Joburg residents are predictably unhappy that, rather than fix the infrastructure and services for which ratepayers have forked out billions, some government officials want to tart up parts of the decaying city that world leaders will see when they arrive for the G20 summit later this year. Fixing potholes and traffic lights between the airport and the VIPs’ hotels is apparently more important than improving the lives of citizens.
So here’s an idea. How about moving the summit to rural areas, so presidents and prime ministers can experience the real South Africa? There are no roads or robots, so no repairs needed, and no pesky ratepayers’ associations to appease. Quite the contrary. The high-profile visitors could expect a warm welcome from people grateful for anyone who shows an interest in their lives.
Take education. In three provinces so far this year, thousands of children, parents and community members have turned out to welcome corporate and private sponsors delivering educational resources to neglected primary schools. Since 1998, Rally to Read, the rural education programme in which the FM is an organising partner, has offered literacy to more than 700,000 children across South Africa. They are the country’s real VIPs.
With the school year only a few weeks old, there have already been weekend rallies in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. Up to 10 more are planned in 2025 — some in the same provinces and others in Mpumalanga, the Free State and the Western Cape. Depending on demand, others may be added.
The Rally to Read model is simple. We provide participating schools with portable classroom libraries, stationery and sports equipment. The libraries contain huge, colourful books for classroom and private reading. Each school is supported for at least three years and every year the books become more challenging. We usually start with picture books in the local tongue, before introducing English later.
It is heartwarming to see how fierce competitors out in the market join hands in collaboration as fellow crusaders for literacy
— Brand Pretorius
There is no question of simply hoping that the programme will yield some benefit. Our NGO partner, the Read Educational Trust, monitors the progress of each school, both in the classroom and through teacher training. Independent research shows that these interventions work; children who would previously have dropped out of the education system at the end of primary phase are now able to continue to high school and, in increasing numbers, to university.
Rally to Read is also an education for our sponsors, who include several major corporations but also private individuals who want to make a difference. Our rallies, lasting one or two days, take sponsors into the heart of rural South Africa to deliver their goods in person. Not only do they meet the children they support but, if they stay with the programme, they see their development each year we visit.
Some sponsors become so involved with the programme that they go further at their own expense — providing footwear for children who travel many kilometres to school daily, rebuilding collapsed classrooms and even providing computer equipment.
Though the programme is aimed primarily at rural schools, some rallies support township and peri-urban schools in the wake of the pandemic, which highlighted that some of these face similar challenges. The central fact driving Rally to Read is that the average 14-year-old rural child has a reading age of seven. At the age when they should be entering high school, they are unable to continue.
Now 27 years old, Rally to Read’s contribution is as much in demand as ever. In 2025, we have already raised a record R22.5m but that is only a fraction of what we need. National and provincial education budgets simply don’t cover the needs of all the schools they are supposed to support. In extreme cases, Rally to Read has been the only source of educational resources for remote schools.
Rally founder and steering committee chair Brand Pretorius says: “The need for Rally to Read has never been more pressing as we are still sitting on an illiteracy time bomb.”
Corporate sponsors include many of South Africa’s best-known names, including Bidfood, Italtile, Shell, Jonsson Workwear, Mercedes-Benz, Ford and Isuzu. The motor industry is a particularly strong supporter. Pretorius says: “It is heartwarming to see how fierce competitors out in the market join hands in collaboration as fellow crusaders for literacy.”
It costs R50,000 for other companies or individuals to become a full Rally to Read sponsor in 2025. Smaller sponsorships are also welcome. Besides knowing their money will be well spent, sponsors have the opportunity to join rallies.
To become a sponsor, or for more information, visit rallytoread.org.za or contact the author on furlongerd@fm.co.za, or Pretorius on brand@brandpretorius.com.
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