Hansard: NA: Mini-Plenary 3
House: National Assembly
Date of Meeting: 01 Mar 2024
Summary
No summary available.
Minutes
UNREVISED HANSARD
MINI PLENARY - NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (VIRTUAL)
FRIDAY, 1 MARCH 2024
PROCEEDINGS OF MINI PLENARY SESSION OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Watch video here: NA: Mini-Plenary 3
Members of the mini-plenary session met on the virtual platform at 10:00.
The Acting Chairperson, Mr Q R Dyantyi, took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayer and meditation.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): Good morning, all. The time is exactly 10:00. I welcome all the members who have logged into the virtual mini plenary session. Hon members, before we proceed, I would like to remind you that the virtual mini plenary is deemed to be in the precinct of Parliament, and it constitutes the meeting of the National Assembly for debating purposes only, in addition to the rules of virtual sittings, the rules of the National Assembly, including the rules of debate applied. Members enjoy the same powers and privileges that apply in the sitting of the National Assembly. Members should equally note that anything said in the virtual platform is deemed to have been said to the House and may be ruled upon. All members who have logged in shall be considered to be present, they are requested to mute their microphones and only unmute when recognised to speak.
I repeat, members are requested to mute their microphones and only unmute when requested to speak. This is because the mics are very sensitive and will pick up noise which might disturb the attention of the other members. When recognised to speak, please unmute your microphone and where connectivity permits your video, members may make use of the icons on the on the bar at the bottom of their screens, which has an option that allows a member to put up his or her hand to raise points of order. The secretariat will assist in alerting the Chairperson to the member requesting to speak. When using the virtual system, members are urged to refrain or desist from unnecessary point of orders or interjections.
Lastly, I wish to remind you that we are meeting in a mini plenary session, and therefore, any decisions will be taken in a full plenary session of the Assembly. Our subject for discussion today, the first item on the order paper, is a subject for discussion in the name of hon L A Schreiber, on the need to professionalise the Republic’s public administration to improve service delivery for the South Africans. I now invite the hon L A Schreiber to start the debate.
THE NEED TO PROFESSIONALISE THE REPUBLIC’S PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION TO IMPROVE SERVICE DELIVERY FOR SOUTH AFRICANS SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION (Dr L A SCHREIBER):
Dr L A SCHREIBER: Hon Chair, the need for a professional public administration, where officials are appointed strictly on the basis of merit, skill and ability, has never been more urgent. Wherever the ANC remains in power, service delivery is at an advanced state of collapse. Every time the lights go out during load shedding, every time the taps run dry, every time a business shuts its doors and every time a train stops running, the people of South Africa pay the price for the ANC’s failure over the past three decades, to build a professional, capable and skills-based public administration. In fact, the ANC has done the exact opposite.
Through the merciless application of its cadre deployment policy, they have deliberately built an unprofessional, incapable and politicised administration. While section 195 of the Constitution outlines a vision for public administration based on a higher standard of professional ethics, transparency, as well as good human resource management and career development practices, ANC cadre deployment took a sledgehammer to this noble idea. Instead of building a public administration where no employee is favoured or prejudiced only because that person supports a particular political party or cause as demanded by section 1973 of the Constitution, the ANC repurposed the administration to serve the party, not the public.
In a democracy, it is indeed both legal and desirable for a governing party to staff political positions such as elected Ministers, members of executive council, MECs, or mayors. The same goes for political appointments to the personal office of those elected officials in compliance with the Public Service Act. However, what political parties are not entitled to do, is to dictate that loyal cadres be appointed into the administration, including government departments, state owned enterprises and municipal administrations. Through cadre deployment, the ANC has completely erased the bright line of separation that is supposed to exist between party and state. Where the ANC governs, what was supposed to be a public
service, has become little more than a political party service.
Repurposing the machinery of state to serve the party rather than the people of South Africa, was the only thing that the ANC efficiently implemented over the past 30 years. As far back as 1997, the ANC told us that their plan was, and I quote.
To extend the power of the national liberation movement over all levers of power, including the entire civil service parastatals education institutions, independent statutory commissions and social institutions.
Joseph Stalin would be proud, after all, it was Stalin who said in 1935 that, and I quote again. “The old slogan technique decides everything must now be replaced by a new slogan, cadres decide everything.” Tragically, in the South Africa of 2024, cadres not only decide on everything, but cadres have also destroyed everything, and sadly, it is the people of South Africa who pays the price when a broken police service fails to keep them safe, when they lose their jobs because of load shedding and when they are left to die in public hospitals. Cadres decide everything, but fortunately, the story does not end there.
Over the past five years, the DA has intensified the struggle against the ANC cadre deployment. We have undertaken numerous court challenges, we have tabled legislation in this very House, we have asked countless parliamentary questions, we have driven petitions and we have campaigned ceaselessly to mobilise the people of South Africa against the cadre deployment system that has destroyed service delivery. The DA’s work on this issue, has now ignited a rebellion against cadre deployment, including from officials inside the state who are fed up with being overlooked and dictated to by incompetent cadres. First, there was the State Capture Commission, which confirmed the DA’s submissions that cadre deployment facilitated state capture, then came the framework for the professionalisation of the public sector, which said the following, and I quote. “Cadre deployment practices ought to be ditched in favour of a merit-based recruitment and selection system.”
However, the rebellion against cadre deployment dramatically accelerated over the past few weeks, after the DA won the Constitutional Court order to expose the ANC’s dirty cadre secrets. Just minutes before this plenary started today, a new code for ethical leadership in local government was adopted by officials from the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Cogta and the SA Local Government Association, Salga, which launches yet another direct assault on the ANC’s cadre deployment from inside the state. The new code reads as follows.
Councillors should develop policies to distinguish between appointment of officials to political offices and those who are appointed into administrative offices in a municipality. The policy should clearly stipulate that those who are in administrative offices should not be political deployees.
