Fees 2017: Opposition Parties & Vice-Chancellors work towards a solution
02 October 2016
Note to Editors: The following statement follows last night’s meeting between Universities of South Africa and Opposition Parties – DA (Prof Belinda Bozzoli MP and Yusuf Cassim MP), UDM (Bantu Holomisa MP), COPE (Mosiuoa Lekota MP), IFP (Mkhuleko Hlengwa MP) and ACDP (Rev. Kenneth Meshoe MP).
Opposition Parties met last night in Johannesburg for an engagement with Professor Adam Habib (Chairperson) and Dr Ahmed Bawa (CEO) of Universities South Africa (USAF), the association of South African University Vice-Chancellors and Rectors, who spoke on behalf of the country’s Vice-Chancellors.
The Opposition Parties agreed that the Higher Education system is in a state of crisis. Protests, often violent, have led to police and security presence on campuses, significant destruction of learning infrastructure, arson and vandalism. This has left a total of sixteen Universities closed, a further 6 are tenuously remaining open and only four Universities are fully open.
The underlying cause is that Universities have all suffered serious budget cuts over the years as State subsidies have declined. They have sought to make up for lost government revenue through increasing fees over the period, but this model has now reached a level of unsustainability which has caused the emergency we face.