Chairperson; hon Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, kanye nomdeni phakathi kwethu [the family, who is with us] ... the chairperson of the portfolio committee hon members, private and public sector partners, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. It's an honour and privilege for me to deliver my maiden speech as the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training. To you, hon Minister, I am humbled by the foundation you have laid in establishing this new Ministry. Sir, you have shown extraordinary leadership and commitment in setting a clear vision for post-school education and training.
You have certainly lived up to the expectations of our President, Mr J G Zuma. When establishing the Ministry and department in 2009, the President emphasised the following:
We have to ensure that training and skills development initiatives in the country respond to the requirements of the economy.
He further said:
We will improve the access to higher education of children from poor families and ensure a sustainable funding structure for universities.
As other hon members have done, I want to reflect briefly on our Constitution. It is appropriate for me to remind you of the oath we took in Parliament in 2009, to uphold the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. It is proper to reflect on the enshrined values that are relevant to this Budget Vote. Our vigilance should aim at ensuring that we widen access to education as a right.
The preamble to the Constitution compels us to recognise the injustices of our past and be united in our diversity. Clearly, as we can see in the House, sometimes we forget where we come from. We forget how much work we had put into our policies to ensure that we bring about social cohesion and social justice in society.
This preamble promised all South Africans a better life, hence our icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu called us a "rainbow nation". In this context, education and training becomes the means of restoring our people's dignity and the realisation of their right to economic participation.
Hon members, as we are all aware, our challenges in skills development, education and training are deep rooted and have a long history. I think we have to state that time and again. Education was used as a tool of the apartheid machinery, together with influx control, pass laws, the Group Areas Act and job reservation laws. Mr Verwoerd, the architect of the Bantu Education Act, a fellow psychologist, anchored the thrust of the legislation thus: There is no place for [the Bantu] in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour. It is to no avail for him to receive training which has as its aim absorption in the European community. What is the use of teaching the Bantu child mathematics when it ...
He doesn't even say "he" or "she"!-
... cannot use it in practice?
He went on to say education must train people in accordance with their opportunities in life, according to the sphere in which they live.
I think it is appropriate to refer to the premise upon which the kind of education which has led us to the position we are in today was built, because if we do not have a deeper understanding of the systematic manner in which the destruction of the education system was socially constructed, our policy response would be half-hearted and full of contradictions. Fifty years down the line, the legacy of colonialism and all the other apartheid architecture are still with us.
The question today is whether we have achieved a single, unified, diversified education and training system where all people, young or old, rural or urban, male or female, able-bodied or disabled, healthy or sick, black or white, rich or poor, enjoy equal opportunities. I think it will be the truth if I say, certainly not.
In evaluating progress made so far, we need to be able to account accurately in terms of access, enrichment programmes and outputs for government's special target groups in all our institutions. The determinants are the usual culprits: race, class, gender, geographical location, disability and, of course, HIV/Aids. My premise is that we have not yet moved fast enough, quick enough and wide enough in increasing access for all. I suppose most hon members have testified to that.
We will use this budget to quantify the costs and implement measures to eradicate these social ills, as articulated in the Minister's speech. All of us, including our partners and stakeholders in the education and training system, have a certain degree of institutional autonomy, but we also have a duty and obligation to ensure that government policies and legislation aimed at the promotion of social cohesion are taken seriously.
If resources are a constraint, then we are prepared to make them available and if systems are a constraint, then we as government are prepared to put systems in place. We would also tackle resistance to transformation decisively. I know, hon Minister, that today you are in court, in the dock, but I still think that those who are supposed to be in the dock are making a noise outside.
I just want to refer briefly to the Soudien Report. The Soudien Report is an important framework from which, through policy, we will be addressing the plight of those who are still struggling with access. The Soudien Report is well known. It was commissioned by the former Minister, hon Naledi Pandor, and accepted by our Minister at a summit that he held. The Soudien Report concludes:
It is clear from this overall assessment of the state of transformation in higher education that the experience of feeling discriminated against, in racial and gender terms in particular, is endemic within institutions.