Since our victory in the Constitutional Court, the DA has been inundated with whistleblower reports from inside the state, as the officials rebels against the ANC. This includes from inside the Public Service Commission, PSC, itself, which the Constitution designates as the custodian for professional ethics in the public service. The DA can today reveal to this House that the Public Service Commission has joined the rebellion against cadre deployment through a new report that will soon be made public. The report reads as follows, and I quote in full.
The fact that senior appointments are political appointments, and the role of the ANC’s Cadre Deployment Committee cannot be ignored, the Zondo Commission was the first to unequivocally state that this is unlawful. Central to the appointments, cadre deployment has been denied many times in the past, mostly based on legalistic arguments that the constitutional and legislative framework do not allow for it. The Zondo Commission by contrast, shown a very clear light on it. The current emphasis on political deployment needs to be replaced by a focus on building a professional public service.
These are not the words of the DA, they are the words of the most senior custodian of the public administration in South Africa, the Public Service Commission. It is crystal clear that the DA’s work to expose and combat the ANC’s capture of the state has triggered a full scale rebellion against cadre deployment, where the President Ramaphosa, as the former cadre deployment chairman, likes it or not. However, the DA’s work is far from done. I can confirm to this House that the DA is today filing fresh papers to hold the ANC Secretary-General, Fikile Mbalula, in contempt of court, for failing to comply with the Constitutional Court’s order that complete national cadre deployment records dating back to 1 January 2013, when
President Ramaphosa became cadre chairman, must be handed over.
The ANC would do well to remember that its former President and current worst nightmare, Jacob Zuma, was sentenced to prison for similar contempt of the Constitutional Court. Then again, President Ramaphosa already showed us that he does not mind freeing tens of thousands of criminals just to protect his fellow cadres from the rule of law. However, before Mr Mbalula dance those orange overalls, he should check his email. Yesterday, the DA submitted a new request in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act, to similarly expose the complete records of the agencies dozens of provincial and regional cadre deployment communities that have collapsed service delivery in all ANC-run provinces and municipalities. The ANC has 30 days to hand over these new records, and all I can say is TikTok.
Chair, in just three months from now, South Africa’s rebellion against cadre deployment will break the ANC’s back. On 29 May, the once mighty majority will go up in smoke, because even as the ANC has enthusiastically implemented Stalin’s slogan that cadre has decided everything, they forgot that unlike the Soviet Union in 1935, the South Africa of 2024 is a democracy.
That is why the DA calls on the voters of South Africa to get rid of the cadres who hijacked our state, for in a democracy, it should not be cadres who decide everything, in a democracy, it is the people who decide everything. It is time to remind the ANC of this most basic democratic fairness, if you want to abolish cater deployment from the face of this country, you only have to do one thing, on 29 May vote DA. Thank you.
Ms T MGWEBA: Hon House Chair, can I close my video because I have network problems?
The ACTING HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): No problem.
Ms T MGWEBA: Hon House Chair, the social economic challenges confronting our people require an agile capable developmental state. This is a state that will have a strategic capacity to intervene in the interest of our people. Underpinning a developmental state in our South African context is the ability of the state to tackle wealth and income inequality, which continues to reproduce poverty and unemployment. Without transforming the political economy of South Africa, many of our developmental challenges will persist as the structural constraints of the structure of our economy breed exclusion.
Hon members, this then bears a duty to the public service to have a political orientation and the technical capabilities to advance the implementation of government policy, and as such, public servants need to have the capability to translate the vision of the governing party as defined in its electoral mandate to plans and policies of government. Hon House Chair, there is a dialectical relationship between the policy program of government and the governing party, and in a contested society and the nation with a history of apartheid colonialism and patriarchy, strategic decision to transform and capacitate the public service is a matter of interest for a governing party. The transformative Constitution of our country makes it mandatory:
To heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice, and fundamental human rights.
Transformation is therefore a key constitutional imperative.
As the ANC, we are consciously aware that professional public service is a precondition of such an agile dynamic state.
Their professionalization of the public service will mainstream the principle of meritocracy and ethical
governance. These principles will cultivate a culture of good governance and accountability.
Hon members, the Sixth Administration has been consistent in driving the agenda of professionalizing the public service. The other advantage of professionalizing the public service is the creation of a functional, efficient and integrated government that will deliver a people-centred at social compact.
Hon House Chair, cadre deployment is a universally accepted practice. In the context of the ANC, we deploy cadres who have the requisite skills, qualifications, and competencies to pursue our agenda of transforming society. The deployment of cadres in the ANC is informed by the development, deployment, and accountability in line with the obligations of the ANC constitution and that of our country. Then, there is evidence in the City of Tshwane and the Western Cape that the DA itself has been practicing its version of deployment of its leaders and members into positions of administration where the party governs. This includes a parallel process of the DA federal executive candidates for employment in the DA-led municipalities, as described by hon Alan Winde in a submission to the Public Protector in 2021, in which he correctly argued
that such internal rules and policies are widespread. The narrative that the deployment of caterers is unconstitutional and unlawful has no basis in law, hence the High Court correctly found out that the DA failed to point out any text neither in the Constitution nor any statutes that supports their claim. It is an ideological and philosophical preoccupation of liberal extremists and neoconservatives who want to declare as unlawful and unconstitutional any policy that seeks to dismantle and transform the apartheid colonial, patriarchal, social, and economic legacies. Their case was a failed anti-transformation intervention through the courts.
Recently, the DA approached the courts to declare the cadre policy unconstitutional and unlawful. They could not convince the High Court, and then the High Court’s verdict was straightforward, and I quote:
There’s nothing unconstitutional about a political party influencing the policy direction of government, including appointments of senior personnel to public service. So, as long as the public service is protected against being misused and for partisan purposes.
