21/09/2026
MEMORANDUM
*FROM: Ally Shiburi— Office of the King
TO: The Youth of Fetakgomo Tubatse, Community Leaders & Stakeholders
DATE: 21 September 2026
SUBJECT: Who Said We Must Get Papers Before We Get The Job? A Call to Rewrite The Rules
1. THE QUESTION WE NEVER ASKED
Who said that:
1. We must obtain Grade 12 before we can enter university?
2. We must obtain a business certificate before we can get funding?
3. We must obtain a mining certificate before we can get a job in the mine that is on our land?
4. We must obtain a PTO (Permission To Occupy) before we can build a house on our grandfather's stand?
5. Etc, etc?
We grew up being told this is "the law". We never asked: WHO wrote that law, and who was there when it was passed?
2. WHO WROTE ALL THESE LAWS?
The truth is uncomfortable:
A. Colonial and Apartheid lawmakers wrote the first foundation. They created laws to keep black people as labourers, not owners. The Bantu Education Act, the Land Act of 1913, mining laws — all designed to say: "You are not qualified to own, you are only qualified to work."
B. Post-1994 Parliament adopted and polished those same laws. We changed the faces in parliament, but we kept the system. The NQF framework, SETAs, SMME certificates, municipal by-laws — they were written in boardrooms in Pretoria and Cape Town, by academics, lawyers and consultants who already had degrees. The villagers of Ga-Madiseng, Praktiseer, Apel were never in that room.
C. Institutions benefit from papers. Universities benefit if everyone must have Grade 12. Banks benefit if every business must have a certificate before funding. Mining companies benefit if our youth must pay R5,000 for a certificate before getting a R4,500 job. It is a gatekeeping economy.
The paper was made to be more important than the skill.
3. WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF WE REWRITE OUR OWN LAWS?
If we as the people of Fetakgomo Tubatse rewrite our laws, this is what will happen:
1. We move from Certificates to Competency. A person who has been fixing cars for 10 years does not need a certificate to prove he can fix a car. Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) becomes the law, not the exception.
2. We unlock the local economy. If we remove "PTO before building" and give people Title Deeds, they can use their houses to get business loans. If we remove "certificate before funding", our mothers can get R10,000 to sell tomatoes without a 5-day business course.
3. Mines will hire from the community first. Our law will say: If the mine is in our municipality, 60% of unskilled and semi-skilled jobs must go to local youth WITHOUT requiring expensive external certificates. The mine must train them ON THE JOB.
4. We will create creators, not job seekers. The current law produces people who wait for jobs. New laws will produce people who create jobs with the skills they already have — farming, building, welding, sewing.
CONCLUSION
No law is permanent. Laws are written by people and can be rewritten by people. The question is not whether we can rewrite them — the question is: Do we have the courage to sit down and write the laws that favour our own children?
The paper must not be more powerful than the person.
Let us start writing.
Prepared by:
Ally Shiburi-Truth Mayor Candidate
060 900 5435 | [email protected]
4 NOVEMBER 2026
VOTE TRUTH