Minister Nzimande made the report a subject of vigorous discussion and debate within the sector through the Higher Education Summit. Preparations for a follow-up seminar on the recommendations of the Soudien Report and the subsequent summit are under way. The seminar has been scheduled for July this year and it intends to identify the driving forces of inequity. Out of the planned seminar, we should agree to measurable process and outcome indicators to deal with those inequalities requiring focused attention and immediate action. Our mandate is to normalise all our educational structures.
Transformation cannot take place without a cost. In this regard, the strategic plan of our department deals with administrative actions required for inclusion and equity. We welcome the launch of the National Skills Development Strategy 3, NSDS 3 - the hon member Magazi just debated it now. We have great expectations for this strategy because it deals deliberatively with challenges related to race, class, gender, geography, age, disability and the HIV/Aids pandemic that our system must address through its institutions, the Sector Education and Training Authorities, Setas, and the National Skills Fund.
The National Skills Fund is a catalytic fund that will enable government to drive key skills strategies as well as meet the training needs of the unemployed, nonlevy-paying entities, co-operatives, nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, community structures and vulnerable groups. As such, it promotes strategic partnerships and innovation in project delivery.
We acknowledge that technology in education is increasingly occupying a dominant space in the 21st century. E-learning has the potential to fast- track open and distance education and training, which will enable access for vulnerable groups, including the disabled and learners from rural communities. We should eventually aim to provide free learning material to the public to promote lifelong learning using ICT.
I want to share with you my experiences during a visit to the University of Venda early this year and my recent visit to the Council for the Blind on Monday, 23 May 2011. These experiences were an eye-opener on how ICT can be utilised to provide quality education and training to the disabled.
I am grateful to my colleague Deputy Minister Henrietta Bogopane-Zulu for her uncompromising approach in demanding access to education for disabled learners. In our NSDS 3, we make a firm commitment to enhance our efforts to significantly open up opportunities for skills training for people experiencing barriers to employment caused by various forms of physical and intellectual disability.
On the question of women empowerment, we have made great strides in terms of demanding 50/50 representation, especially in the major NGO in this country, the ANC. Women still face many challenges. We cannot ignore patriarchy-related challenges. Women within certain fields of study, such as mathematics and science and technology, still have to deal with many barriers, cultural stereotypes and attitudes.
As the department, we will support research projects and do analysis of the status of women in the postschool system so as to establish the level of skills development as well as their participation and contribution to the economy. We also support, and will continue to support, innovative projects like Techno Girls, which is an important project aimed at exposing vulnerable young girls to technology-related fields.
On the question of collaboration, first in line is our relationship with the Department of Basic Education. Notwithstanding the splitting of Higher Education and Training and Basic Education into separate Ministries and departments, more than ever it is necessary for our success to ensure alignment and closer collaboration.
The Deputy Minister of Basic Education and I lead an interdepartmental liaison committee to deal with, among others, collaboration on the Funza Lushaka Teacher Bursary Scheme, the evaluation of teaching qualifications, teacher development matters, Kha ri Gude and many others. Our commitment to teacher training, career guidance and the improvement of the quality of basic education will be intensified. This collaboration is important, as it ensures continuity and alignment on educational matters.
Under the leadership of the Minister, we have made advances in terms of forming a national structure which will promote career guidance in our schools. There will be a conference - an official conference - by the Minister in July, which will take further the question of career guidance, especially to expose vulnerable groups.
We also collaborate with the Department of Health, the SA National Aids Council, Sanac, the First Things First campaign and other HIV/Aids-related projects. We have secured R21 million for the current Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, from the National Treasury to sustain HIV and Aids programmes.
We welcome the announcement by the Minister on the undoing of the previous merger of Medunsa with the University of Limpopo. We also welcome the establishment of a medical school at the University of Limpopo, located in Polokwane. [Time expired.] [Applause.]