There is no law preventing a private body such as a political party from discussing potential candidates for any position. What is wrong is when the prescribed legal processes are not followed in the appointment of individuals, whether it be the public service, the judiciary, or the state-owned enterprises. If the due legal process is flouted, then those doing the flouting should be held to account. Hon members, many nominations to positions in entities are made by Parliament or through specialized bodies like the Judicial Service Commission. Political parties actively participate in the parliamentary processes that select and make final recommendations or decisions on suitable candidates. This is done precisely because the government must, likewise, satisfy itself that those being appointed into this crucial arm of the state are fit-for-people, the same as the executive does within its purview of administrative governments. It should be expected that parties will have internal discussions about which candidates to support for this position in public entities, and they even vote for such candidates. In other instances, Members of Parliament also decide on whether to remove people from specific public entities in line with the Constitution. It is no accident that votes for candidates for such positions are almost always along party lines. Indeed, political parties should be encouraged to have such a
discussion, because that is likely to produce a more considered outcome than simply relying on the whims of individual MPs. This is the political involvement.
Consequently, it results in the deployment of specific candidates. So, the DA has no case on this matter, as the Court has ruled.
Hon House Chair, we have recently adopted the Public Service Administration Bill in the National Assembly, which provides for the devolution of administrative powers from the executive authorities to the heads of department and enhances the role of the Director-General in The Presidency to support the President. The Public Service Administration Management Bill restricts persons reporting to the heads of department not to hold senior leadership positions in the political parties.
These are just some of the safeguards introduced by the democratic government to address the challenges that arise in the political and administrative interface. The people of South Africa should not be misled by the campaign of the DA, which seeks to portray black African people as incompetent and optimized by the disdain for black economic empowerment and the election campaign of removing affirmative action to restore the dominance of the white privilege in the public and private sector. We must state that even white females are
beneficiaries of affirmative action, and many white women are today chief executive officers, CEOs, and senior managers.
In strategic sectors of the economy, which the colonial and apartheid government denied as they oppressed white women through the ANC government. Affirmative action today, all women, black and white, have been empowered. We should guide and defend our democratic gains from the elements of the DA, which seeks to divide this nation and federalize to sustain white dominance. I thank you, hon House Chair.
Ms R N KOMANE: Chairperson, the third cardinal pillar of the EFF relates to the purposeful building up of the capacity of the state in order to deliver efficient services to the people and to strategically detect the right economic development in the country. To this end, the EFF founding manifesto envisage a state in which the key developmental ideas are incubated and delivered. This role of the state cannot be outsourced to private actors in the economy.
The founding manifesto of the EFF says, and I quote:
For a successful state that seek to drive real economic and industrial developmental and provide better service and
inspires skilled and well compensated Public Service is required. The Public Service should be strengthened for a sustainable transformation of the economy. The ethos of such a state should be developmental and very strong and hence consisted with the anticorruption measures. This is emphasised because the task of fundamental economic transformation requires a strong state with the ability to develop a clear strategic vision and be able to implement and monitor the progress being made.
In order for the state to be able to do all these the founding manifesto says, the state capacity to perform these functions will entail the Public Service and its service to be properly maintained and adequately remunerated at all levels. At the centre of the restoring developmental state should be motivated, inspired and well remunerated Public Service that shares in the developmental vision of the country. These interventions should be coupled with an increase capacity to adhesively fight corruption and criminality within the state. The fight against corruption should not be a sight issue, Chair, but a fundamental component of the state apparatus in order to increase public confidence in the state. In this context, the EFF will place a premium onslaught on the revolutionary trade unions movement in the public sector,
which should establish a practical and immediate bridge through which the working class exercises its powers over the state apparatus.
Chairperson, the professionalisation of the Public Service cannot be done in a vacuum. It must be done with the full appreciation of the developmental role of the state. This means that, we must have professionals and patriots whose sole aim is the delivery of the quality healthcare to the people across the country, pay no regard to their socioeconomic conditions. It must never be run by people whose ultimate aim to run down public health to enable the growth and development of the private health. The same with all other components of the state, Chair, we cannot have people leading the state whose sole interest is the destruction of the capacity of the state in order to enrich the private businesses.
In the EFF government, Chairperson, shenanigan such as ones we are seeing today within a Cabinet Minister who is strong arming the Parliament to endorse the sale of the SA Airways to an entity that is not known who has presided over complete destruction of Eskom to enable his buddies in the renewable energy sector to monopolise our energy would be things of the past. Conduct as displayed by this Minister and others would
never be tolerated because all we know the central role of the state is in driving the development.
Chair, the professionalisation of the Public Service does not mean making Public Service white as the DA refers to. These people in the blue are referring to. They fight against the so-called cadre deployment is in essence the fight against black professionals in the public sector. To the racist being black equals incompetent and corruption. And being white equals competence and clean governance. We want the Public Service run professionally free of corruption and to predominantly represent the demographics of the country.
Only an Eff government can deliver such a government and not a racist and “Uncle Tom”. Thank you very much, Chair.
Ms S A BUTHELEZI: Chairperson, may I please leave my camera off because my connection is weak, please. Hon Chairperson, without a professionalise Public Service, there would be no service delivery to our citizens. It is really that simple. Sadly, with human resources in today’s public administration in South Africa being characterised largely by cadre deployees and nepotism. The core functions and ability of deployees of Public Service preferable carried their various mandate is
severely compromised. This is not some abstract up hypothesis. It is proven everyday by the multitude of service delivery failures.
The swiping corruption and in many instances the fear incompetence of Public Service officials’ place into positions that they are not adequately friend or qualify to occupy. The fourth and responsibility for this lies squarely upon the shoulders of the current government. How does the current government correct this dystopia? It draws a line in the sand today and from tomorrow only qualified individuals are employed into positions into our Public Service. Regular training and upskilling of Public Service officials is ongoing to ensure that good practice standards are maintained and evolve as the needs of the day and technology advances in caring out the mandate in Public Service.
Public Service employees are performance appraised through key performance indicators and are held strictly to account for their actions. If targets are not met corrective actions is immediately implemented.
Corruption is not tolerated in anything, form or manner. Investigation and prosecution of all individuals’ concerns is
swift and punishment harsh. Our public officials must be guided by the verges of seven leaderships. This leadership ethos together with the ability to lead and work in teams’ co- ordinate projects and think critically in terms of strategy, problem solving, time management and decision making is what is require to build an effective Public Service. Being at the cold face of service delivery and the interface where government meet the citizenry, public officials must hold themselves and be held the highest professional standards as although they are employed by the government. Their salaries arise from taxes paid by the citizens of this country.
