Address by Comrade President Jacob Zumato students at the North West University, Mafikeng Campus, March 4 2014

Provincial ANC Chairperson and all leaders present,

Comrade Ministers and Deputy Ministers,

University management

Students and youth formations

I greet you all.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to visit North WestUniversity, and to meet with the youth here, the future of our country.

Our country's population is youthful, which augurs well for the future. The ANC took a decision in 2009 to make education one of the five key priorities, and singled it out as an apex priority.

This we did because we know that this country's prosperity lies in education and skills development.

We are happy that you are studying. It means that you are aware that education is the most powerful instrument that will enable us to fight poverty, inequality and unemployment more effectively.

University education and training has been a special priority of this administration with the establishment of the Department of Higher Education and Training in 2009.

We have spent over 115 billion rand on higher education and training over the past five years. Student headcount enrolments at universities have increased dramatically and we are very happy with that.

The North West University together with the three Further Education and Training Colleges in this region, Orbit, Taletso and Vuselela, play a significant education and training role in this province and in particular communities which they serve.

Government has to date put in place a number of initiatives to alleviate the burden of fees from poor parents and students in South Africa at both public universities and FET colleges by providing loans and bursaries to students from poor and working class households through NSFAS.

The NSFAS has since its inception assisted over 1.4 million students. The scheme is one of the ANC government's major success stories.  It has increased substantially, and almost tripled from 3.1 billion in 2009 to just over 9.6 billion rand in 2014 in order to keep pace with the increasing number of students who need assistance to attend public universities and FET colleges.

The North-West University's allocation from NSFAS has increased to 340 million rand for the 2014 academic year and similarly NSFAS funding at the 3 FET colleges in the region has increased to 129 million rand for this year.

We have done well in developing our higher education institutions in the country.

But we are aware that the apartheid legacy still remains. The historically disadvantaged institutions, especially those in rural areas of the former Bantustans, are still disadvantaged in terms of infrastructure, teaching facilities and staffing.

As such, the new White Paper for Post School Education and Training directs the Department of Higher Education and Training to embrace the improvement and expansion of infrastructure for disadvantaged institutions as one of its key priorities.

Furthermore, the White Paper commits the Department to contribute to the construction of student residences which must become places for learning as well as for rest and recreation, and should have facilities to encourage study activity.  

You need to study and stay in facilities that will bring our innovation and creativity and enable you to think strategically and challenge your young minds.

For the financial year periods from 2012 to 2014, 6 billion rand has been allocated to universities for infrastructure. This includes 1.6 billion rand for student housing.

Part of the money, one billion rand will be used to renovate old buildings and to construct  new teaching facilities, storm water, water storage, sewerage facilities, in some cases fencing and back-up generators.

The infrastructure funding allocation to the North West University between the 2008 and the current financial year amounts to 423 million rand.

As you are aware the ANC government has built two brand new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape, and is also building 12 new FET colleges.

This clearly indicates the commitment of the ANC to youth development and to the education and training of our youth, the future of our country. We want to ensure that you have a much better future than we did, by investing in education.

Comrades,

This year as we mark 20 years of freedom, we will continue telling the good story of the good work that the ANC has done in rebuilding this country and laying the foundation for a nonracial, non-sexist, united and democratic South Africa.

We want to hear more voices from the youth, telling the South African story objectively.

The South African story has not been told in full, the story of a people who turned their backs on institutionalized racism, hatred and divisions and began building a new society. It is a story of the extension of basic services to the poor.

Millions have electricity, water, housing or access to good schools that they did not have before.

Granted, there is still a lot more to be done, as we cannot reverse the legacy of apartheid in only 20 years.

The fact that the South African story has not been told in full, means as the young intellectuals in the making, you have a responsibility to conduct research and be ready to describe developments in your own country.

You need to be able to tell the ANC where things are going right and where they are going wrong so that things can be corrected.

The development of a new crop of intelligentsia is therefore an urgent necessity.

Comrades

While we need artisans and engineers, we also needhonours, masters and doctoral graduates in other fieldsto support innovation in our economy.

However, in the longer term the production of these skills is threatened because lecturers are getting old in many institutions.

One fifth of academics will retire within a decade, of which 32% are professors, meaning most experienced academics will be leaving the field. A limited number of younger researchers are entering the field. A University Teaching Development Grant was introduced in 2009 to develop younger lecturers.

During the next term of government, there also needs to be a focus on growing the number of black graduates and attracting them into academic careers.

Comrades

We were shocked by the reports on orientation activities at the North West University involving students doing the Nazi-style fascist salute.

Such practices are unacceptable. The use of gestures associated with Nazism are shunned upon throughout the world and are relics of a time which symbolised oppression, persecution and some of the worst atrocities committed in human history.

Universities should develop responsible citizens and future leaders who are just, free thinking and committed to building a society free of intolerance and injustice.

The ANC government takes this matter seriously and will not tolerate any unconstitutional activities that are perpetrated at any education and training institution.

The Minister of Higher Education is looking into the North West University (NWU) incident and will be addressing this matter shortly.

I wish to reassure you of Government's commitment to address the challenges facing the post-school education and training system and its efforts towards realising free education to academically deserving poor students in South Africa.

I thank you.

Issued by the ANC, March 4 2014

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