ANC does about turn on DA’s urgent debate on Fees crisis

I have again written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, to request a debate on the Fees Commission Report as soon as possible. The Report was not debated yesterday despite a debate having been agreed to.
On 14 November 2017, I wrote to the Speaker requesting a debate on the Report, which was released by the Presidency after over two months of dithering, on 13 November 2017.
The DA received a letter from the Deputy Speaker, Lechesa Tsenoli, agreeing to our request that this important issue should be discussed by the Assembly. We prepared for a debate in which we intended to bring to the attention of the public the degree to which the vagueness and opaqueness of the government’s approach to the funding of higher education is likely to generate a major crisis in Universities in the New Year.
However, the ANC made a sudden about-turn yesterday on the debate, and failed to place it on the order paper. Instead it tabled a discussion on the unscheduled and non-urgent Refugees Amendment Bill.
The DA called for the debate in order to force the Minister to make clear what her approach would be to the funding of students and Universities in the upcoming 2018 academic year. She avoided public scrutiny on the matter.
Perhaps this is not surprising given the reported dispute between the populist President and the fiscally cautious Treasury on the matter and the plethora of other weird happenings around the issue.
The ANC’s fumbling and floundering is a clear indication that they are running scared of debating this matter  – because it would reveal the extent to which their plans and approach are in disarray, in the fact of a massive budget deficit and threatened student protests.
It has become more apparent that the dying ANC has so far dismally failed to come up with real solutions to put on the table.
Leaving the entire higher education sector in the dark will almost definitely lead to further tumultuous protests on university campuses, while Universities may well have to run on budget deficits themselves if no fee increase decisions are made before the end of the year.
The whole fees issue requires responsible oversight and political direction so that the fees crisis can be dealt with decisively. The current damaging uncertainty must be brought to an end. But the ANC is unable or unwilling to provide the leadership required.

Fees Commission’s ICL proposal not the solution

President Zuma’s appointment of the Heher Commission in 2016 was a classic example of “kicking for touch”, while student riots were ongoing. It bought him time. But that time is now over with no real solutions on the table.
The DA has called for a debate on a matter of national importance on the funding of Higher Education. The debate should consider funding both in the short term – in time for 2018 to start smoothly – and in the long term.  Universities have been unable to set fee increases and students are anxious without a clear policy announcement. The situation is ripe for new upheavals.
The Fees Commission Report is a thoughtful document, but is mainly a summary of findings from various submissions, with a set of “nice to have” recommendations.  It is not a costed and implementable policy.
There are several points of agreement between the DA’s own submission to the Commission and the recommendations of the Commission, including:

  • Protecting students against rampant fee increases and improving the quality of education by increasing state subsidies to Universities and TVETs;
  • Continuing to collect fees from students who can afford them;
  • Supporting third stream income as a source of finance;
  • Stabilising the number of students at universities to permit stabilisation of funding; and
  • Ensuring that no poor student who receives government funding gets loans worth less than their full cost of study and other student expenses.

However, when it comes to the core reason for the existence of the Commission – to examine whether fee free Higher Education is feasible or desirable and to offer solutions  –  the Income Contingent Loan (ICL) proposal offered by Judge Heher is not helpful.
ICLs would be provided by banks and underwritten by government. Students would receive loans which would be paid back through the SARS system once graduates have become employed and reached a set income threshold.  Government would buy out the loans after a period
The Commission also proposes penalising students who repay their loans faster than anticipated, or opt out of taking a loan, with an ‘equalisation fee’ – essentially punishing students who wish to contribute to the stability of the system.
The ICL proposal seemingly has little support from students, banks or civil society and would therefore be hard to implement. There is no clarity as to where the Government backing would come from.  Translating it into policy would take a long time.  Since NSFAS loans are already provided to hundreds of thousands of students, it seems strange to create an entirely new, expensive and potentially cumbersome system – especially when the Commission also recommends that NSFAS loans could be retained for TVET college students.
A further concern is the suggestion that unclaimed pension benefits and Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) surplus funds be used to finance the various funding needs of higher education. Given the tendency of the current government to loot the public purse, granting access to these funds contains the risk of opening them up to appropriation for other expenses, like bailing out SAA.
The DA stands by the three-tiered model for funding that we proposed to the Heher Commission. Our model is designed to keep the system stable, and at the same time to ensure that “missing middle” students are not left behind, while poor students are covered financially.
Under our model, the poorest students would receive loans, convertible to grants upon success, which would cover all their costs. Students in middle-level income bands would qualify for a smaller portion of support, graded depending on their family income. Students who are able to pay their own fees would be required to do so – and certainly not be penalized for doing so.
The Commission appears to have fallen for the idea that a single, simple policy change – the introduction of Income Contingent Loans – would be the solution to an enormously complex set of problems. We favour a much more pragmatic approach which will not entail the destruction of existing institutions such as NSFAS (although we do propose a serious re-vamp), the abandonment of the new experimental loan scheme already being piloted by NSFAS, or jettisoning the enormous amount that has been learnt about student funding systems over the years.
The ANC government must now confirm whether the recommendations in the report will form part of policy or not. It needs to put an end to rumours that it, too, is enamoured with simplistic solutions and would rather pursue a bizarre proposal to fund higher education by increasing VAT and slashing social grants, bankrupting the Treasury and even undermining the Constitution.
We look forward to continuing this debate in Parliament.