With a heavy reliance on technology, the advances on IT and the Internet of Things, digital literacy is co-competency and requirements for public servants. Training programmes, upskilling and understanding emerging technologies must be provided in conjunction with the necessary hardware and tools of trade. This will ensure that our citizens also receive a very high standards of Public Service delivery.
Professionalising our Public Service will enhance service delivery, reduce corruption, increase trust and confidence of the public, ensure innovation within the sector and lead to effective governance and policy implementation.
Public Service delivery in South Africa is at critical levels of dysfunction. The government must take responsibility for this dysfunction and begin today with immediate corrective action in this sector. Thank you, Chairperson.
Mrs H DENNER: Hon House Chair, we are all in agreement that the public service should be one that is professional, ethical, capable, and service delivery orientated. That is what one would expect of any public service anywhere in the world. And there are many countries who succeed to provide exactly that to their citizens. But South Africa is sadly not one of them.
The ANC is quick to inform us that they have a good story to tell, as we’ve heard now yet again during the Sona address, debate, and reply.
Afrikaans:
... veral met verywsing na hoe goed dit met Tintswalo die afgelope 30 jaar gegaan het. Maar hulle noem nie dat die arme Tintswalo vir ure, selfs moontlik dae, buite ‘n Binnelandse Sake-kantoor moet sit om haar dogtertjie se geboortesertifikaat te gaan haal nie.
Hulle noem nie dat Tintswalo met die geboorte van daardie einste dogtertjie op die vloer van ‘n staatshospitaal moes lê terwyl sy in kraam was nie, ook nie dat sy deur ‘n hoofwaardige verpleegster verskree en rondgepluk is terwyl sy geboorte aan haar dogtertjie geskenk het nie of dat sy haar eie beddegoed ... en haar familie vir haar moes kos en water hospitaal toe neem want die hospitaal het nie een van die twee nie.
Hulle noem nie dat Tintswalo, een van die 60% plus werklose jeug in ons land, vir ure in die son in ‘n ry by ‘n arbeidsentrum moes staan om aansoek vir haar werkloosheidsversekering te doen nie, net om te hoor dat sy dieselfde vorms wat sy vyf keer al ingedien het weer moet bring en weer vir ure in die son moet staan omdat een of ander lui amptenaar die vorms weer verloor het nie.
Hulle noem nie dat Tintswalo al vier keer gepoog het om vir haar hernude rybewys aansoek te doen nie maar dat die ongeskikte amptenaar agter die toonbank by die verkeersdepartement haar dan weggewys het want dit is of drie minute voor sy teetyd of die stelsel is af of hulle het nie papier vir die drukker nie of sy het nie R1 000 om hom om te koop om haar te help nie.
Hulle noem ook nie dat die verkeersbeampte wat haar afgetrek het ook R1 000 versoek het om nie vir haar ‘n boete te skryf vir daardie einste rybewys wat verval het omdat sy dit letterlik weens die staat se onbevoegdheid nie kon hernu nie. En hulle noem nie dat Tintswalo se keel toetrek as sy aan haar dogtertjie se toekoms onder ‘n ANC regering dink nie. Nee, hulle kies om hierdie ontbeurings wat Suid-Afrikaners daagliks van die Staatsdiens moet verduur te ignoreer want dit pas nie by hulle mooi storie nie.
Die ANC spog met die professionaliseringsraamwerk, net soos wat hulle met die Zondo Kommissie se aanstelling spog en vat as’t ware die krediet vir die stappe wat hulle doen om bedrog en korrupsie uit te roei en die Staatsdiens te professionaliseer. Maar, onder hierdie regering het die Staatsdiens agteruit gegaan en het bedrog en korrupsie van onbepaalde miljarde rand plaasgevind.
English:
Fixing something that you broke yourself in the first place is not an achievement. Let me reiterate what I said during the debates on the Public Service and the Public Administration Management Amendment, PAMA, amendment Bills this past week, you cannot legislate good work ethic and professional conduct,
you must appoint it by appointing the best person for the job, irrespective of race, who has the appropriate track record, experience, qualifications, and references. Not the person who is politically connected, and in many cases otherwise incompetent.
You have to put the needs of South Africans first, not the needs of the ANC and its cadres, and then competent managers have to manage these competent public servants by implementing fair and consistent consequence management, instead of the current redeployment of naughty cadres’ model that is being followed by the governing party.
House Chair, professionalising the public service isn’t rocket science, it’s simple. Get rid of the kleptocratic ANC, who broke the public service in the first place, appoint public servants on merit, irrespective of race hon Mgweba or political affiliation, and manage them properly.
Afrikaans:
Ons sal dit na 29 Mei doen, wanneer ons uiteindelik kan begin om ons land te herstel en bou. Dankie Voorsitter.
Ms T HALSE: Good morning, hon House Chair, a small town in the Free State called Ladybrand in the Mantsopa Municipal area is a perfect example of how lack of professionalism impacts negatively on service delivery in the entire community.
The Auditor-General, AG report for the municipality reads like a horror show and one stops counting the times that the report starts with ‘no evidence available’. It becomes clear that the municipality is beset by a lack of professionalism and a dearth of basic administration.
By the time you get to the areas dealing with the supply chain in the AG report, it’s most likely that you’re heading off a cliff, at least you’re wondering how managers in this department have not yet been fired or arrested.
The unlicensed landfill site exposed right onto the R26 that links the N3 to the N8. The multimillion-rand project meant to repair the dysfunctional sewage plant has been at a standstill for three years, with sewage filled dams dotting the sides of the R26, leaving a horrific stench in the air welcoming visitors.
The sewage spill has contaminated the reservoir situated on the reticulation system, leaving the municipality unable to use this source of water supply. The question to ask here is how any municipality expects to manage service delivery when the revenue collection rate as far as low as 30% in many municipalities.
