Cida Foundation UK

Since democracy in 1994, South Africa has achieved many triumphs to celebrate it’s diverse nation.  But there are still challenges in terms of the legacy of apartheid and the impacts of a previous lack of investment in education, high unemployment levels, extreme poverty, and HIV/AIDS. 

During apartheid, one of the hundreds of laws invented to legally discriminate against black people was the Bantu Education Act (1953), forbidding the teaching of maths and sciences to black people and allowing them to be educated only to the limited extent needed to perform manual labour and other jobs to serve those “superior” to them.  This system and lack of investment in education was upheld for nearly 4 decades.  It was abolished only in the 1990s, when there was a massive influx of black students applying for entry into university, but without the necessary academic preparation or financial means.

CIDA City Campus is therefore addressing years of political, social and educational discrimination by not only providing wider access to tertiary education, but in ensuring that high levels of support are given to its students, who come from some of the most rural and poverty-stricken areas of southern Africa. 

CIDA believes that by educating southern Africa’s youth it is breaking the cycle of inter-generational poverty, and contributing to the transformation of the continent’s future.

“CIDA’s model combines self-awareness, self-reliance and Ubuntu.  The students expressly address issues of poverty, education and health in their home communities and pass on their knowledge to others in ways that are meaningful, whether in Limpopo or Cape.  I know that CIDA students can be a major force for transformation in whatever field they work in – technology or agriculture, as entrepreneurs or accountants.  I am inspired by its extraordinary reach across our nation, and am proud to be associated with its vision”.  Nelson Mandela