Dimani Alumni Association

Establishment

The establishment of Dimani Alumni Association (DAA) started around 2010. It was ignited by the pride former students felt in having schooled at Dimani Agricultural High School. In those years, Dimani was ranked amongst the top performing schools in the former Venda homeland. Today, there are industry leaders, prominent politicians, renowned business people and astute professionals who came from Dimani Agricultural High School.

Sadly, Dimani does not feature in any platform of top performing schools today, and prompted by this, some former students felt the need to do something to restore it to the glory days and perhaps even better. Over several years different groups have tried to come together to do something to support the school or just claw back because they feel indebted to this institution that has contributed so much to who they are today. This forms the underlying sentiment for the establishment of the DAA.

Meeting

The first formal meeting happened at Kyalami some years back attended by about 40 former students. Other groups have had various engagements to establish ties with former students and the school, but for purposes of this information sharing only those that significantly contributed to where we are today will be mentioned.

A group of former students decided to then visit the school and engage with the management on the idea of the Alumni. It is this group that later decided on a WhatsApp Chat group to communicate engagements with the school and discussions on areas of support. Administrators were identified to add members as and when forwarded. The chat group has been the most significant milestone as it was able to register hundreds of members.

Task team

Through the chat group two meetings were scheduled all at the same, one in Gauteng and another in Venda, on Saturday 22 June 2019 at 14:00. The Venda meeting took place at Dimani Agricultural High School, Shayandima and the Gauteng meeting took place at the Midrand Lutheran Church. The two meetings had the same agenda and the discussions were consolidated into one Report. The chief outcome of these meetings is the formation of the Task Team whose main objective was to establish the DAA.

The process of establishing Dimani Alumni Association is at an advanced stage, having been registered with the CIPC. The registration with the Department of Social Development as a Public Benefit Organization will be finalized shortly.

The team has also developed a Road Map with projects that will enhance performance of Dimani Agricultural High School in different ways. These projects have been shared in whatsapp group and are available should anyone wish to lead or support them. Everyone is encouraged to volunteer in at least one project stream so that a project team can be established.

The Task Team also opened an interim bank account in order to collect funds for facilitating the establishment of the DAA. Members are requested to contribute R100 a month as minimum or lump sum of R1200.

Communiation

A generic mailbox has been opened to streamline communication amongst Alumni community i.e alumni@dimaniagricschool.org.za

N.B. If you would like to contribute in any of the programmes or projects established to support the school, please email your details and area of support to the above email

WhatsApp group has been initiated and active. To be part of the Chat Group send a message to Dzivhu Mashila 071 605 8585