“I founded Prenora English Medium Preparatory School in 1996 as a single mother of three (3) daughters who was a qualified teacher by profession. The acquisition of the necessary resources for establishing such institutions was challenging at that time, especially for single women of colour.

With no savings in my bank account, I embarked on a journey to make the vision of Prenora a reality and establish the School as one of the leading private schools in Limpopo.

The land was negotiated by the municipality and the Executive Committee of the Civic Association under the presidency of Mr. Lesiba Modikwa. It was eventually paid in full through funds obtained from a company called SaFrich and the Deed of Grant was issued. Our agreement with SaFrich was that they facilitate the rezoning of the land into two portions; one to be used for our school and the other as a residential area where SaFrich would construct subsidy houses. Under the agreement, all building costs associated with the construction of the school would be paid by SaFrich.

This agreement was rejected by the Executive Committee of the Civic Association. The Civic Committee organized a meeting with the managers of SaFrich and myself. During the discussions, the Seshego Executive Committee of the Civic Association made it clear to SaFrich that they reject our agreement and the terms thereto. Since SaFrich had already transferred the land purchasing funds into the Municipality’s bank account, it was resolved in that meeting that I would be personally responsible for the repayments to SaFrich for the land purchasing funds. The plans for the land rezoning were unsuccessful.

A gentleman named Mr. Phillip Motlanthe encouraged me to pitch the idea of starting a private school to the Civic Association Committee at their upcoming meeting which was scheduled to take place at Lotanang Primary School. After hearing my proposal, the Civic Executive Committee tasked Mr. M.C Koma (who was referred to as the Minister of Land and Housing by the Civic Association) with finding a suitable portion of land for the private school. Mr. M.C Koma played a crucial role in this process, negotiating with the local municipality and Land & Housing at Head office (Lebowakgomo). It was Mr. Victor Baloyi at the Head Office who referred Mr. Koma to a site which was already rezoned for a school. That was site number 861 which was sold to me to start the proposed private school.

The school started in temporary classrooms made of prefabs. The fence was erected through consumer credit. The prefabs used to erect the temporary classrooms were delivered without any pre-payment. The agreement was for payments to begin as soon as the pre-school was operational.

The first educator and Principal of our school was the late Mrs. Cathy Hough. On the first day of school, only five (5) learners came to register. Learners were given breakfast and lunch. I felt frustrated because I had employed a teacher, a cook/cleaner and a general worker who all needed to be paid at the end of the month. In addition, the monthly repayments for the prefabs were due to start.

We continued operating and teaching our modest number of learners. By the end of the first month, we had registered a total of sixteen (16) learners. I went back to the prefabs company to re-negotiate a decrease in the monthly repayments. By the end of 1996, we had enrolled a total of thirty six (36) learners paying a monthly fee of R150.00 each. We were barely breaking even, let alone making any profit. The money was nowhere near enough to cover operational costs and at times, I was left with no option but to approach loan sharks to pay salaries, which was another set-back. At that time, I was no longer creditworthy. Parents were not paying fees consistently and come year-end, some parents were still months behind in fees. Even under those conditions, God instilled in me the courage to soldier on. In 1997, I added the next grade and continued to add one grade higher each year. In 1998, the educator combined six (6) grade 1 learners with five (5) grade 2 learners and taught them in one classroom.

The late Cathy Hough was an invaluable asset to the school. She would use her own initiative and photocopy books for learners because the school did not have the budget to do so. She was very good in teaching the young ones how to read . She was incredibly patient with learners and always went above and beyond her duties which she was contracted to perform. Cathy`s husband was a contractor. He would get contracts outside the borders of South Africa and Cathy would be obliged to go with him. Each time they came back, I would go and negotiate with her to come back to school.

In 1998, Prenora participated in the Kagiso Early Childhood Development Project funded by the Japanese Government and implemented by PEPPS. Through the project, one educator received Early Childhood Development training. The project also helped with nutrition. Charmain Klopper was trained and received ECD level 4 certificate. Unfortunately, upon completion of her training, she decided to resign from Prenora to pursue other opportunities in Polokwane.

The school`s first patron was the late Mr. Vivian George, who I met miraculously. He was originally from Great Britain. His connection to the Van Rhyn brick company secured Prenora a donation for the first brick classroom block of four classrooms. The project of constructing the block was co-ordinated by Pierre Van Rhyn, the general manager of Van Rhyn Brickworks (PTY) LIMITED. He brought a number of companies together with the main aim of helping our school. Each company donated what they produced and manufactured. There was no money involved. e.g Van Rhym Brickworks donated bricks, Northern Glass donated glazing, Miracle Electrics donated electrical installation, Ready Mix Company donated ready mix cement mixture, Norman and Company donated Roof Trusses, Bramcon Homes, donated Labour and NTY donated door and window frames. On the day of handing over the first block to the school, the keys were handed over to the representative of Seshego Civic Association Executive Committee, Mr. Nelson Ntsewa. He was the chairperson of Seshego Block Council and was co-opted to the Civic Executive Committee. Refreshments were donated by Van Rhyn.

Today, Prenora is a well-established school catering for Pre-Grade R (Grade RR) to Grade 7 learners. Our staff comprises of qualified teachers, administrators, a bookkeeper, groundsmen, night and day-shift security guards. Learners are prohibited from purchasing any consumables outside the school premises. All consumables must be purchased from the on-site school tuck shop. No vendors are allowed at our gates.

Our previous principal, Mr. Victor Madupo, led our school with professionalism from the year 2000 to 2023 when he retired and handed the reigns over to Mr. Andries Ramaphoko, who has already proven himself to be a formidable and exceptional Principal.

Our infrastructure has also improved immensely since 1996.

The grace of God is what transformed the ambitious dream of a single mother with a modest background into a quality institution that gives new meaning to the word ‘execellence’.

GOD IS INDEED A MIRACLE WORKER!“