The ANC may as quite proudly blame the collection rate when faced with service delivery protests. This ignorant response is systemic to all ANC-governed municipalities, as unprofessionalism and the pass the buck culture, plagues the offices of the municipal managers, directors, Members of Mayoral Committee, MMCs, down to the frontline workers that are not required to man reception areas and customer care officers.
Eating Kentucky when dealing with the distraught resident, who has been charged incorrect tariffs of being without service delivery for days, is not a calming method at all. And here I’m referring to all levels up to directors who think eating throughout the day as a performance target.
Despite promises of a better life for all at the inception of the democratically elected post-apartheid government, South
Africa has experienced growing numbers of protests about inadequate provision for basic municipal services.
The following factors are responsible for the lack of performance:
An unsupportive institutional environment negative power struggles, political interference, lack of coherent management systems, absence of culture of excellence, poor skill utilization, poor oversight mechanisms, weak capacity and implementing of policy.
For South African municipalities to meet their constitutional obligations to deliver optimal basic services to the people, the government must employ people who are qualified and experienced in their respective fields. They should also have effective programs in crucial logic government interventions in place of upskill employees, and place upskill employees who are already working.
The financial situation of the local government’s fear due to the lack of good governments, has a negative impact on public service delivery. On the fiscal year 2021-2022, 38 municipalities received clean audits, out of 257 demonstrating
the extent of the lack of consequence management and poor governance in local governments.
Due to the higher rates of unemployment and poverty, most South African citizens rely on public services ... [Inaudible.] ... because poor governance leads to poor service delivery, marginalised citizens, bear the brands of inefficiency and poor-quality services at local government level. And lack of consequences in the workplace leads to poor performance, this cannot be stressed enough.
Corruption and nepotism are affecting service delivery in South Africa. This not only impedes access to housing and services but leads to the collapse of municipal governments and widespread protests.
Municipalities must depoliticize local governments and declare the ANC cadre deployment policy illegal. The insertion of the extract from the DA’s indicator deployment bill into the public service makes it illegal for any person who holds office in the political party to be employed as a professional civil servant in the state, will assist in stopping political interference in public administration.
What would a professional public service look like? This is where the state employs people who have an ethical disposition and sense of public service, who are qualified, who know what they are doing and who are fully equipped to perform their public function with diligence. The Western Cape has local municipalities that are great examples of good governance and good service delivery.
Of critical importance, it is vital to appoint financial officers with the knowledge of accounting, public administration, public management, and public governance. This is about strengthening public financial management and leadership.
Professionalisation in the supply chain management plays a significant role in transforming public finance management into a profession of the highest integrity and competence, supporting improved public procurement, smarter spending, and ultimately better service delivery.
Professionalisation is not only about merit-based recruitment and selection practices, but also about making the public service and local government career’s preferred choices.
People with a passion to excel in their profession should be
the goal. It is therefore essential that education and training systems strengthen the talent pipeline for the pool of people with skills, suitable for a career in the public service, especially young graduates with enthusiasm and fresh insights to contribute to the development of the country.
In 2008, the small town of Ladybrand was given an excellent service award. If it was not for the ‘a Zuma gang’ had it still present undercover ANC ... [Inaudible.] ... supporters in the ANC factions, this municipality would have been a thriving economic tourist destination.
By ending the ANC destructive cadre deployment policy, the DA is ready to restore the dignity of resistance in this beautiful town. I thank you. [Time expired.]
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): You are not going to do that again. When the presiding officer says your time has expired, it has expired. Thank you.
Mr G N NKGWENG: Chairperson, hon members, the ANC, as the leader of society, has the mammoth task of promoting and enhancing the skills, qualities and abilities of public servants and representatives, especially as it leads the
national democratic revolution with the sole aim of creating a national democratic society. This requires the development of an ethical and capable developmental state that leads to better quality of services to create a better life for all.
Measures aimed at addressing and promoting meritocracy are critical for the effective functioning of government and institutions and for the promotion of an equally agile state.
Since the 2021 municipal elections, the ANC has taken the bold and unpopular decision to interview members and set high standards for members nominated to stand for the ANC in the 2021 municipal councils. All potential mayoral candidates were interviewed. In 2023, numerous people who have reached the threshold for potential membership of the provincial legislature, MPL, and Members of Parliament, MP, were also interviewed. One of the requirements to stand for the ANC as mayor, MPL, or MP, is a post-matric degree.
There is a deliberate attempt to assess the skills, qualification and experience of individuals to ensure that they are suitable for the positions to which they have been deployed. Mechanism has also been set up to hold representatives accountable for their actions and performance.
The NEC LEKGOTLA 2024, highlights that the 53rd National Conference affirmed that the ANC needs to elect and assign competent leaders and public representatives who has integrity, capability, the right orientation and expertise to lead and execute our programmes.
The ANC reemphasises that deployment of public representative, is an essential element of governance. The deployment standards ensure that individuals are assigned to roles based on their skills qualifications and ability. This target approach optimises the use of human resources. Align each person with tasks and match their fair capabilities.
The deployment standards when based on merit, promote a fair and transparent system. This reduces the government in building the culture of learning and innovation through continuous training opportunities for public servant and execute their authorities.
A capacitated National School Government, NSG, plays a crucial role in the effective functioning and development of the nation by providing training, research and capacity building for the public servants. Some of ... [Inaudible.] ... positive
impact of the NSG is professional development, effective government, government policy and leadership development.
The NSG serves as hub for giving continuous professional development opportunities to public servants. This includes training programmes, workshops and courses designed to enhance the skills, knowledge and capabilities of government officials. The NSG is instrumental in developing leadership skills among government officials.
Leadership training programmes help cultivate effective leaders who can guide and inspire their teams, making informed decisions that contributes to the nation’s overall development. And emphasis on ethics and integrity is vital in public service. A capacitated NSG facilitates the development of innovative thinking and problems solving skills amongst public servants. This is crucial in a rapidly changing world where governments need to adapt to a new challenge and find creative solutions to complex issues.
The NSG has achieved over a total of 290 000 learners against cumulative target of 205 000 translating to ... [Inaudible.]