DA calls for debate of national importance on funding of higher education

The DA has written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, to request that a debate on an urgent matter of national importance, in terms of National Assembly Rule 130, be held on the Fees Commission Report, which was released yesterday, 13 November 2017.
This debate will be critical for political direction and oversight and as required by NA Rule 130 (8) (d), this is a matter for which the government can be held responsible. It further relates to a specific matter of recent occurrence in terms of NA Rule 130 (8) (e).
The release of the long-awaited document has not been enough to calm the fears and anxieties of students, their families and higher learning institutions. Universities have been unable to set next year’s fees as they had been waiting for the President to release it, while students remained in the dark with regards to whether they would be able to study next year.
This uncertainly is increased by the bizarre rumours about an alternative funding model allegedly backed by President Zuma himself that seeks to finance higher education through the slashing of social grants and increasing VAT.
An urgent debate is therefore clearly needed and will provide much needed clarity on the country’s plan for higher education as well as rumours about the President’s alleged plans to bypass the report.
Funding higher education is in itself a matter of national public importance and it is essential that the government puts this uncertainty to an end. We trust the Speaker will do the right thing and allow this vital discussion to be held.

Fees Commission Report: President Zuma must confirm if this is the basis for a new funding model

Please find attached soundbites in EnglishAfrikaans and isiXhosa.

The DA welcomes the Presidency’s eventual release of the Fees Commission Report, after our continued pressure upon it to do so, as well as following our application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act.
We note that the Report does not endorse fully fee-free education for all, and indeed is explicit in its conclusion that free higher education for all is not required by the Constitution.
The Commission has developed a multi-layered model for recapitalising higher education, across both TVETs and Universities, for reconfiguring NSFAS, and for supporting students who cannot afford Higher Education, whether they are from the poorest backgrounds or middle-level backgrounds, through a combination of loans, bursaries, and scholarships, with the participation of the private sector at all levels.
We welcome the professionalism and richness of the Report and look forward to studying it further.
The President, who has been studying the report for more than two months now, must tell South Africa whether or not this report will form the basis of the ANC government’s new funding model for Higher Education.
Bizarre rumours have been swirling that President Zuma is intending to bypass this multi-million rand report in favour of an amateur, populist funding model that entails the crude introduction of a R40 billion boost to student funding, to be financed through such drastic measures as the undermining of the role of Treasury, the possible cutting of social grants and an increase in VAT, with little consideration given to all the other issues at stake.
Even more concerning is that this model seems to emanate from a student who is also, it is said, the President’s soon-to-be son-in-law.
Ordinarily, these rumours could be dismissed with the contempt they deserve, but we have seen, time and time again, that President Zuma will put his own interests above the best interests of South Africans. If he sees it as being in his interests to give priority to a populist and unsustainable proposal, over a taxpayer-funded, professionally produced Commission, he might well do so. This is a chilling possibility.
The delay in the release of the report has already caused millions of University and TVET students’ considerable distress, as they were left to wonder about financing the start of the 2018 academic year. It has meant that Universities have not been able to set fees for next year. It is time for this uncertainty to end.
The President must publically dismiss the bizarre rumours and confirm whether the recommendations contained in the report will form the basis of a new, sustainable funding model for Higher Education in South Africa.

