Blade must prioritise university funding or get ready to fall

27 October 2015

For too long, Minister Nzimande and the ANC Government have ducked any responsibility for the crisis suffered by mostly poor students nationwide. Whenever the legitimate anger of students reared its head, The ANC lackeys, SASCO, hastily turned it away from the government and towards Universities. It is no wonder the blunt Minister’s reaction to student led protests is, crisis, what crisis? 

We have yearly seen protests with much longer shutdowns. Last year during one such shutdown, the DA staged an all night sit-in outside the your offices, Minister, we then continued to warn you about the crisis snowballing and challenged you to commit that no poor student will be excluded. You laughed in response. Again this year , again you laughed. 

Now as students finally ask Iphi Blade and chanting #BladeMustFall, yet again you laughed cruelly chuckling #StudentsMustFall.

You and your governments’ day of reckoning has come yet you remain oblivious like a frog in a pot of boiling water.

Indeed the ANC’s call to join the protests to the Union Buildings, bussing in students and throwing around tshirts is not only hypocritical, but insults the intellect of the South African electorate by being disingenuous. We see you marching against yourselves. Did you not think we’d notice that even you think you are failing.

I have said it before, and I will say it again, you Minister Nzimande have become a curse to the students of our country.

You have destroyed NSFAS through planting your SACP cronies, you did the same with SETAs.

You have failed to secure funding for Higher Education, as is your job resulting in Universities resorting to outsource workers and raise fees. It also meant a gross lack of funds for poor students who are being excluded or riddled with massive debts and indebted graduates unable to access their certificates and find jobs.

Many students, the missing middle, are left in the lurch, apparently too rich to access NSFAS and too poor to get a student loan. NSFAS promised us a plan, you probably don’t know, we still waiting.

All the while you are more concerned with leading the SACP than doing the job you are being paid to do. 

The reluctance of the ANC government to take any responsibility for this crisis is best epitomised in the opening remarks of President Zuma on Friday asserting that the protests are between students and universities, it is no surprise that this farcical meeting designed as a PR exercise with SASCO leaders instructed to say anything but talk about governments failure has produced no reprieve for excluded students that will remain excluded. 

The 0% fee increase trumpeted by the ANC does not do justice to the collective struggle of students.

Government refuses to commit to funding our Universities appropriately forcing the higher education sector to make cuts. Students remain indebted and excluded, workers exploited and many fees remain high after double digit increases in previous years.

This will not change until either the ANC government’s priorities are corrected or the #ANCFalls.

Since leadership is beyond this government, let us provide it for you.

-Shuffle out Blade, the SACP can have him all to themselves;

-Increase the State subsidy to Universities and NSFAS to support poor students up to post-graduate level;

-Convert NSFAS into a bursary upon completion of studies;

-Provide State sureties for those students who cannot access financial aid who require a student loan;

-Provide mechanisms for public accountability at Universities whilst preserving Institutional autonomy;

-Scrap the bureaucratic SETAs and ensure skills money is used directly to skill our people.

Higher Education and Training is the best investment a government can make. If you won’t do it, you will fall!

Statement issued by Yusuf Cassim MP, DA Shadow deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, 27 October 2015

Note to Editors: This is an extract based on a speech delivered by DA Deputy Shadow Minister of Higher Education, Yusuf Cassim MP, during today’s debate on Higher Education Transformation in Parliament, 27 October 2015