... performance. The revenue generated over 400.
Under the Ethics and Nyukela programme, more than 22 000 learners have completed the Nyukela course and 7 443 have completed the Ethics course. The NSG programme consists of international academics and former directors-general appointed to ease energy interventions.
The NSG has 78 programmes are accredited with the various Sector Education and Training Authorities, SETAs, as I indicated earlier. The school has been authorised by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Science and Innovation to award higher education degrees. The Advanced Diploma in Public Management, National Qualification Framework, NQF, Level 7, will be accredited by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation for the award of higher education qualifications and the Advanced Diploma in Public Management and NQFLs will be accredited. These are clear advancement of professionalisation of the public service and development of the state capabilities.
The NSG has optimised digital technology for e-learning which is making a significant impact to harness innovation in public service, the NSG will set up a digital and innovation hub to enable public servants to ... [Inaudible.] ... and duplicate innovations to efficient service delivery.
Strengthening the Public Service Commission is instrumental and enhancing accountability within the public service.
Strengthening the Public Service Commission involves continuing the autonomy independence of the Public Service Commission, enhancing investigative powers, conducting performance monitoring and evaluation, granting the Public Service Commission greater autonomy and independence to operate free from undue influence, ensures that the commission can carry out its functions objectively, without interference from external pressures, thereby reinforcing its role in holding public servants and public representatives accountable.
Providing the Public Service Commission with the increased investigative powers to thoroughly examine instances of misconduct, corruption, inefficiencies within the public service empowers the commissions to address issues promptly and transparently, promoting accountability for public engagement. By making the Public Service Commission activities more ... [Inaudible.] ... involve regular reporting on the Commission’s findings, actions taken and recommendations to the public. This instils confidence in their accountability mechanisms. Strengthening collaborations between public service commissions and their oversight bodies such as anti-
corruption agencies and audit institutions can enhance the collective efforts to ensure accountability and integrity within public service.
The National Anti-Corruption Hotline, which gives a one-stop mechanism to members of the service the public to report corruption anonymously and create an opportunity for different role players to co-operate better in receiving and entering allegations of corruption.
The Public Service Commission has referred 7 261 reported cases of alleged corruption investigations by relevant state organs within seven working days. The public service commissions, use of citizens forum, strengthening accountability of departments to the citizens where a number of service delivery improvements were achieved, such as low- cost houses built in Mpumalanga province, bridges constructed KwaZulu-Natal, KZN, to enable children to cross rivers to schools and access of many communities.
A thirty-year review of the cases overseen by the National Anti-Corruption Hotline since the reception in September 2004, to September 2023 shows wide utilisation of the hotline by the public. The National Anti-Corruption Hotline generated 28 252
... [Inaudible.] ... from calls received from September 2004 to September 2023. A total of 24 817 which equates to 88% cases were finalised by the National Anti-Corruption Hotline.
Over 1300 corruption convictions in four years including 500 government officials, 14,8 billion assets frozen in corruption and state capture cases. A number of 34 cases enrolled over
200 accused persons, including former Ministers and some of the largest corporate governments in the country, such as McKinsey and Company, have been reported. These are just of the interventions of the six administration and institutions. supporting democracy. Thank you.
Dr J NOTHNAGEL: Chair, today's debate is a deliberate strategy of deflection propagated by the DA that wishes to reduce the ANC’s cadre policy and deployment strategy to an instrument designed to reward loyal comrades with public office for them to gain access to state resources for personal enrichment.
Understood in this way, the ANC’s cadre deployment invariably entails practices in which loyal comrades in public office ambiguously subvert the rule of law and erode the quality of our Public Service, measured in poor quality service delivery
... personal gain. From our perspective as the ANC, this is the wrong way of looking at cadre deployment. Put differently,
the DA’s attempt to declare the ANC’s cadre deployment unconstitutional and unlawful is based on a misreading of the history of systemic exclusion and institutionalised racism that considered black people as human beings with defective humanity.
First and foremost, before the dawn of democracy, the ANC found it relatively easy to attract committed, dedicated and loyal comrades to mobilise the motive forces of society against apartheid colonialism, and material inducements were not used as an incentive since the ANC never enjoyed any access to state resources. Thus, the DA’s false narrative that cadre deployment is an instrument with which the ANC sought to provide public office and redistribute state resources to reward loyal comrades is at best imprecise and at worst theoretically indefensible.
The fact of the matter is that the bureaucracies of well- functioning and mature democracies, like the one that South Africa is being stocked with, naturally the party officials of the governing party who have advanced critical and curious mindsets, not to mention high calibre academic training, specialised skills and an unwavering commitment to vouch ... [Inaudible.] ... the interest of the electorate. The first few
examples of this are the UK and the USA. The DA will not admit to this because the more racialised you are the more ignorant you seem to be.
The ANC’s cadre deployment is justified by three complementary arguments. The first one is that it ensures that the nexus between the election’s manifesto of the ANC and the government’s policy agenda is intact. Secondly, it weakens the possibility of capture of government policy by vested interests so that government policies do not produce ... [Inaudible.] ... outcomes at the expense of national interests. And thirdly, it cements the state-citizen dynamic so that the ANC can account to the electorate for the initiation or lack of initiation of policy reforms the party committed itself to implement. All this suggests that any governing party intent on policy ownership, as well as transparency and accountability to the electorate, should put more emphasis on deploying its party officials to the administrative apparatus of the state and government by the legal procedures and competency requirements for such positions, rather than looking for external specialists in policy, public policy, governance, economics and other related disciplines to run the state and government on its behalf, as this might be negatively harmful.
Political parties at all ends of the political spectrum appear to pay greater homage to cadres deployed where they govern. A host of examples are worth remarking on. Almost all Asian ... [Inaudible.] ... economies and late industrialised countries practise cadre deployment. Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, South Korea's People Power Party and China's Chinese Communist Party are some of the well-known supporters of cadre deployment. Whereas the DA recognises problems with cadre deployment, citizens in these three countries appreciate competent bureaucracies as the byproduct of cadre deployment and have achieved rapid economic growth and industrialisation at breakneck speed.
