Hon Chairperson, Comrade Minister Nzimande and Members of the House, respected guests, chief executive officers, rectors, vice chancellors and leaders of the working masses, including the trade unions, I want to take this opportunity to welcome the Budget Vote address by Comrade Minister Nzimande, including the great announcements that we have just heard today, and thank him for his visionary leadership in charting the way forward for Higher Education and Training.
I am reminded of the words of the Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara when he said, "The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall." On another occasion he said, "And what a lesson for the world is contained in this struggle! The beginnings will not be easy; they shall be extremely difficult!"
Minister, you have heard before from the opposition in society about some of those fundamental announcements that you have made. However, let us assure you that, working together, we will indeed achieve those announcements.
Hon Chairperson, a few days ago we commemorated the uprising of 21 March 1960 at Langa and Sharpeville that became a watershed moment in the history of our liberation struggle. The apartheid system compelled black people to carry a dompas wherever they went, reducing them to slaves in the land of their birth.
Today, 15 years into our young democracy, the yoke of apartheid's legacy is still evident in the high levels of inequality and poverty, the growing gap between the rich and poor, the rising cost of postschool and higher education, and the endemic rural underdevelopment, including access to skills and training.
The remnants of this dompas legacy is no more evident than in the realm of higher education where, despite the enormous strides that have been made, the challenge for the poorest of the poor from places like Giyani in Limpopo - which the committee actually went to visit - Tsolo in the Eastern Cape and Garies in the Northern Cape remains the systemic issues that put higher education beyond the reach of most. And those who manage to gain access either lack the means to sustain themselves or fail to access the necessary support to succeed and graduate. Yet others, through poor subject choices or other systemic issues graduate, but are unemployable.
The path ahead of us is fraught with challenges and difficulties, especially as we confront the reality of a highly stratified race and class structure and enormous disparities between the rich and poor, on the one hand, and the demands of building the capacity of a modern economy that can compete globally, particularly in the knowledge economy, on the other hand.
I wish to welcome the announcement of the Minister with regard to the Green Paper in terms of its long-term vision for Higher Education and Training because, fundamentally, we require an overhaul of the system and long-term reflection in order to address the most pressing issues confronting us, whilst simultaneously laying a solid foundation that this sector will build upon for years to come.
The initiative outlined today in the Budget speech builds on the work done by government over the past 15 years. More particularly, the Polokwane resolutions of 2007 make education a top priority focus area, as reflected in the 2009 election manifesto of the ruling party and endorsed by President Jacob Zuma in his state of the nation address, declaring 2010 the "Year of Action" and education as the number one priority.
This is fundamental, Minister, because it is not a portfolio head that is saying education is the top priority; it is in fact the head of state. Therefore, we must all rally around this particular portfolio, around the Minister's focus on ensuring the realisation of this priority.
This policy position of government is reflected in the tremendous growth in investment in education in the democratic era: from R35 billion in 1994, to R53 billion in 2004, to R165 billion in 2010. The latter includes an allocation of R23,3 billion for Higher Education and Training.
The task now, of transforming the higher education landscape, is far- reaching and impacts directly on the lives of ordinary citizens. In this endeavour, Minister, you are assured of our unwavering support. I am also aware that the task of establishing a new department, whilst simultaneously hitting the ground running, is an arduous task.
Whilst we are concerned that the process of bedding down the new structure and recruiting the necessary capacity should not unduly impact on the urgency of the task at hand, we are confident that under your leadership and that of the new director-general, Professor - in this case - Mary Metcalfe, this task is indeed possible. We wish the department well for the journey ahead.
I also want to thank the members of the portfolio committee and all the political parties in the portfolio committee, as well as the public out there, for debating and engaging on what we would want you to regard as a road map to higher education and training in South Africa.
We also welcome the overall thrust and intent of the strategic plan and we would like to see it translated into programmes and actions that are measurable, realistic and make an impact on the areas targeted. We are confident that, through constructive engagement, this is indeed achievable.
Likewise, institutions of higher education and supporting institutions, such as the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, are challenged to deliver on the mandate, whilst simultaneously negotiating their way through a myriad of legislative, policy and operational requirements.
To ensure effective delivery this must, of necessity, require a review of the funding model for universities and institutions of higher education. We welcome your position in this regard and want to specifically communicate the committee's strong concern for ensuring investment in teacher development. This is of particular relevance in the context that we want to position educators to be able to deal with the dynamics and the demands of a democratic dispensation.
Thanks go to the quality assurance body, the SA Council for Higher Education, CHE, for the sterling work it has done in ensuring that we in South Africa are able to compete internationally with regard to benchmarking practices. This also includes a commitment to the transformation agenda and compliance with all legislative and regulatory requirements.
In view of the fact that government remains a significant contributor to the funding of these institutions, it is not out of the ordinary to expect a significant improvement in quality outputs in skills and training that meet the needs and demands of the economy and of our society.
Minister, we did an assessment some years ago, especially in scarce skills at the high end of education. A number of engineering students that were, in fact, able to get support through the taxpayer base, were found moving to other areas like the United Kingdom, Canada, etc.
