The Principal’s Office
I am humbled to have this opportunity of welcoming you in this 2020 Academic year. It is my firm belief that you enjoyed the festive season with your families and the loved ones.
Year 2020 is the first year of our 5-year Strategic Plan. It is therefore very imperative that we commit at all levels in ensuring that we achieve both the DHET strategic objectives in general and King Hintsa TVET College strategic objectives in particular. The guiding documents for all employees of the College are the Strategic Plan, Annual Performance Plan and Operational Plans, we must always not forget the vision and the mission of the college 2020-2024 and always uphold the values at all times It is also important that we use the experiences of the past 5-year cycle to address the bottle necks or obstacles that made it difficult for us to achieve some of the strategic objectives we set for ourselves.
This approach of using experience will assist us as a collective to achieve more. All our Units and Sections in the College need to understand that it is only through teamwork that we can achieve our goal.
We also need to take note that 2019 was also a year with some challenges. It was very frustrating to have students unrest at Teko Campus as early as the 24th January. This action obviously impacted negatively in the Academic progress of the students and really disturbed the Campus Management Plans for 2019. All role players must be commended for playing different roles to manage and end that strike. Secondly 2019 has not been an easy year , there were many disruptions of the core business as a result of student protests at Teko Campus and Msobomvu which compromised the performance of the students writing examinations without quality time to prepare for final examinations as there are certain tasks to be performed prior to exams which ascertain that students qualify and ready for examinations.
We are thankful to the internal and external stakeholders from the community for their intervention. It is also unfortunate to learn that some of these disruptions are sponsored internally/externally by individuals who push their selfish agenda and who want to benefit from the college. Whilst they don’t have interest of the college development.
Thirdly, we also had the staff unrest by NEHAWU in relation to various grievances they had with DHET, which had an unfortunate spill over to the College operations.
I am mindful of the challenges that affect both staff and students , we must collectively find a way of addressing these issues as soon as they are presented to us to avoid such disruptions. In case your issue is not attended to by your supervisor, you must escalate that to the next level. The college has recognised unions as per the Labour Relations Act which were formed to ensure that they engage management on issues that affect employees, on top of that the college has a Labour Relations Office whichhas to manage labour peace within the institution, that office is not to favour either Management or Employees but to interprete the law correctly and advise. Good working relations, are key to the college performance. I appeal that we must all join hands for the success of King Hintsa TVET College by doing that we will be lifting the Xhosa nation. Despite all the above challenges, I am convinced as the College Principal that with proper planning, monitoring and evaluation, we will be able to perform better and improve in 2020.
We also need to improve our audit findings from qualified to unqualified audit that needs co-operation from all levels, All employees of the college are important from the lower level to the higher level, it is important that we give each other respect he/she deserves as a human being, and also respect offices occupied by all officials irrespective of Colour, Age, and Gender.
The college is fortunate to have a full complement of council as appointed by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, all members of council poses to give strategic direction to the college for the next 5 years. I am fully confident that they will collectively take the college to the next level.
Towards the end of 2019 we were shocked and saddened by the untimely death of amaXhosa King, King Zwelonke Sigcawu…AH!!! Zwelonke!! AH! Zwelonke! AH!! Zwelonke! He was laid to rest on the 29th November 2019 at the Royal House Nqadu. He made great contributions to the College and he was very committed to its development , King Zwelonke was linking the college with Royal House partners. The college has lost a visionary, a leader and a fighter, we are hoping that His Legacy will remain and the projects He had started will continue. Let everyone continue to honour him by making a contribution to King Hintsa TVET in honour of “King Zwelonke”
All the employees posses individual skills and knowledge in different fields, which when combined collectively can produce the cream of the crop., individual brilliance, initiatives and further collaboration amongst staff will definitely take the College to better heights. We are here to serve the key stakeholders our students, community and the nation!
All the best for 2020
Yours in Post School Education & Training
Ms. N. Balfour
College Principal