DA submits PAIA application for the release of the Fees Commission Report as disturbing rumours swirl

On Friday, the DA submitted an application to the Presidency in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act to access the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Higher Education (the Fees Commission). This follows our numerous appeals to the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, the new Minister and the President himself to release the report.
It is urgent and imperative that the public see this report immediately. There are now multiple disturbing rumours in circulation which indicate that the President may have “gone rogue” and “done a Trump”. Rumours reported in the City Press, Sunday Times and Mail and Guardian have it that he has set his sights on a path of ignoring the multimillion rand report’s cautious and considered findings.
It has been over two months since the President received the report on 31 August and it is inconceivable that he should hold on to it this long. 1.7m University and TVET students, and their parents, are in considerable distress, uncertain about financing the start of the 2018 academic year which is just two months away.
Universities say they will not be able to function without a fee increase and are keen to hear if the Government has a solution to their dilemma. As it stands they are unable to announce fee increases without some indication from Government as to possible support for them to do so, as has been the case for the past 2 years.
The report was based on important submissions from all sectors, interested parties and experts.
It is vital that the public have access to it.
There are now bizarre rumours of the President’s alleged infatuation with a shallow and incomplete “funding model”, crafted by a student and friend of his daughter.
Rumours claim the President would like to ignore any professional advice, bypass normal Treasury procedures, cut social grants, and VAT and destroy other programmes within and outside of the Higher Education Department to allow him to announce “Fee-free Higher Education”.
Not only is this outrageous, but even if it were to happen none of the many and varied other problems under consideration by the nearly 800 page Commission, including TVET funding , the NSFAS system and many others, could possibly be addressed or solved by such an approach.
These rumours are fed by the President’s failure to release the report and provide the country with wise and well considered guidance on Higher Education funding.
The President must now provide clarity on these very concerning rumours and releasing the report is the only way to put people’s fears at ease.
The President’s refusal to release the report has resulted in protests at a number of universities, with further damage to property. The futures of tens of thousands of students stand to be jeopardised by his inaction, and the DA will use every tool at our disposal to defend the youth and ensure they have access to the education they need to improve their lives.

Fees Commission a delaying tactic by the ANC

The leaked Fees Commission Report indicates that a cost-free learning model at higher education institutions is not possible. It is clear that this commission was a waste of time and most likely a delaying tactic by the ANC government, at a great cost to the taxpayer.
This is an old trick used by the failing ANC as it is easier to move deadlines and change the conversation rather than addressing the root of the problem.
This money could have been better spent on poor students who continue to feel excluded from accessing quality higher education.
DASO is an organisation which represents all students, and our mandate demands that no student is left behind. It is therefore on this basis that we reject the leaked report.
President Zuma’s government is detached from the everyday struggles of poor students and would rather play politics than find solutions to the student’s welfare.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) and DASO support a full funding model which will allow free education for the poor and free cost of study subsidy at varying levels of the missing middle. Our model will see funding allocated within certain income brackets per family per annum.
As an example, families earning per annum between:

  • R0 – R200,000 will receive free full cost of study funding for qualifying students
  • R200,000 – R350,000 will receive 66% of the full cost of study funded
  • R350,000 – R500,00 will receive 33% of the full cost of study funded

In the immediate term, DASO will reject any rampant fee increments for the poor and missing middle. Fee increases by tertiary institutions to plug a funding shortfall will only serve to exclude poor students and set them up to fail. Yet tertiary institutions need financial assistance from the ANC government who have caused this crisis due to chronic underfunding of the sector.
NSFAS has been perennially grossly underfunded and this has meant that more students who qualify for funding are excluded. It, therefore, does not make sense to continue raising fees for students who are evidently struggling to pay the prevailing fees struggle.
DASO will continue with its programme of engaging with students at every university campus to ensure that their voices are heard and an acceptable solution is found to the funding crisis. We are organising students across the country to mobilise against the ANC government which will never solve the fees crisis.
The ANC has forgotten the students who deserve a better future. DASO will not forget nor will we stop fighting for the rights of students to ensure they have what they need to achieve their dreams and a better life.

