The hon Minister said his mother is here. We also welcome his mother, and we want to congratulate her on such a wonderful son. He has achieved a lot, but he has only one big problem: He is a communist. [Laughter.]
I want to refer to the attempt of a speech by Mr Malale. [Interjections.] At one stage he said, "I should stop talking about history", but by then he had already made a big fool of himself. [Laughter.] An honourable fool. [Laughter.] He said Cecil John Rhodes was a Minister in 1905. However, Cecil John Rhodes had been dead for two years by then. [Laughter.] Maybe it was Rhodes's ghost he was referring to. [Laughter.]
My colleague Mr Alfred Mpontshane is a member of this committee and I am standing in for him. As I said in earlier debates, he phoned me just before we came here and said that they were canvassing for the next election and it looks excellent. [Laughter.] In fact, he says the people are predicting that in 2014 the IFP will be in government. [Laughter.] But now, the bad news for the hon Minister is that we will not take him up in our Cabinet unless he resigns as a communist. [Laughter.]
South African higher education today faces many unprecedented challenges, which have been with us since 1994. Despite ever-increasing funding, innovation and government participation, our academic institutions continue to face critical problems and obstacles in providing the education, research and service that would translate into desirable levels of skills development and future employment.
There is a consensus, and we really share that, that if South Africa is to succeed economically, culturally and politically, it must develop and maintain strong academic institutions. As a result, demand for access to higher education is growing, straining the resources of higher-education institutions. The biggest crisis facing our higher-education system remains financial limitations.
According to Professor Sipho Pityana, a key intervention that could fix the problems we face could come through considering the establishment of a higher-education admission central clearing house, as in other countries, so that criteria are uniform. The IFP supports this view. It would enable the state to determine which students have academic potential and therefore qualify for financial support. Such a clearing house should be given the resources to provide career advice and other related infrastructure to help students make informed choices about their course of study.
We also need to look at how tertiary education is structured. The preparation of students for higher education starts at senior-school level, but one cannot overlook the capacity constraints, particularly in ill- resourced black schools, that unfortunately result in poorly prepared pupils, but ones with tremendous potential. This clearly points to a need to introduce a four-year degree programme. Some institutions already have that.
The IFP believes passionately that what is needed is a strong, vibrant and thriving economy that starts with the revival of excellence in higher education, training and skills development, both in the formal and informal sectors, for our democracy to flourish and our social transformation to succeed.
Education represents a way out of poverty. Education turns dreams into reality, namely a higher-education system that works tirelessly to ensure that South Africa's young talent emerges. In this case our institutions of higher learning, the Department of Higher Education and the Minister, although he is a communist, must lead the way. The IFP supports this budget. [Time expired.] [Applause.]