EFFSC statement on Cabinet announcement

1 July 2024

The Economic Freedom Fighters Students' Command (EFFSC) has noted the announcement of National Executive by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa. During his announcement, Cyril shamelessly revealed that he has inflated the Cabinet, by creating more ministries and deputy ministries.

By his own admission, he did not do this to enhance government work and increase its efficiency, but rather he created more cabinet posts to create jobs for his political allies and factional praise singers within the African National Congress (ANC) and the greedy yellow communists of the South African Communist Party (SACP).

This was demonstrated in the separation of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Technology from Higher Education. After his inauguration in 2019, Cyril Ramaphosa, merged these ministries into one under the guise of good and efficient governance and the need to reduce the size of the cabinet to reduce fruitless government expenditure.

Five years on, he has betrayed his own crusade of good governance and spilt the ministries to accommodate his political ally, Dr Blade Nzimande, who failed to meaningfully improve the Higher Education Sector.

During his tenure, Dr Blade Nzimande, failed to adequately address the financial barriers which further entrenched the structural inaccessibility of Higher Education in South Africa. He failed to improve the management of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which was marred with administrative inefficiencies, stealing and mismanagement of funds, and delays in funding disbursement.

Historically Black institutions and the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector continued to suffer under his leadership because of underfunding, poor infrastructure development, and lack of learning and teaching resources.

Under his leadership as minister, the National Skills Fund (NSF), failed to account for a missing Five Billion Rand (R5bn) before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA). When we has called to account before the Parliamentary Monitoring Group he evaded accountability with unproductive international trips, and when the time finally came he requested for the report detailing the R5bn corruption into the NSF to be made confidential.

In a country like South Africa, with the highest number of unemployed youth in the world, the National Skills Fund is a crucial funding entity which must equip the youth of South Africa with the necessary skills in line With the priorities of the National Skills Development Plan (NSDP) 2030. This entity must absorb youth Not in Employment Education and Training (NEET), and invest in giving them skills aligned to the economic needs and demands of our country. The NSF must invest in skills development research, innovation, technology, and advocacy. Dr Blade Nzimande not only failed to meet these key performance indicators (KPls), but he also presided over the looting of the NSF to the tune of over R5bn.

His reappointment to lead a ministry responsible to guide the country's policies and initiatives in Science, Innovation and Technology with the aim of promoting national development does not inspire confidence after his spectacular failure as a Minister of Higher Education, Science, Innovation and Technology. His reappointment can only mean the furthering of patronage and kleptocracy, enabled by Cyril Ramaphosa.

The EFFSC has also noted that another Ramaphosa ally has been rewarded with a ministerial position in Higher Education, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane. Dr Nkabane sat on the Section 194 enquiry committee which was used by Cyril Ramaphosa to silence and eliminate the former Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane. Advocate Mkhwebane was targeted for investigating the illegal foreign currency hidden in the Phala-PhaIa game farm of Cyril Ramaphosa.

Dr Nkabane was also a Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy when the country experienced the lowest levels of energy stability, leading to rampant and uncontrollable power outages in the year 2022. She carries with her a legacy of failing to address the persistent challenge of power supply in our country.

She has now been reappointed to lead one of the most complex ministries, together with a Deputy Minister from the Democratic Alliance (DA). The unholy Grand Coalition of the ANC and the DA is going to be felt most by the students of South Africa. The DA has made it very clear, on many public appearances that it does not agree with the many transformative and pro-poor policies in Higher Education.

The DA declared that it would advocate for the scrapping of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), and introduce a Loan Scheme, where students will no longer receive government grants and bursaries, but will now have to go take out loans from the commercial banks of South Africa. This will result in the financial services sector preying on the poor and locking them in a lifetime of debt and economic dependency.

The DA does not believe in free registration, it does not believe in an inclusive admission policy, it does not believe in an inclusive language policy in historically white intuitions, it does not believe in employment equity, the insourcing of workers and it does not believe in Free Education. The racist policies which governed university councils and senates are likely to re-emerge because of this marriage of the ANC and the DA.

The leader of the Democratic Alliance, Helen Zille, made it clear that the DA is not in government to implement policies of the ANC, rather it is in government to implement the regressive policies of the DA.

Judging by the low quality of the Cabinet of South Africa, the EFFSC will be pursuing a draft proposal to have parliament introduce pre-hearings like that of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) to scrutinise ministerial candidates before they are officially appointed by the President. As it is with Judges, this will not affect the constitutional prerogative of the President, rather it will give the nation an opportunity to scrutinise potential members of the Executive and bring about much greater transparency on the appointment of ministers.

The EFFSC will continue to mobilise and organise young people being the struggle for Economic Freedom in our Lifetime as embodied in the Founding Manifesto of the EFF.

We salute the leadership of the EFF for remaining resolute and standing on the side of the people of South Africa against the neo-colonial pact and great betrayal of the liberation struggle of South Africa. The consolidation of the racist right wing forces will require maximum discipline, hard work and determination from the Left as the last remaining voice of the voiceless. The struggle continues.

Our decision is to fight.

Issued by Khanya Bungane, EFFSC Acting Secretary General, 1 July 2024