Nzimande has promised that NSFAS’s annual budget will cover 0 more students than he did last year
18 January 2015
In the midst of much fanfare about emergency grants and increased funding; Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande has promised that the number of poor and working class students whose fees will be paid out of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s (NSFAS) annual budget will be 405 000: 205 000 at university and 200 000 at TVET college.
However this is the same number of students he promised to support last year. The Minister has thus made clear that despite ANC neglect of the higher education system spilling over into uncontrollable student protests, his department will source enough funding to assist zero additional students as he promised to last year.
Of course, because of inefficiencies in NSFAS, only 186 105 of the 205 000 promised university students were supported with almost 20 000 less than the Minister promised were supported. In total almost 54 000 students who qualify under NSFAS did not receive financing due to insufficient government funding of NSFAS.
Much has been made by Minister Nzimande of the R4.5 billion grant in emergency funding to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). However, what the Minister has been very vague about is that the grant is only for students whose fees should have been paid for in 2013, 2014 and 2015 but were not due to inefficiencies in NSFAS. The R4.5 billion grant thus will only assist students whose fees should have been paid by NSFAS over the up to three years ago. While government attempts to play hero in this catastrophe, when it is in fact the villain, finally paying fees which it promised to pay up to three years ago.
In the meantime, government has promised to increase NSFAS’s annual funding from R9.5 billion to only R10 billion. Minister Nzimande has also attempted to make this out as a milestone. It is from this R10 billion budget that the Minister has promised to support 405 000 students. While the Minister attempts to paint this as a great leap forward, this is exactly as many students as he promised to support last year.
It is thus clear that despite plenty of lip service and talk shops, the Minister has no plan to increase the number of students supported by NSFAS and thus increase access to the universities to all those who cannot afford it. In particular, it seems the ANC government will continue to leave the “missing middle” high and dry (those who are too poor to finance their own studies but too “wealthy” to access NSFAS funding). And with an increase of precisely zero students to NSFAS’s promised coverage it appears that the ANC has no intention of increasing access to universities in the future.
It is clear that President Zuma’s disdain for students continues as he views universities, in the words of former President Thabo Mbeki, “as a burdensome but unavoidable cost rather than an absolutely necessary and beneficial investment”.
The DA does not share President Zuma’s disdain, but will do everything in its power to ensure a substantial increase in the number of students supported by NSFAS every year over the coming years to ensure that every academically deserving student is able to access to higher education despite their financial status. Our first step in this respect will be by proposing an amendment to the 2016/17 budget to substantially increase the measly amounts promised to South Africa’s poorest students by the neglectful ANC government.
Statement issued by Prof Belinda Bozzoli MP, DA Shadow Minister of Higher Education and Training, 18 January 2016
