Hon Deputy Speaker; Your Excellency, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe; hon Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, and members of his family present; hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers present; chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, Adv Malale; hon Members of Parliament; the Director-General of the Department of Higher Education and Training and the entire staff component of the department; heads and executives of all our portfolio organisations and institutions; ANC Gauteng Provincial Secretary, Comrade David Makhura ... [Applause.] ... ; National Co-ordinator of the ANCYL National Task Team, Comrade Magasela Mzobe ... [Applause.] ... student organisations present; my family in the public gallery; my distinguished guests; and comrades and compatriots, I greet you all.
Hon Deputy Speaker, over the past year we have been on a journey of discovery - discovery of our nation's capacity to rise to the many challenges of our times. The road we have travelled is full of pitfalls that are not only evidence of where we have come from, but also evidence of how we have carried out our mandate as elected servants of the people. On each stone there is a small acknowledgement next to each achievement, which reads: "Only those who know where we come from, and where we are going, can know how much we have achieved." This acknowledgement comes from the people whose dream of access to quality higher education was always deferred in pre-1994 South Africa.
This is the fourth budget speech of the Minister of Higher Education and Training to the fourth Democratic Parliament of post-1994 South Africa. It is indeed an honour and privilege for me to deliver my first budget speech as the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training. In it I will share some insights regarding some of the key areas that form part of the work that has been delegated to me. [Applause.]
We fully agree with the National Development Plan to accelerate efforts to integrate issues of disability into all facets of society and ensure equitable service provision for persons with disabilities, and to eradicate the physical, information and communication barriers that may prevent persons with disabilities from participating fully in the learning experience.
This year, I took the initiative of visiting selected high schools for persons with special needs, in order to encourage them to enter the postschool education and training system, under the theme, "Disability is no barrier to learning", guided by the understanding that inclusivity is one of the underpinning principles of the South African education system. [Applause.]
I am happy to report that we have since set aside or ring-fenced funding for building capacity within our institutions to accommodate the needs of all persons with disabilities. We have also set aside student financial aid to fully support disabled learners to overcome the barriers that continue to face them. [Applause.]
To get our Setas involved, a partnership between the Wholesale and Retail Seta and the SA Disability Development Trust ensued, which saw 404 disabled people being trained in five provinces: the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. The purpose of this intervention was to introduce disabled people to the wholesale and retail environment, equip them with workplace skills and increase their employability.
I am happy to report that several host employers have since opened up their workplaces for the 404 disabled people to acquire workplace skills. [Applause.] One of the beneficiaries of this programme is my special guest in the gallery today, Mr Sizakele Mdladla, who is wheelchair-bound and hails from Khayelitsha. He gave testimony during one of the graduation ceremonies that I attended regarding how this programme had changed his life. [Applause.]
Appreciating that our higher education and training institutions are not exempt from the risk of HIV, we felt that there was a definite responsibility for us and a role for us to play in the mitigation of HIV and Aids and TB in order to improve access and build a strong, skilled human resource for national development.
The Higher Education HIV/Aids programme, HE Aids, is a dedicated national facility to develop and support HIV mitigation programmes at South Africa's public higher education institutions. We applaud HE Aids for driving the First Things First programme and the tremendous work that they have been doing in our universities and universities of technology in the past few years.
In 2013, I directed HE Aids, under the leadership of its director, Dr Ramneek Ahluwalia, who is in the public gallery, to extend the HIV/Aids testing and TB screening programme to FET colleges, as the students in this sector are vulnerable and more susceptible to the pandemic. This was to further align the programme to the National Strategic Plan on HIV, STIs and TB 2012-2016, which emphasises the effective, practical implementation of a comprehensive response at all our institutions. I'm happy to inform the people of South Africa that in February this year I launched the First Things First programme in the FET sector at Mnambithi FET College in Ladysmith. I must say, this is a major breakthrough!
Just last week we visited the Gert Sibande FET College as part of our First Things First HIV/Aids and TB counselling and testing roll-out plan. We will also be visiting the Goldfields FET College in the Free State on a similar mission in August this year. We thank the Deputy President for his leadership in this regard as Chairperson of the SA National Aids Council. [Applause.]
The Minister of Higher Education and Training launched 2013 as the Year of the Artisan at a remarkable event at the Tembisa Campus of the Ekurhuleni West FET College in Gauteng. The launch signalled the beginning of an artisan development advocacy programme that is being rolled out across the country, led by my office, as mandated by the Minister.
