‘You can’t have free education’

University leaders say they won't guarantee that there will not be protests at the beginning of the 2016 academic year.

Johannesburg - University leaders from various institutions countrywide say they won’t guarantee that there won’t be protests at the beginning of the 2016 academic year.

On Thursday, student representative council (SRC) presidents and secretaries met with Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande and Parliament’s portfolio committee on education to discuss the recent fee protests and plans for 2016.

The SRC leaders said they were still waiting for feedback from the task team that President Jacob Zuma set up to investigate the feasibility of free tertiary education, following the widespread protests at institutions across the country.

The students said they were worried about mass financial exclusions when universities reopen, despite Zuma announcing there would be no fee increases in 2016.

The government committed to fund the R2.7 billion shortfall that universities will face.

Rhodes University SRC president Sisesakhe Ntlabezo said: “I assure you that the odds of things getting worse than in October are high. No one sitting in this room is ready for that. Students in the country can’t wait any longer, we want free education before January. We are scared what will happen. You have seen what happens when students rally together.”

But Nzimande said it was not possible to have free education. He said free higher education was not government policy and that it was reactionary. He said government policy was to subsidise the poor until they get their first undergraduate qualification.

“You can’t have free higher education for everyone in a capitalist society. That would be saying that as I am a minister, government must pay for my child. I must pay for it myself, because I can afford it. You will in fact be taking money from the poor to subsidise the rich.

“There is nothing like free education, someone is paying. Often it is the surplus labour of the working class. Why pay for the rich in an unequal society?” he asked.

Nzimande said the government’s focus was improving and making the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) more efficient in order to reach more students.

“We want to ensure that no NSFAS qualifying student pays registration fees from his or her own pockets. That must be paid for by NSFAS,” he said.

The minister said the department was also worried about the “missing middle” - students who can't afford to pay for their fees but don't qualify for government funding. He added the task team report had been sent to Zuma.

Wits SRC secretary Fasiha Hassan said students could not commit themselves to not having ongoing protest action at the beginning of the 2016 academic year.

“No such decision can be taken now. Now we have to deal with contingency plans. Government and SRCs have a single goal, to educate students in this country, with the ultimate goal of substantively transforming this country. We are only going to change our country through educated individuals.”

Students also called for a model on how higher education can be regulated.

Asked by University of Fort Hare SRC president Busisiwe Mashiqa about police brutality during the protests, higher education director-general Gwebinkundla Qonde said the department was meeting the police to discuss their response to students.

Police complained that students had live ammunition during the protests, he said.

tebogo.monama@inl.co.za

The Star

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