240. All plans will have to be vetted and approved, as they should be.

Change can be frightening, and fearmongering thrives on uncertainty, pitting us against an imagined external threat.

Before we toss the baby out with the bathwater, we should examine our own biases and ensure we do not turn away a golden opportunity. Only when we confront our own prejudices can we make decisions that truly serve the generations who will inherit this town from us.

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This week, we also celebrate our 40th birthday. The newspaper was launched a few months after I was born, and my cradle was often placed under the tables where the Courier was put together.

I never imagined that Pieter and I would return – 13 years ago now – to take over from my parents. It has been both a privilege and a gift.

The privilege has been being entrusted with this community’s stories, a responsibility I carry with great care. The gift has been belonging to this beautiful, close-knit community.
Thank you for being part of our story and for allowing us to be part of yours.

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