What is puzzling is that the never-ending cascades of the supposed negative impacts of the ANC’s cadre employment do not seem to have prevented the DA from deploying its party officials in the DA-run Western Cape province and municipalities across the country. In our view as the ANC, the reason why there is a lack of widespread acceptance of the ANC’s cadre deployment within the DA is that it is not predicated on the flawed notion that being white and the attainment of whiteness are the highest ideals of human emancipation and progress. In short, the DA detests the ANC’s
cadre deployment because it contradicts the ontological and epistemological myth of white superiority.
There is absolutely nothing unconstitutional, much less unlawful, about the cognitive framework on which the ANC’s cadre deployment is based and the transformative objective it is designed to achieve. The demands of removing the remnants and ... [Inaudible.] ... of apartheid colonialism and empowering those who were socially and economically excluded and racially dehumanised, which is at the heart of the ANC’s cadre deployment, resonates with the transformative agenda of South Africa’s celebrated Constitution.
The outcome is that the ANC’s cadre deployment complements the Constitution’s democratic intentions and aspirations, as it expands how pluralistic, inclusive and egalitarian a new democracy can become. As such, the ANC does not use cadre deployment to hijack democratic aspirations to satisfy its selfish ends or to wield disproportionate influence over democratic institutions to secure its political and material interests.
Of course, it should not be surprising that the ANC will have internal discussions about its preferred candidates for those
positions and perhaps use its majority to vote for them. There is nothing untoward about the practice as the DA’s federal executive council is the poster child of this practice. In contradiction to the DA’s federal executive council, the ANC’s deployment committee does not exaggerate the imperatives of
... [Inaudible.] ... specialisation and professionalisation which control the administrative machine of the state and government and apartheid colonialism. Indeed, the DA's critique of the ANC’s cadre deployment is not a genuine dissatisfaction with the lack of capacity in South Africa's bureaucracy but a disguised call in support for the return of apartheid colonialism which reduced black people to ranks of uncivilised, uneducated human beings and therefore incapable of governance. There appears to be institutional capacity in abundance in both the state and government. The DA is hot- wired to notice the bad more than the good.
Moreover, the DA’s tendency to insulate itself from the trial and error nature of cadre deployment is the most concerning problem of all. The DA took over the cities of Tshwane and Johannesburg from the ANC and subsequently deployed its party officials as bureaucrats in these municipalities but they could not correct service-delivery challenges. Therefore, besides the many distortions of the DA, the ANC’s cadre
deployment has performed relatively well. The DA has also used deployment to reward their members with high remuneration, such as the former DA MP Tim Harris, who gets a whopping
R2,5 million at Wesgro and the wife of Craig ... [Inaudible.]
... who receives R3,3 million per year as an executive manager in the City of Cape Town. In Tshwane, the DA illegally appointed Stefan de Villiers, who was a bodybuilder, as head of the executive in the office of the Mayor, earning over
R1 million a year, as well as Previn Govender as chief of emergency with a fake qualification, to name a few.
The ANC's cadre deployment cannot be questioned in principle, as it is the ... [Inaudible.] ... of democracies across the world and we must not allow the DA to reduce it to a xmafia- like activity. I thank you, Chair.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): Thank you, hon Jeanine Nothnagel. You have a minute left. Do you want to use it?
Dr J NOTHNAAGEL: Chair, I am done.
Afrikaans:
Die WAARNEMENDE VOORSITTER (Mnr Q R Dyantyi): Baie dankie.
English:
I now recognise hon Leon Schreiber.
Dr L A SCHREIBER: Chair, the great thing about this debate is that it is not hypothetical or abstract and we certainly don't need to look beyond our borders for practical proof. We have two practical examples right here in South Africa that demonstrates the difference between ANC cadre deployment and DA good governance. So, let's go ahead as we wrap up this debate by comparing those two.
Despite the escalating rebellion from inside the state and society, the ANC in this debate, just like President Ramaphosa, continues to defend cadre deployment at all costs. However, I dare the ANC to leave their taxpayer-funded ministerial mansions for once and just try to switch on the lights during load shedding. I dare the ANC to open a tap in eThekwini and large parts of Gauteng to see how the water has stopped flowing. I dare the ANC to try and take a train where tracks no longer exist. Through cadre deployment, the ANC has robbed the people of South Africa of every single one of these critical services.
Our state faces a systemic collapse with virtually all state- owned entities and government departments in perpetual crisis. The simple truth is that a systemic crisis like the accelerating collapse of the South African state has a systemic cause. It cannot be explained away as outliers or challenges when every single thing touched by ANC cadres is collapsing. The systemic cause for the systemic failure of the state is ANC cadre deployment which favours incompetent and corrupt cadres over skilled and nonpolitical applicants.
However, fortunately we also have practical proof that another way is possible. To see how service delivery improves when
ANC-styled cadre deployment is replaced by DA-styled good governance, I dare the ANC to drive from the Eastern Cape into the Western Cape and watch the potholes disappear. I dare them to open the taps in DA-led Cape Town and taste the clean, healthy water that no longer flows where the ANC is in power. I dare the ANC to visit public hospitals and schools in the
DA-led Western Cape and witness how public services can be turned around when ANC cadre deployment is replaced by DA good governance. Wherever the DA has defeated the ANC, we have replaced cadre deployment with fair and merit-based appointment processes, and the proof truly is in the pudding. The DA obtains clean audits, delivers better services to the
poor, invests in infrastructure and creates jobs wherever we govern, precisely because we employ professionals and do not deploy cadres. Wherever we govern, the DA has been able to fix what the ANC has broken because we don't just talk about building a capable state, we get it done. On the 29th of May, vote DA to rescue South Africa from cadre deployment. I thank you.
Debate concluded.
