Message From Koos Radebe

Director: CSI & Communications: Tracker Network Men In the Making is a concept derived from the realisation that the boy-child in South Africa is calling out for attention, help, recognition and acknowledgement as he grapples with the challenges of life and the suppression that he sometimes experiences, as more and more focus and glamour is placed on girl children.

Why did we come up with this initiative? To draw society’s attention to the plight of developing boys and young men at high school and beyond. To create a platform for boys to find expression and meaning in their lives. To level the playing field in so far as growth and advancement opportunities are concerned, between girl-children and our boy-children. To correct the distortion that ‘it is cool to do crime and be defiant and that you are not yet a man until you have walked through the corridors of a prison’. As a company fighting vehicle crime in the country, we have an obligation to educate and positively impact on the lives of boy-children so that they grow to be responsible citizens and future leaders of our country.

The Concept In Perspective

Men In the Making is not an event but an ongoing process that can only be realised and measured through the participation of like-minded corporate companies of our country in conjunction with Government, i.e. The Department of Education. Tracker and its business partners are just the custodians of the concept. The process belongs to the rest of corporate South Africa and our institutions of learning, which extends to both society and parents alike. This is a concept to build and restore confidence in boy-children in all aspects of their development and growth.

What We Hope To Achieve In Perspective

1. We hope to register as many companies as possible to support this initiative.
2. We hope the boys we are targeting will embrace this concept and allow it to change their lives in a positive manner.
3. We hope to establish a long lasting partnership with corporate South Africa as we drive this initiative together.
4. We hope this new private-public partnership with Government (Education in particular) will find expressions in other state organs that will help bring the two closer together for a better South Africa.
5. To start the process on a small scale but grow it in the next two years to cover the whole country.

How Relevant Is It To Our CSI Strategy

1. Our CSI overall strategy is geared towards ploughing back positively to communities where we are doing business. Equally important it is informed and driven by our company’s 2012 business focus as well as the Government 2014 goals in poverty eradication and making this country a better place for all who live in it.
2. We also believe in the expression that “investing in children is like writing history for the future”.

Future Plans?

1. To launch the concept regionally and see it grow on a nationwide basis in the next two years.
2. To see the relationship built between companies and their selected boys leading to bursaries, scholarships and future job opportunities.
3. We see the creation of follow-up mechanisms to measure the success of our business partners’ interventions in the lives of these boys.
4. The establishment of meaningful role models for the boys.
5. The maintenance of the relationship between Tracker and our business partners for the benefit of the boys who have been through the programme.
6. To see the beneficiaries of this program taking a leading role in its future promotion and adding greater substance in its realisation.
7. For the programme to have an impact in the compilation of future school curriculum from an early age.
8. Ultimately earning the National Education Ministerial endorsement of ‘Men In the Making’ project.

Special Acknowledgements

1. The Gauteng Department of Education for sharing in our vision and embracing the concept, of ‘Men In the Making’.
2. Our media partner Metro FM for helping shape this concept and all future publicity to their immediate audiences and the nation at large.
3. To our business partners for believing in this noble project.
4. And those companies/institutions who will participate quietly and still make a huge difference in the lives of our boys in this country.
5. To the participating schools for all their assistance.
6. To all the parents for allowing their children to be part of this program.
7. To all the boys who will be part of this inaugural program.
8. To Tracker for agreeing to invest in this mammoth undertaking.