Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, our support for this budget is qualified by the following remarks which I want to make, the first being on entrance qualifications for universities.
In June 2009, the hon Minister called for a revision of university entrance requirements because, according to him, the exemption rate of 18% was far too low. We may ask if this implies that the Minister is asking for a lowering of our university entrance requirements.
The IFP supports the notion that in order to have a world-class tertiary education system there have to be minimum entry requirements, and we urge the Minister to work closely with his counterpart in the Department of Basic Education to see to it that our high school learners are equipped with the skills necessary to succeed at tertiary level.
The second point is about transformation. The Minister called for university curricula to become more revolutionary when he addressed a Nehawu meeting earlier this year. What exactly did the Minister mean by this statement? At the same meeting, the Minister decried the fact that South Africa's universities were dominated by a neo-liberal approach. Is he advocating a socialist orientation for all universities to follow? [Interjections.]
Hon Minister, we would support you if you had made a call for freedom of political thought and discourse within our educational institutions and society.
Many of our universities are world-class academic institutions at the cutting edge of research in certain spheres. In fact, according to the World Bank classification of top universities in Africa, South African universities claim the top seven positions, with the University of Cape Town leading the pack. Both the Minister and the department have a paramount duty to ensure that these high standards of tertiary education are maintained and even improved upon.
We acknowledge that there are challenges. For instance, what is the Minister doing in order to address the challenge of ageing professors within our universities, as alluded to by the Council on Higher Education?
The third point is to do with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. The department, we concede, has done extremely well in this field, but no success is final. It is in this vein that the IFP supports the Minister in his efforts to better the scheme through new initiatives, such as the review of the scheme, of which there is a report now out for public comment.
The IFP is currently studying the proposals contained in the report, and we assure the Minister that we'll make our views known in the correct forums.
In conclusion, our fourth point is about graduates. In the current period we're expecting 137 000 graduates, and the IFP would like to see this number increase by close to 20 000 graduates per year. We hope that the Minister is setting similar objectives in this regard.
Sesiphetha-ke Mhlonishwa, indaba yezimali lezi ezinikwa abafundi, kuthe ekuqaleni konyaka laphana e-University of Zululand ngemumva nje kokuvakasha kwakho khona kwabakhona izingane eziboshwa ngamaphoyisa ngoba zibize umhlangano wokukhononda ngezimali.
Manje kwenzeka kwaba abafundi abangamalungu eSADESMO. Baboshwa bahlala isonto lonke esitokisini ngokuthi nje bezama ukubiza umhlangano. Lolu daba namanje lusesezithebeni zenkantolo.
Bengingacela-ke Mhlonishwa ukuthi ulubhekisise lolu daba ngoba siyasola sengathi kwaba khona ukwenzelela lapha ngakwesozombusazwe. Siyabonga. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[In conclusion, hon Minister, concerning the matter of the loans that are given to the students, at the beginning of the year at the University of Zululand just after your visit, there were students who were arrested by the police because they held a meeting complaining about student loans.
Those were South African Democratic Students Movement, SADESMO, members. They were arrested and kept in custody for a week for trying to mobilise for a meeting. This matter is still before the court.
I would urge you, hon Minister, to look into this matter because we suspect that there was political interference. Thank you. [Applause.]]