Nzimande and Nene must prioritise NSFAS ahead of Medium Term Budget
23 September 2015
The DA notes the claim made by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, that “[the government] is committed to free higher education for the poor who are deserving to get it.” We welcome this statement which is consistent with DA policy. But unless Minister Nzimande urgently tables a comprehensive plan to ensure this apex priority is a reality, and to overcome all the obstacles facing his Department, this is nothing but hollow rhetoric.
I will therefore write to Minister Nzimande requesting that we work together and appeal to the Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene - as National Treasury’s custodian - to reprioritise the medium term budget to deal with the massive shortfalls in funding for tertiary education. If Minister Nzimande is at all serious about the comments he has made, he needs to support this action to get his colleague in Cabinet to pay due attention to this problem ahead of his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in October.
In October last year, the joint Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training and Appropriations was told that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) would require an additional R51 billion to meet its proposed targets which is to ensure that every poor and deserving student gets the necessary funding they so desperately need for a better future. Furthermore, the Department continues to set hugely ambitious targets for student admissions. The White Paper on Higher Education and Training, which Minister Nzimande is tasked with implementing, proposes that a further 2.3 million students be admitted into Universities and Colleges.
This is an enormous number. We are seriously concerned that NSFAS will not receive the required appropriation and that thousands of the poorest students will be admitted into Universities and Colleges, but left to fend for themselves once again.
But this is not all: In addition Universities continue to struggle under the burden of steadily declining government subsidies, in real terms, a decline which has taken place over the past twenty years and which reflects shamefully upon the ANC-led government. These subsidies are the main source of funding for the staff who will be teaching the additional students.
Lack of funding has caused deep and violent unrest in many Universities, such as the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and TUT. where these problems are particularly pronounced.
Many Universities are failing to cope with the government’s failure to support them. The University of Fort Hare, for example, has unilaterally hiked NSFAS student fees and residence costs year on year, so that NSFAS students today cannot afford textbooks or food. Residence costs have been pushed up by 33% for NSFAS students since 2013 while the residences have become increasingly derelict. NSFAS students are forced to use their monthly food funding to pay these inflated residence costs. And no additional food allowances have been paid for this entire academic year.
We can only conclude that Fort Hare has, in desperation, begun to use NSFAS funding from government to fund its basic costs. It appears to have become a parasitic tertiary institution taking from its poorest students to fund its operations. That a proud institution such as this should have sunk so low is directly attributable to government failure to properly manage the funding of this vital sector of our educational system.
The DA is committed to working with Minister Nzimande and Minister Nene to ensure that all deserving students get access to higher education which is a priority. This will go a long way to quelling the funding shortfall-related protests at our Universities.
Statement issued by Prof Belinda Bozzoli, DA Shadow Minister of Higher Education and Training, 23 September 2015
