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Double honours for top Umlazi school
As the saying goes, there is no rest for the weary. This
was the case for Muntu Ntombela, principal of Menzi
High School, who had to travel from the National
Education Excellence Awards in Pretoria straight to
the Hilton Hotel in Durban to attend the MUT Circle
of Excellence Awards on the same day. The theme
for the COE awards was “quality education”, and that
certainly resonated with Menzi High School, which
left with a huge collection of awards on the evening
of 13 March 2020: five trophies, cash sponsorship to
the value of R15 000 as well as other educational and
individual prizes.
Menzi High School was once again celebrated as the
top performer in Umlazi Township, as they have been
for the past seven years of the Circle of Excellence
awards. The school was also rewarded for achieving
a 100% pass rate in Accounting, Physical Sciences
and English; a 98% pass rate in Mathematics; and
an overall pass rate of 100%, with a total of 280
distinctions and 141 bachelor passes.
The outstanding work of the leadership, teachers, and
learners of Menzi High School was lauded by the KZN
MEC for education, Mr Kwazi Mshengu during the
Menzi High school matric excellence awards early in
the year at the Durban ICC. “I want to especially thank
the principal and the school management team for the
sound leadership of the school. When Ms Ntombela
took leadership after the untimely passing of Mr
Mshololo, there were a lot of sceptics considering the
nature of patriarchy in our society. Please continue with
your good work, I am extremely impressed with what
is taking place at Menzi. We need Menzi High School
learners to help our country in fighting epidemics and
finding solutions to fight climate change,” said MEC
Mshengu.
The MEC’s wishes are already being realised as six
learners from the class of 2019 have been accepted at
Nelson Mandela University (NMU) to do medicine. Four
from the class of 2014 have completed their medical
degree at NMU, and one in Cuba, while another four
are due to complete their studies this year at UKZN’s
Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine.
MUT views its relationship with schools in the
immediate surrounding as a bold step towards the
revitalisation of Umlazi Township. The many pockets
of excellence that exist amongst the schools in Umlazi
are a good indication that the efforts of MUT, together
with its partners, are bearing fruit towards creating an
education ecosystem in the township.
to the core business of the schooling system which
is quality learning. Go forth and conquer the world
and keep up your excellent work.” The Department
of Basic Education report published on 8 January
indicated that Menzi High School was amongst the
104 schools in South Africa to achieve a 100% pass
rate consistently for a period of five years – of which
only 16 are in KwaZulu-Natal. This was out of a total
of 25,154 schools that wrote the National Senior
Certificate examinations in 2019.
In 2019, Menzi High School had a total of 151 learners
writing the NSC exam, with 141 achieving Bachelor
passes, 8 achieving Diploma passes and 2 achieving
Higher Certificate passes. The class of 2019 praised
their teachers for working hard in preparing them
for the exams, and were also proud to uphold the
school’s reputation. Principal Ntombela said, “It is all
a team effort. I am very proud of the many sacrifices
by the teachers and the entire staff of Menzi High
who sacrifice their family time making sure that all
learners, including those that are weaker than others,
receive good quality marks. These teachers do not
have weekends and school holidays. They are at
school teaching as if it was a normal school day.
To the staff, I am very thankful and appreciate your
dedication, respect and support to the management
of the school.”
“We compete with ourselves,” Muntu Ntombela, Menzi High
School Principal