I stand here on behalf of Courtney who commutes through sounds of bullets and gang violence daily in the northern areas of Port Elizabeth, PE, just to get her mechanical
engineering qualification from PE Tvet to change the circumstances of her birth;
On behalf of Andries the aspirant robotics innovator who struggles to acquire skills through the Sector Education and Training Authority, Setas, because there is no alignment with business to create jobs of the future and
On behalf of Qondovu from Bizana who is the first graduate at home but carries her heavy black gown without her certificate daily to the robots to try and find a job.
Beyond his presidential dreams, South Africa is short on skills and high on unemployed citizens. We can't import our way into a futuristic dream. South Africans must be empowered to make it real and education now and there is no better way to invest in South African than in education.
However, as I have lived through and seen some of the experiences of our brothers and sisters in our education system, I have realised the following: the ANC government is
deliberately failing to provide quality education and access to opportunities to our people and they are continuously perpetuating a culture of dependence to entrench control over our lives and future.
I want to remind us all that a country that does not invest in its youth has no future and there is no better investment than in quality education.
The reality is that our institutions are inheriting a 10 and 12- year problem produced by basic education but worse of all the department continues to worsen the problem through our 50 Tvet colleges which enrols over 700 000 students. This is due to the old and outdated curriculum that seeks to teach agriculture of l95Os, engineering of 197Os and skills that are not needed for the market today.
The department can't simply boast about giving access through National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, in Tvet when students register to study plumbing or electrical engineering, but get to the classroom to a person holding a Marketing Diploma
or biblical studies degree with little to no clue of what they are teaching or when students have no adequate services for conducive learning such as proper infrastructure, classrooms, accommodation, WiFi, labs, clinics, and libraries.
The department can't boast about giving access when it keeps students at home, because they hold back their certificates. The department can't boast about giving access when students actually stayed at home with their allowances for transport, food and books arriving late.
If the ANC is serious about this imagined future, it needs to commit to growing our skills base, which means properly putting funds that desperately needs the skills revolution now and not in 2030.
The DA's proposal can strengthen our education system to teach quality and set up the future of South Africa for success, especially in the Tvet sector.
The Budget must aim to build a quality education system that will break the chains of being dependent on this government.
Now, these are the solutions, because we are not standing here to talk cheap, but to give you solution that you can use.
Firstly, reform the outdated curriculum to teach technical, artisanry and innovation skills needed for the market not just to teach for the sake of teaching, so that people can achieve socio-economic prosperity.
Secondly, set up learning outputs, plan with basic education, science and technology as well as higher education, to refine curricular that is inclusive of theory, technical skills and innovation;
Thirdly, invest in quality infrastructure to produce quality learning.
Fourthly, audit all lecturers in Tvet colleges and up skill them so that they don't teach something that they don't know and make sure that they qualify for what they teach.
Fifthly, increase Tvet Budget to at least R15 billion. The Setas can't have more Budget than the Tvet colleges that have almost 700 students. Allocate allowances on time and ensure that certificates are handed out so that learners can go and find or look for work. Ensure that workers are adequately looked after to avoid campus protests.
Lastly, investigate all corrupt officials in our institutions, especially in the Tvet sector and previously disadvantaged institutions. I come from those institutions, like Walter Sisulu University, and University of Fort Hare. They need to be jailed those officials that are taking the future of this country away.
In conclusion, this might not affect you or your children, but it certainly does my brothers and sisters in our communities, who could become our future innovators of those bullet trains
you want. Be brave and act on these now and not in 2030. I thank you. [Time expired.] No, Mmusi has multiplied.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Ms L S Makhubela-Mashele): Order, hon members.
The Chief WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: Point of order.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Ms L S Makhubela-Mashele): Yes, I note you hon member.
The Chief WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: House Chairperson, the hon member across there, I a m not sure he has a red flower in his pocket, has repeatedly stood up and press the microphone to make comments which have nothing to do with the debate and it is completely outside of the Rules of the House. Now, this is the type of behaviour we are going to expect in the debate like this.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Ms L S Makhubela-Mashele): Hon member, I have ruled and said he was out of order.
The Chief WHIP OF THE OPPOSITION: But does he allow doing it again? He has just done it again.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Ms L S Makhubela-Mashele): Thank you hon members. Order, hon members!