ANC blocks DA’s proposal that Committee subpoena the Fees Commission report

This morning, the ANC used its majority on the Higher Education and Training Portfolio Committee to block the DA’s proposal to summons the President to release the Fees Commission report I had requested in a letter to the Chairperson, Connie September, last week.
Instead, the majority of the Committee decided to write to the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Hlengiwe Mkhize, to ask that she request the President to make the report available. Politely, no doubt.
Some Committee members claimed to not know of any provision that would allow the President or his representative to be summoned to do anything at all. The Constitution, however, provides that any Committee may summons any individual to appear before it, or to produce any document.
This move shows the ANC continues to believe that Parliament is part of the hierarchy of control embedded in Government itself, rather than a separate and independent body to which the President and public representatives are fully answerable.
The report needs to be made public as soon as possible as students are anxious about next year’s fees, and universities are desperately trying to plan their budgets for 2018.
It is unfair that the President continues to make students, who need access to education, wait to know whether they can afford to further their studies or not. The DA will continue to push for the report’s immediate release in the best interest of our students.

DA calls on Higher Education Chairperson to subpoena Fee Commission report

President Jacob Zuma has held on to the Fees Commission Report for too long. In fact, he has held onto it for more than 50 days now, while students and institutions of higher learning are forced to hold their breath.
The DA has therefore written to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, Connie September, to request that she compels the President or his representative, by means of a subpoena, to produce the Report of the Commission of Enquiry into University Fees to members of the Portfolio Committee as a matter of urgency.
In this regard, the Chairperson is empowered by Section 56 of the Constitution which states that “the National Assembly or any of its committees may summon any person to appear before it to give evidence on oath or affirmation, or to produce documents”.
The delay of the release of this report has far-reaching consequences. Universities are unable to plan the 2018 academic year without knowing what their income will be. Students and their families are equally frustrated by Zuma’s reluctance to release the report as it affects their futures.
Today, the Democratic Alliance Students Organisation and students from the University of Cape Town will march on Parliament to demand the release of the report.
It is vital that the South African public sees this report urgently, as it is bound to contain important recommendations about fee increases. Universities have to set next year’s fees, and Zuma’s inaction will badly affect students who still do not know whether they will be able to afford to go to university and improve their lives.

This is what Higher Education needs, Minister Mkhize

Tuesday’s Cabinet reshuffle, which saw former Minister Blade Nzimande replaced by Hlengiwe Mkhize, only served as proof of government’s reluctance to resolve the numerous problems facing South Africa’s higher education sector.
Minister Mkhize can help revive the sector, but to do this there are five things she needs to do urgently. She must:
 

  • Fight for more funding in Higher Education Sector

The National Treasury and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) found that the sector is underfunded by a whopping R35 billion per annum. That’s not even taking into account the additional funding which will probably be recommended by the Fees Commission. Many learners cannot access higher learning, or obtain proper accommodation at Universities and TVETs. Their plight can also be greatly assisted by ensuring the National Student Financial Aid Scheme is governed to the highest standards.

  • Insist on the release of the Fees Commission report by the President

It is now two years since the Commission was established to assess the feasibility of free higher education and nearly two months since President Jacob Zuma has received the final report. The President’s refusal to release the report in time for the Medium Term Budget Policy statement is ominous. Some universities have already announced fee increases with no indication from the President as to whether they will be assisted in covering their increasing costs. Delaying the release of the Fees Commission Report, and coming to terms with its possible financial implications, will only result in more deserving students being shut out of tertiary institutions and facing unemployment.

  • Assist in problems of instability and poor governance at key institutions

Violent protests have recurred this year at numerous institutions – among others the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, the University of the Free State, and UKZN. Student learning and institutional stability have been threatened by this. Furthermore, numerous institutions, both Universities and TVETs, are poorly governed. The new Minister needs to address this as part of a commitment to excellence.

  • Sort out accommodation problems at TVETs

Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVETs) institutions are the only hope for hundreds of thousands of young people who want to obtain skills required for the job market, especially those who cannot find places at universities. Despite this, there is little invested by the government into TVETs, meaning that their quality is poor, their curricula are dated and their teaching equipment is outdated or absent altogether.  Student accommodation is both scarce and expensive. Some students who secure places at TVETs are unable to complete their studies due to the lack of accommodation and this cannot continue.

  • Tackle the corruption and mismanagement in SETAs

A report by the Auditor-General found that, in the 2016/17 financial year, irregular expenditure within the Department itself as well as reached R929 million. Most of this was in the Skills Education Training Authorities (SETAs) – their irregular expenditure reached an all-time high.  Indeed, many of them are rife with corruption, patronage and mismanagement. By rooting out such corruption, more funds can be freed for developing peoples’ skills.
Minister Mkhize has a chance to make a positive impact in the lives of our tertiary students. Government’s neglect of the higher education sector has robbed too many young people of access to jobs and bright futures. We cannot allow this to continue and the DA calls on Minister Mkhize to address these problems urgently and purposefully.

