Durban University of Technology’s (DUTs) Dr Thandukwazi Ncube was invited as a guest speaker at the Matric Awards ceremony for pupils at Makhapha Combined School. The event took place at the Coastlands Musgrave Hotel, on Friday, 10 February 2023.
Dr Thandukwazi Ncube is a Business and Information Management lecturer in the Finance and Information Management Department in the Faculty of Accounting and Informatics, Riverside Campus, Pietermaritzburg.
He started off his speech by greeting everyone who was present at the event. He went on to say, “We are convened in this special event, to celebrate the hard work, unremitting commitment and dedication to studies that was displayed by the Class of 2022.”
Dr Ncube further commented that the performance of the pupils must be also attributed to the teachers, as it is a reflection of how much commitment they had put in the agenda of curtailing illiteracy and producing future leaders of this country – without them there would not have been an awards ceremony.
“The teachers have excelled in preparing pupils for the world that awaits, a world of many possibilities, that requires preparation, where victory without preparation is a phantom. Many of these pupils are integrating in this world through distinctive ways; some are going to Universities, Universities of Technology and TVET Colleges. The primary purpose of this process of furthering education, is to acquire knowledge and skills that will be vital in career establishment and to those who will be pursuing the entrepreneurial trajectory,” he added.
Dr Ncube also focused his speech on the World Economic Forum in its ‘Future of Jobs 2020’ report. He explained that the report is constituted by many sections, including a survey conducted from many companies across economies, including the South African economy.
He added that the report gives a clear indication that occupations such as administrative secretaries, bookkeepers, data entry clerks, accountants, auditors and the likes are becoming reductant.
“On the other side, it demonstrates that data analysts, scientists, business development professionals, Al and Machine learning, big data specialists and the likes are emerging. These are professions and job families that should be pursued by the class of 2022. We must guide our children against integration that is not aligned the demands of the economy.,” stressed Dr Ncube.
In closing he indicated that the South African economy is hungry for entrepreneurs. He relayed that in the class of 2022, it can be seen that there are future business owners who will have their companies being in the top in the JSE.
“Entrepreneurship is art, it needs people who have a vision and goal orientated. Every crisis that if faced by the country is an opportunity for an entrepreneur to provide solutions to it, you can of any societal problem that exists in the country and provide a business solution to it.,” he said.
Pictured: Dr Thandukwazi Ncube
Siphokazi Dlamini/Waheeda Peters
