Head of the SABC
Dr Ihron Lester RENSBURG

Dr Ihron Lester Rensburg
source http://pbiphotoalbum.openface.ca/

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Dr Ihron Lester Rensburg, B Pharm (Rhodes University), MA and Ph D (Stanford University, USA). Thesis: Collective Identity and Public Policy: From Resistance to Reconstruction in South Africa, 1986-1995.

As of July 1995, Ihron Rensburg, Ph.D. candidate in Stanford's School of Education, was appointed Deputy Director General for Programs in the Ministry of Education of South Africa. The national Ministry of Education is headed by a Minister. Under the senior civil servant, the Director General, the ministry has three sections: Programs (of which Rensburg is Deputy Director General); Policy and Resources; and Administration. http://www.stanford.edu/dept/AFR/news/winter_newsletter.html

In October 2001 he joined the SABC as Director of corporate and regulatory affairs

Ihron and his wife Sizeka Rensburg
they have a son Lizolethu
Source http://www.magiclink.net/~odw/pages/Fall_1999.pdf

The Willow Glen Resident, Point of View, "South African relates story of a changing nation"
By Kate Vierhus http://www.svcn.com/archives/wgresident/11.13.96/pov.html

A few years ago, I met Sizeka Rensburg, a black South African who was here with her husband, Ihron, while he studied at Stanford University. Sizeka and Ihron were both fiercely agitated by the apartheid system and passionate about dedicating themselves to the African National Congress (ANC) upon returning to their country. Recently, I was curious as to what became of Sizeka and Ihron, and I have since learned of their involvement in the ANC government.

At the time of our meeting, Sizeka spoke of the then-current apartheid system and of her own life and experiences as a suppressed South African black woman. As a Xhosa, Sizeka grew up on the infertile lands of the "homeland"--the country's least appealing territory, where the government forced the black population to live. Homelands comprised a mere 13 percent of the land, supporting 36 percent of South Africa's population.

The impoverished homelands were isolated, a condition which was maintained by the old apartheid government. Sewage and water works were virtually nonexistent in the homelands. Electricity and telephones were unavailable, and the impoverished black population was kept illiterate and disconnected from the world by the unavailability of newspapers, books and other publications. Since blacks were denied the right to vote, the government selected individuals who were sympathetic to the apartheid agenda to govern the black townships and homelands.

Sizeka reflected on her childhood, what it was like to grow up on a segregated homeland. "I grew up in a rural area, and when I talk about a rural area, you better not be thinking of the American rural area. I'm talking about an area where there are no telephones and there is no electricity. There were no lights to study with after dark. The few people who have electricity, like my family, have to buy their own small generator, which is extremely expensive to maintain.

"We had no electricity in our schools. There was a mud floor. The school was built with mud bricks. To me it was just normal. It's strange because, when I look back, those were the best of my days. This is partly because I was a child, but most of all because I didn't know anything better than what I had."

In eighth grade, Sizeka went to boarding school in a more prosperous area. "As I walked by the high school for whites," she said, "I could see students playing hockey. I used to look at this in wonder. I didn't know what hockey was. The black rule-area schools were prohibited to play any sports that involved any equipment that could be used as a weapon, such as a bat or hockey stick. Also, most of the money was put toward white schools. This left little money for sports in black schools.

Having completed boarding school and seeking a job that would offer exposure and help her to pursue her dreams, Sizeka moved to the large industrial city Johannesburg. "I know in every country it is difficult to be in the work place and be a woman but the hardest thing in South Africa is to be black and a woman. When I've been most discriminated against, it's been in the workplace for being both black and a woman.

"When I had just moved to Johannesburg, I used to take a bus from my hotel to work. In those days, the blacks were not allowed to board the same buses as the whites, but it came to a point where Indians and coloreds [people of mixed races] were sort of acceptable. This particular day, I was going to work and as I was stepping onto the bus, the bus driver said to me, 'Are you colored?' I said, 'No.' He said, 'Don't you know this is a bus for whites?' You can imagine how I felt. I was about to cry. Everyone was staring at me. I had to step out of the bus."

Sizeka ranks high up in a government agency working with small businesses. This is extremely important, as the ANC inherited a large deficit from the apartheid government. Sixty percent of black South Africans are petty vendors or craftspeople, so helping them get loans and advertise is crucial to the economy.

Ihron is the deputy director general of education, which makes him responsible for revamping the curriculum of primary, secondary and post-secondary schools. Ihron is also in charge of establishing retraining programs for teachers, as well as changing the training of new teachers.

This is a stressful and hectic time for those involved in South Africa's government. There is an overwhelming amount to be accomplished and few skilled individuals within the ANC to help. As a holder of a Ph.D., Ihron is among the small minority in the government who have advanced degrees.

Ihron and Sizeka bought a house in one of Johannesburg's affluent suburbs, where blacks have started moving. The neighbors aren't thrilled, but are gradually adapting to change. Those who cannot adjust have sold their homes.

"I love South Africa. It is my home. I will never live anywhere else. I want people to know that the struggle in South Africa is not a black struggle, not a colored struggle; it is the people's struggle," Sizeka said.

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andre@rensburg.com