Deputy Speaker, the purpose of Budget Vote 16 is to support much-needed industrial skilling to grow the further education and training college sector and to increase both access to and quality of education at our 23 universities and 53 FET colleges.
The Sector Education and Training Authorities, Setas, are not financing or assembling programmes of skill acquisition and training on scale. Many are glaringly dysfunctional, and have been so for a very long time. The problem with the Setas is that they are not spending their money effectively. The FET sector colleges must grow their enrolment from a current 125 000 to 1 million students by 2016 to reach their potential.
The funding for growth on scale is simply not there. We have no difficulties at all with the funding going to universities.
It is for these reasons that the DA opposes the Budget Vote. It is an exercise in business as usual. We need real change and not fictional, paper transformation. Thank you. [Applause.]