Ngqongqoshe Mphephethwa, siyabonga ngempendulo osinike yona. Ukulandelela nje, kungenzeka yini kubekhona ukuthi kubhekelelwe ikakhulukazi abafundi abasuka ezindaweni ezisemakhaya, njengoba uNgqonqgoshe ephathe indaba yokufaka izicelo nje kuyafana nendaba yokugibela. Ngoba omunye umfundi osuka ezindaweni zasemakhaya ukhokha kakhulu kusadingeka ayofaka isicelo enyuvesi ubanenkinga yemali ukuthi uzogibela afike nini kuthi uma efika afike umugqa usumude.
Ngabe ikhona yini indlela yokuthi sibhekelele laba bafundi abasuka emakhaya? Ziningi izindawo zasemakhaya, ngisuka eGingindlovu nje mina, bakhona abafundi basemakhaya abaswele izimali zokuya esikoleni namanje, nanokuthi-ke Ngqongqoshe, kukhona yini olunye uhlelo lokuthi uma kuqala unyaka ozayo abafundi balungiselelwe lolu hlelo oluzayo ukuthi basizakale? Ngiyabonga.
UNGQONGQOSHE WEMFUNDO EPHAKEME KANYE NOKUQEQESHA : Ngiyabonga kakhulu lungu elihloniphekile. Udaba lwabantwana basemakhaya udaba oluphambili kakhulu kithina kangangoba kwamanje njengoba bengikhuluma ngendaba yokuthi kusizwe abafundi abaqhamuka emizini entulayo ukuze bakwazi ukuphasa esikoleni.
Kunemali eyizigidi eziyi-R146 kulo nyaka ekhishwe yilo Mnyango yokusiza labo bafundi. Imali eningi kule mali iya ukuyolekelela ikakhulukazi kulawa manyuvesi akithi asezindaweni ezisemakhaya ekuyiwona vele athatha kakhulu abantwana abaphuma ezindaweni ezisemakhaya, wona angoNgoye, Inyuvesi yaseLimpopo nabo-Forte Hare. Ngizothi-ke izinto esizibhekelele njengamanje - njengoba ngisho nje ngithi yilolu phenyo. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[The MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING: Thank you very much, Madam. Your question is very important because that is one of the issues I hope that this committee will help us tackle. You will find that some of the children are prevented from registering because, as you mentioned, they don't have the R3000 or R4000 which is a prerequisite, but they would have managed their work and passed. That is one of the things that we are going to look into.
There is also something that I would like to promise you, if I may go back to the question that was asked earlier on about setting up time frames. We want to table a report of this inquiry in this House, and then send it to the National Assembly as well as to the community so that we can get recommendations based on how our people view this issue.
One last thing, even though you did not ask, Chairperson, but with your permission let me say that the financial problem does not actually start here for the underprivileged children; it begins when they submit their applications for admission. You find that a child submits applications for admission to about seven or eight universities, and each university requires an amount of money known as the application fee. And then you find that a child ends up spending approximately R700 to R800 on application fees for the different universities.
The province of KwaZulu-Natal is already doing what we now want to do nationally. If you want to go to university you will have to submit your application to only one place and then they will submit the list of children who submitted their applications and send them to the other universities to indicate that these are the children who want to study. We want to do this nationally; if a child wants to go to university, there is only one place where he or she must pay money and then they check which university or college is able to admit him or her. Thank you.