Solidarity slams Blade over higher tax for university fees

The trade union Solidarity criticised Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training, over his statements in parliament with regard to the ongoing debacle on tertiary tuition fees. Minister Nzimande said among other things that the lowering of fees must be funded by the high income group in the form of higher taxes.

Johan Kruger, Solidarity’s Deputy General Secretary, said it is outrageous that South Africans in general must continuously bear the brunt of the ANC’s misappropriation, self-enrichment and corruption and on top of that pay more tax to rectify the ANC’s mistakes.

“It is short-sighted to place the enormous burden of tertiary tuition fees on the shoulders of the high income group, which forms only a small part of the country’s tax payers. In the end, the people who are classified as part of the high income group will be forced to leave the country to take their business elsewhere,” Kruger warned.

Nzimande also said that the ANC is the “victim of its own success” because the party succeeded in providing access to universities to such an extent that they cannot keep up with the funding. “However, the Minister uttered no word about his party’s significant part in the misappropriation of funds and corruption that leads to the loss of billions every year. Furthermore, since the ANC came into power, no university or training institution has seen the light. In fact, the ANC has succeeded in destroying economic growth by means of draconian law enforcement,” Kruger said.

Earlier this year, Solidarity released a report on corruption, which pointed out that in the past 21 years, since the birth of democracy, hundreds of billions have been lost to corruption.

Issued by Johan Kruger, Deputy head: Solidarity, 28 October 2015