The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu
Mr Renious Makabane still remembers vividly his first student.
Knowing that he had been adept in Mathematics and Science in his high school days, his neighbour in Pumula South, a woman labouring through O-level Mathematics at Foundation College, had come to him for a few tips on how to overcome her problems with sums and numbers.
A calm, soft spoken man of very few words, Mr Makabane quickly went from a man who advised her on her homework once in a while to her full-time saviour, exorcising the Maths demons that had been tormenting her before she turned to him for salvation.
Their encounter was a revelation not only for the lady, who went on to pass her exams with a B, but Mr Makabane as well, a man that had never thought of himself as a teacher until he had succeeded in walking his unlikely student through the baptism of fire that is the country’s O-level Maths exam paper.
Many try and fail, yet this novice had managed to hold the hand of a student through a phase that had, before she met him, perplexed and defeated her.
“I remember the first person I taught. She was a lady. I remember she was a mother. She was my neighbour so she was at Foundation College, she would come around and ask a few questions about the subject. After she became my student that lady went on get a B in Maths. She was the only one I taught that year,” Mr Makabane said.
It was by all means a remarkable achievement, especially in light of the fact that, as a fully employed electrician with National Foods, he did not have much experience as a teacher.
“I’m not a teacher by profession but I teach Mathematics and Science. I’m an electrician at National Foods although I trained with National Blankets in 2005. After my stint with National Blankets I left for Star Africa in 2010. Before that I had gone to Nyamande Secondary School in Mwenezi where I wrote my O-levels in 1991 and then my A-levels in 1993,” said the 45-year-old.
Although his talent as a teacher had been hidden until it was unearthed by his neighbour, Mr Makabane said he always had a way with numbers even in his high school days. In fact, his romance with numbers had earned him a temporary posting at his school, after the teacher in charge of some Mathematics classes had left the school high and dry. A young Mr Makabane was then thrust into the hot seat, becoming a teacher when he had only just completed his O-levels.
“At O-level I obtained three As, four Bs and one C. In Science and Mathematics I managed to get two As. I managed to get 14 points at A-level while I was doing Maths, Physics and Science.
“I never had experience but what happened was that when I completed my O-levels they needed a Science teacher at my school so I took the part while waiting to step up to A -level,” he said.
When he turned around the Maths fortunes of his neighbour, he managed to get himself a loyal disciple that was determined to make sure that Mr Makabane’s number crunching flock grew larger. His successful mentorship to her was to be the beginning of his legend, a legend that would soon spread through the whole of Pumula South in Bulawayo.
“That lady took charge of a class of her own and after she was challenged on certain topics she came back to me and in the end she recommended her entire class to come to me for Mathematics lessons. I taught that class and managed to achieve a 100 percent pass rate with them. This was about two decades back,” he said.
The number of students that wanted to hear Mr Makabane’s gospel kept on swelling, and in the process he even attracted some misfits that had been haunted by Mathematics for decades.
“I don’t care about the ages of my students. I remember this one lady who was around 54 years of age. Her name was Mrs Luphahla. She came to me about four years back and now she’s about to finish her university studies. I never keep count but in 2014 I had 176 students and then it reduced to 126 in 2015,” he said.
The prowess of the man, who claims to have helped over 1 000 students pass their O-level exams, has seen him gain favours from unlikely sources as people show gratitude for the work that he is doing.
“There’re many students who have gone on to achieve great things. One of those is the foreman at United Refineries Mr Khulumani Sibanda, who I taught Mathematics then later on I encouraged him to take up apprenticeship before becoming the electric foreman.
“When I was at the United Bulawayo Hospitals not feeling well I met two of my former students who I didn’t even remember.
When I was admitted two nurses came running to me and from that point onwards I got VIP treatment throughout my stay there,” he said with a laugh.
However, for all the love that he has received for his prowess in front of the chalkboard, Mr Makabane has had his fair share of detractors. Local teachers, perhaps threatened by his success with some of their students, made him public enemy number one a few years back.
“In another year they put posters around trying to discourage me but that didn’t work. With me teaching is a mixture of talent and passion. Actually some parents come to me and say we want results because we can’t take our children to trained teachers because we want results,” he said.
Despite that heartbreaking campaign against him, Mr Makabane does not harbour any ill-well towards full time teachers, instead choosing to share some of the secrets behind his success.
“The textbook approach is not really good for students. Some of the methods on those textbooks are outdated. Students need to grow up. For example some of them will still tell you about BODMAS when it’s no longer in the syllabus at a higher level,” he said.
The soccer fanatic, who fell one rung short of the country’s premiership during an unsung career as a player, said that he hoped to become a full time teacher when he retired from his job as an electrician. After all, teaching has always been his dream career.
“When I was growing up I wanted to be a teacher but I felt that the dream wouldn’t come true. Funny enough, now I’m in that same profession that I thought had eluded me,” he said.