We can't stop movement in the global environment, but we should focus on some patriotic responsibility when it comes to education. How can we ensure that people plough back into education, as 80 out of the 280 municipalities in this country lack technical skills at times?
We also welcome the expansion of the further education and training sector, FET, through increased funding with a view to facilitating the critical expansion of capacity and use of some of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme resources, as you have announced, and we fully support you on that. Along with the overhauling of the Setas, this will go a long way towards addressing the plight of the approximately 2,7 million young people between the ages of 16 and 24 that are currently unemployed or unemployable, providing them with opportunities and equipping them with skills and training.
I want to illustrate how serious this task is by sharing one example. Yesterday, my office received a fax from Nkateko Chauke, a 42-year-old student. This student had applied for a loan from NSFAS and received a tertiary loan of R10 000, 60% of this was a bursary and 40% was a loan. In other words, the student had a principle debt of R4 000.
When Nkateko finished his studies in 2000, employment wasn't easily available and he had to pay R200 a month on debt that stood at R13 000 at the time. In 2007, Nkateko received a garnishing order for a debt of R16 000, with a repayment rate of R750 per month. This debt was serviced until the final payment of R60,58 in September 2009. In February 2010, a further deduction of R990 was made against another garnishing order from NSFAS for a further R16 000. I have instructed that this matter be investigated and have requested a satisfactory explanation from the chief executive officer of the NSFAS. We, therefore, welcome that review process and we fully support the public process between now and August that you have announced. [Applause.]
Whilst the obvious ramification of this example is the total disregard for the National Credit Act that Minister Nzimande so gallantly championed, I am concerned that the problem may be systemic and endemic, and rather than facilitating access to higher education and training, may wittingly or unwittingly be causing great frustration and aggravation to learners and graduates.
We must ensure that organs of state contribute constructively to the national development agenda and optimise the development impact within their mandates. This is a non-negotiable. We cannot tolerate a situation in which Setas fail to use their collective R21 billion allocation over the next couple of years to develop emerging training enterprises or partnerships with established large industry.
So, we are supportive of not throwing the baby out with the bath water. Let's, in fact, reflect on where the gaps in the Seta landscape are; make that review; intervene where required; but indeed, let's look at the value for money, because we do believe that there is a lot to be desired in that particular space.
We also support the 19 out of 23 Setas that received a clean bill of health. However, we would want to start zooming in on performance management and not only the financial management around the quality of impact or only financial compliance in itself.
So, the announcements made today we definitely support, especially that the Setas are positioned to intervene with regard to the gap that exists, as I said earlier, between basic education, further education and training, and higher education, and to create, in a sense, career opportunities from a low end to a high end.
Given that approximately 40% of young people fall into the category of unemployed, we are faced with a catastrophe of mammoth proportions, unless there are intentional and significant interventions to remedy this situation.
Therefore, let's all support the announcements made today by the Minister in this regard. Let's make sure, to borrow the phrase of the late Comrade Joe Slovo, that "these young people are breathing down our necks", and we must, therefore, be able to act as we are planning a long-term process.
Finally, I want to highlight here the story of Linda Ndabeni who is in the gallery today. She wrote to Parliament to share her story.
She suffered excessive abuse and hardship as a child and young adult. At one point in her life, life became so hopeless that she contemplated suicide, but was sustained by a childhood dream of getting an education and becoming a doctor or the next Florence Nightingale. At one point she even contemplated committing a crime so that she could get access to some education, even if it was in jail.
Fortunately, she encountered an NGO called Nido, which offered her the opportunity to gain training as a health care worker. In 2009, she received the "Student of the Year" award. In January this year, after completing her studies, she was employed as a health care worker at Netcare, realising a life-long dream of service to her fellow human beings. Let's give her a big hand please, and let's stand up. [Applause.]
Linda's story highlights the unknown faces that sit behind the hair-raising statistics that get bandied about without an appreciation for who, where and what the situation is.
Hon Minister, your announcement, therefore, of a comprehensive database and a career guidance information tool that knows who and where every learner is, what type of skills are being provided in this country, what type of training opportunities are being provided in the country, and what opportunities people can access in the ward in which they live is welcomed as a long overdue exercise.
The 2,7 million young people who are unemployed and many other citizens each have a story, and each have an identity. Linda's story, therefore, demonstrates that the challenge of higher education and training is of such a nature that it is imperative that we work collectively to achieve the goals of equal access to a quality higher education.
No sector of our society can stand by as if the process of transformation and democratisation is a project that they have nothing to do with.
There are some, though, who suffer from selective amnesia. To quote from Lewis Carrolls' Through the Looking Glass:
One thing was certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it - it was the black kitten's fault entirely. For the white kitten had been having its face washed by the old cat for the last quarter of an hour (and bearing it pretty well, considering); so you see that it couldn't have had any hand in the mischief.
The apartheid legacy that we inherited was a product of a deliberate intervention. We have heard today a deliberate strategy to intervene. The legacy of a transformed, free, just and democratic South Africa that we shape for prosperity is our collective responsibility. Let us work together to make education the number one priority, because working together we can do more. Thank you. [Applause.]