President Zuma must release the Fees Commission report within 10 days

The Fees Commission, set up in 2016 following the violent protests that rocked Higher Education Institutions, submitted their findings to the President on Thursday, 31 August 2017.
The Democratic Alliance Student Organisation (DASO) is of the opinion that this was yet another delaying tactic employed by the ANC government to divert attention from the fact that this crisis was caused by the two decades of neglect and underfunding of this vital sector by the ANC.
Nonetheless, to address the higher education funding crisis and to ensure that no student is excluded because they cannot afford to further their education, the Democratic Alliance made extensive submissions to the Fees Commission.
In order for DASO to advocate for the funding model in the financial budget review in Parliament, we need the president to act.
We, therefore, call on President Zuma to review the report urgently and to release it to the public within 10 working days.
In the DA’s submissions to the Commission we made arguments for:

  1. Protecting against rampant fee increases while improving the quality of education by restoring state subsidies to Universities to an appropriate level;
  2. Funding NSFAS at a higher level, using updated and nuanced criteria, to provide adequate support for the poor and “Missing Middle”.
  3. Continuing to collect fees from the wealthy.
  4. Stabilising University student numbers so as to permit stabilisation of funding whilst at the same time fixing the TVET sector so as to make it a credible career path in order to find a decent job within our economy.
  5. Revising the subsidy formula in order to ensure the sustainability of universities and improve the quality of graduates.
  6. Expanding NSFAS criteria to include students from the “Missing Middle” immediately so that all applicants from households with an annual income of up to R500 000 have a fair chance to apply for student financial aid;
  7. Introducing a tiered system of loans/grants so that those in the “Missing Middle” who can afford to pay a portion of their expenses receive proportional assistance
  8. Ensuring that no university student who successfully obtains an award under NSFAS receives less than his or her full cost of study, residence costs, and adequate food, books stipend and transport where necessary (subject to the tiered system);
    • Simplify and streamline the NSFAS process to minimise administrative costs and prevent surpluses.
    • Significant efforts should be made to increase third stream income as a source of finance but it cannot realistically be considered the route to meeting current shortfalls.
  9. Exploring a variety of alternative funding sources, including:
    • Setting up partnerships with the private sector, and the banking sector, in particular, to increase access to loans, improve the efficiency of collections and widen the pool of funds available.
    • Reducing the number of prestige items in the national budget and redirecting the funds towards University education
    • Developing a more efficient debt-collection system within NSFAS
    • Ensuring that more students obtain loans than bursaries from NSFAS to protect funding for future generations.

DASO has also committed to the following plan of action to ensure that no student is left behind:

  • Protesting at ANC offices across the country to have the fees commission report implemented;
  • We will continue to oppose shutdowns which have patently prejudiced poor students the worst and have done nothing to affect the patronage priorities of the ANC government;
  • We will also be taking on SETAs who are not paying out students with the massive budgets that are being largely mismanaged and advocating for an increase in internships/apprentices for TVET college students;
  • We will be making overtures to business people and to the private sector at large in order to encourage the availability of more bursaries and employment opportunities, especially work-based experience for our graduates;
  • DASO will support the Democratic Alliance’s call in parliament tomorrow to call for emergency elections. It is vital that we continue to lobby for the best interests of citizens and students to ensure that we achieve total change and a new beginning.

The ANC government has failed the youth of South Africa and the status quo cannot continue. It can no longer be business as usual while our brothers and sisters continue to live in dire poverty when students are forced to pack their bags and go home due to lack of funding when our students sleep in offices and bathrooms because they cannot afford accommodation.
We can no longer remain silent while students go to bed on empty stomachs, while they have no proper infrastructure and are subjected to the outdated curriculum in our TVETs, while those who surpass all obstacles are denied their certificates due to funding.
Essentially, DASO is calling for free quality higher education for the poor, subsidies for the missing middle and those who can afford must fund themselves based on the full cost of study.
We will do all this in line with our vision of an open and free educational environment that is uniquely South African, in which every person has the Freedom to pursue their own aspirations, Fairness to chase their dreams and turn them into a reality and in which every person has the Opportunity to improve the quality of their life.
For the full brief of today’s press conference click here