4
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
AND THE ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
INSTITUTIONS:
A SOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE
Avani Singh4.1 Introduction
In his final judgment delivered as Deputy Chief Justice of the South
African Constitutional Court, Judge Dikgang Moseneke began with the
following words:^1
“[1] Teaching and learning are as old as human beings have
lived. Education is primordial and integral to the human
condition. The new arrivals into humankind are taught and learn
how to live useful and fulfilled lives. So education’s formative
goodness to the body, intellect and soul has been beyond
question from antiquity. And its collective usefulness to
communities has been recognised from prehistoric times to
now. The indigenous and ancient African wisdom teaches that
“thuto ke lesedi la sechaba”; “imfundo yisibani” (education is the
1
Federation of Governing Bodies for South African Schools (FEDSAS) v
Member of the Executive Council for Education, Gauteng and Another (CCT
209/15) [2016] ZACC 14 (20 May 2016).