The advocacy programme is being rolled out under the theme, "It's cool to be an artisan", and is already finding considerable resonance among many young South Africans. It is being supported by large numbers of persons, mainly our high-school learners. Each event also links a local secondary school to a local FET college, and in this regard we are working very closely with our Setas so that they facilitate workplace training for our students. We have further directed our FET colleges to host open days for high schools in order to promote their programme offerings.
We call on all South Africans to heed our call and join us as we promote artisan development in our country. This is really to elevate the status of artisans and further build a strong skills base in South Africa in our final attempt to improve the employment prospects of our young people.
Mr Welcome Mduduzi Phiri posted a message on my wall on Facebook this morning and said:
Deputy Minister, the revitalisation of FET colleges by your department has been great. These institutions were ignored and downgraded. It was not "ayoba" to be a graduate from an FET college, but the hard work of Dr Nzimande and yourself is bearing good fruit.
[Applause.]
This year I launched World Skills SA, or what we refer to as the South African chapter of the world Olympics in skills. The Minister of Higher Education and Training felt strongly that for a developmental state like South Africa it makes more sense to organise sessions of this nature, where international perspectives specifically on skills development are shared, given the need for the country to thrive as a global partner and competitor. International best practice and benchmarks are the critical elements for a progressive economic system.
Two of my special guests in the public gallery today are Mr Thulani Mzayidume, a past participant in mechatronics at the 41st World Skills Competition in London, United Kingdom in 2011, and Mr Marvin Lottering, who will be participating in drywalling and plastering at the 42nd World Skills Competition in Leipzig, Germany next month. [Applause.] I must commend both the Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Seta, Merseta, and the Services Seta for their good work, as we see these skills competitions as a great way of harnessing our energy for the Year of the Artisan.
When we launched the Apply Now! campaign last year, the aim was to create awareness of career options and application procedures to be followed for postschool education and training. The intention really was to reduce the long queues, and some of the chaos that generally takes place at our universities, at the beginning of each academic year. I am pleased to report that we reached out to Grade 9 to Grade 12 learners in all of the 6 000 public high schools and distributed 600 000 booklets throughout South Africa in 2012.
I also visited selected universities at the beginning of the year, namely the University of Venda, the University of Johannesburg, the University of Fort Hare and the University of Zululand, to monitor the impact of the Apply Now! campaign, and I am pleased to report that the registration and late application processes ran very smoothly. During this academic year we had a minimal number of walk-ins, fewer long queues, no reported student protest linked to the registration process and no stampedes whatsoever. [Applause.] We are happy to report that this intervention impacted positively on the marginalised and rural youth.
For 2013 we have updated the Apply Now! booklet and will distribute it to all high schools in the country in June. We will continue to reach out to as many learners as possible during this current year. In the final phase of the Apply Now! campaign we want to focus on raising awareness about the Central Application Clearing House facility.
This facility was successfully implemented at the beginning of this year as a precursor to the central application system. The service managed to advise prospective students of the various educational opportunities within the postschool system and helped direct them to available spaces in the system.
I am happy to announce that the department will be developing and testing the IT system for the central applications service during this financial year and will pilot the system for phased implementation from 2015. [Applause.] We are on course!
Let me take this opportunity to express my gratitude and thanks to the President of the Republic, His Excellency J G Zuma, for his continued guidance and support.
To the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nzimande ...
... ngibonga kakhulu ukungixhasa nokungesekela kuwo wonke umsebenzi engiwenzayo. [... I am very grateful to him for supporting me in all the work I am doing.]
To my colleagues in the executive, thank you very much for your support and teamwork.
To members of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, your constructive role in fulfilling your oversight function is most commendable.
To the management and staff of the department, under the stewardship of the director-general, continue to be patriotic South Africans, as you have demonstrated in the past year that you are, in our final quest to bring quality service to our people. To my movement, the oldest liberation movement in Africa, I couldn't have served my people to the best of my ability on any other ticket than that of the ANC. [Applause.]
To my family and friends, my mother in particular, Comrade Sibongile Manana, who is sitting in the gallery, thank you very much for affording me the space ... [Applause.] ... to execute my duties and for the support you have given me since I heeded the public call to service and duty.
My sincere gratitude goes to all the personnel in my office for their dedication, commitment and willingness to work beyond the call of duty.
Let me reiterate what I have said above. Now that we have achieved so much, we must claim our rightful place among the achievers in deliverables. The task at hand remains a daunting one, but the prize is big. Forging change is not easy. We have to confront established ways of thinking and working. We must continue to gain momentum in fighting for a truly educated and skilled workforce in our country. I thank you very much. [Applause.]