President Zuma must protect poor students from 8% fee increase

5 September 2016

The DA welcomes the reported acknowledgement by the Department of Higher Education of the autonomy of universities and their legal rights and duties to determine their own fees for 2017.

However, as the DA has made clear:  any fee increase cannot and must not be carried by poor students.

We therefore call on President Zuma to urgently make available the R2.5 billion it will take to assist students with the 8% increase. We believe this amount can be found by reprioritizing existing budgets and by getting our spending priorities right. 

The ANC government’s silence on what additional measures it will take to assist poor students to pay the increased fees is a cause for great concern. This is a continuation of the lack of leadership which has characterized both President Zuma and Minister Nzimande's handling of this important matter for many years. 

Our universities have been facing an uphill financial battle with no end in sight to this crisis, a result of lacklustre policy solutions by Minister Nzimande, who has been rumoured to be in line for removal as the ANC implodes as a result of its internal factionalism. 

Tertiary institutions are responsible for creating new generations of skilled labour, and the longer this crisis continues, the more damage we are compounding to our future economy. 

The DA will continue seeking a long term solution to the problem of affordable quality higher education. Sadly, the longer the ANC waits to take responsibility for this catastrophe, the more difficult the solution will be. 

Issued by Belinda Bozzoli, DA Shadow Minister of Higher Education and Training, 5 September 2016