Tax the rich to fund education‚ says Nzimande

Blade Nzimande thinks that the student protests are a sign of the success of the governments higher education programme‚ and that the rich should be made to fund the sector in the country.

The Minister of Higher Education and Training delivered an address in Parliament on Tuesday afternoon responding to the student protests last week.

He welcomed the announcement by President Jacob Zuma that there would be no increase in university fees in the 2016 academic year.

He said “the two most urgent issues are the issue of free university education and bringing support staff at our universities back onto university payrolls”.

Nzimande said that the extension of higher education to almost a million students was the cause of the crisis. “What is the nub of the matter we are dealing with? One way of putting it is that we are victims of our own successes as the ANC government over the last 21 years‚” said Nzimande.

Funding to universities had been increased by “30% between 2004/5 and 2015/16‚ from R9‚879-billion in 2004/5 to R30 338-billion. But between 1994 and 2014 we doubled the number of students in higher education. This huge increase saw larger numbers of poor students entering the university system. Today we are sitting with about a million university students‚ of which about 72% are black African‚ 6% coloured‚ and 5% Indian‚ and 58% women. The increase in financial contributions has not matched the increase in student numbers.”

He said fees could not be capped “because we are not legally entitled to do so”‚ but government would set up a regulatory mechanism for fee increases.

He said the National Students Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) had been set up to support students who are academically capable but from poor families‚ and it had awarded R50.5-billion to approximately 1.5-million poor students in universities and TVET colleges.

Responding to reports that he had suppressed a report on how free education could be implemented‚ he said: “To implement the 2007 Polokwane resolution on fee-free education for the poor‚ I convened a Ministerial Working Group‚ which reported in 2013. This is the famous report which has been much mentioned in the past week as having been suppressed by me and my department.”

Responding to allegations that he had been “missing in action” during the protests‚ he said: “I have not been absent. I have been engaging the Vice-Chancellors and other stakeholders on the issue of fees for some time. The week before last I set aside three days to meet with representatives of the university community on a wide number of issues at the Durban Summit‚ and held an additional meeting with student representatives on the sidelines of the Summit. When it became apparent that students nationally were embarking on protest actions‚ I immediately called a meeting of VCs‚ worker leaders‚ and national student leadership‚ last Tuesday and have continued to engage with all stakeholders.”

He said details of how the government would cover the 2.6% shortfall after deciding that there would be no fee increases next year‚ would be released on Thursday.

An additional R19.7-billion per annum would be needed to fund higher education.

“My own considered view is that government must have the political will to tax the rich and wealthy to fund higher education. None of us must develop cold feet about the necessity of taxing the rich to fund higher education.”