PROVISION OF FEE-FREE HIGHER EDUCATION FOR ALL IN SOUTH AFRICA
(Subject for Discussion)
Mr M SHIKWAMBANA: Hon House Chair, greetings to the commander in chief and the president of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Sello Julius Malema, the deputy president of the EFF, Floyd Nyiko Shivambu and all capable and committed members of Parliament of the EFF. This debate on the provision of fee- free higher education for all in South Africa will outline our commitment as outlined in the EFF manifesto when we take government after general elections on 29 May 2024. The EFF is not a wish list of unattainable goals but a clear programme of
action of what we will do when we take over government of South Africa post 29 May 2024.
Before I outline EFF’s clear dependable programme of action, we want to remind the South Africans that EFF is the only political party that has consistently been calling for free decolonised education for all in the institutions of higher learning. The EFF’s cardinal pillar 4 states that when we take power we will provide free quality education, health care, houses and sanitation to our people. It is the EFF that has consistently called for free quality education since its formation and at that time we were laughed at and told that it is not possible and that we are putting the economy at risk.
Today, it is six years since former President Zuma, in his exit speech, introduced fully subsidised free higher education for the poor and the working-class South Africans and undergraduate students across all public universities and Technical Vocational Education and Training, TVET, colleges.
While partially free education is welcome, when the Economic Freedom Fighters take over power, the EFF-led government will introduce free decolonised education for all, advancing issues of indigenous knowledge, sovereignty and economic freedom in education.
We want to remind South Africans that the ANC failed in the last 30 years to offer free education to all our people, despite its own policy documents saying so. The ANC has, for years, used the free education ticket as an electioneering slogan to lure voters. The lies cannot stand anymore, and South Africans must start to reject the ANC at the upcoming general elections.
Today the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, is in shambles, unable to settle student fees and provide meals and transport allowances on time. Instead, our students are left hungry and wandering. Today NSFAS is marred in endless scandals of corruption and mismanagement of state funds. The Minister of Higher Education and the suspended NSFAS chairperson are implicated in audio recordings for soliciting kickbacks on money that was meant to assist the black poor students of South Africa. Today, our students are left sleeping in halls because the ANC-led government failed to vet and accredit student accommodation on time. Today, as we speak, in the third month of the academic year, NSFAS has not finalised all applications; our students are at risk of being deregistered by institutions of higher learning and returning home.
We want to remind South Africans that it is the ANC-led government that criminalised black poor students for fighting for free education during Fees Must Fall. It is the ANC-led government in its 30 years of ruling that has failed to build and ensure sufficient accommodation for all students.
As the EFF we advocate for fee-free higher education because it levels the ground between the rich and the poor. There are many black qualifying and eligible students in South Africa. In fact, these people are accepted at university but are excluded due to unaffordability.
Provision of fee-free higher education for all in South Africa will ensure that the child of a domestic worker, security guard from the rural KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo have equal access and opportunity to institutions of higher learning with a child of a doctor, engineer and business person in Sandton or Cape Town, not because of their economic status but based on their academic merits.
The provision of the fee-free higher education will put an end to the commodification of education inherited from the National Party which has ensured that access to higher
education remains largely an exclusive right of those who have money, as opposed to those who do not have.
People are always asking us how we are going to fund a fee- free higher education. Where is the money going to come from? Are we not going to compromise South Africa’s fiscus? We stand here as the Economic Freedom Fighters to dismiss the ideological bankrupt and intellectually lazy notion that free education for all is impossible. It is possible and we are going to demonstrate how we can achieve that.
We have put forward some very cogent possible proposals before on how to make this possible. We had previously said that there must be an overall annual education levy of 2,5% that is deducted from the pension fund. On its own, this will be sufficient to cover the full cost of free education for all.
This will benefit both the employees and employers. For employees, it will ensure that them and their children get access to a free higher education into perpetuity, while for employers this will ensure an endless supply of skilled labour. More importantly, this will not in any way affect the benefits employees must get from their pension fund when they retire. There will never be a time ...
The ACTING HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): The hon member’s time has expired. Thank you, hon Shikwambana. I now recognise the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation ... [Interjections.]
Mr M SHIKWAMBANA: ... but you robbed me, Chair, my time ... I still have time, Chair ...
The ACTING HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): Hon DM, please take over.
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND
INNOVATION (Mr K B Manamela): Thank you, House Chairperson. Fee-free higher education cannot be viewed in isolation from our history, but also, as part of the broader project of the ANC to destroy the system of apartheid and build an open democratic South Africa, in with the exclusion of people based on their race, class or gender shall cease to exist.
The demand for access to high education was at the centre of the people’s valiant struggle at its colonial and apartheid rule, the land dispossession and the capture of their natural resources. It was a response to vampires like J M Le Roux of the National Party, who in 1945, blurted out that they.
“Should not give natives any academic education. If they do, who is going to do the manual labour in the country?”
Thus, reducing blacks to hewers of wood and drawers of water. Informed by this historical context, the implementation of measures towards expanding access to higher education over the past three decades have been part of a whole range of the ANC’s interventions that are aimed at achieving the total social and economic transformation of our society.
This understanding inspired our forebears to declare, in Kliptown in 1955, that:
Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children. High education and technical education shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit.
This is the historical basis for our commitment to free higher education. In 2018, our government started implementing the fee-free high education for low-income households, to be administered by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, and now universally and automatically covers Sassa beneficiaries.
The decision to extend this right to a section of the population, based on household income, was not based on the absence of political will but the financial pressures that our country still faces today. This is unprecedented as this scale and extent of funding for high education students exist nowhere in the world, with South Africa being the first. Since then, the picture of higher education in our country will never look the same.
This accelerated access for excellent black students who otherwise would not have had seen the dose of a university or TVET college. Since then, funding of students by government increased ninefold to R49 billion this year. Close to a million students are receiving tuition, accommodation, transport and a monthly allowance without a burden of debt in the future?
This, actually, can go up to a conservative R121 000 per student, or about R12 000 per month, that goes into the pocket of the students and their families – and a little less in some of the TVET colleges. For students with disabilities, these allowances are more, as they include support for assistive learning devices, and the bracket is extended to those whose
household income is at R600 000, as opposed to R350 000 household income for the rest of the other student population.
This, for these students, is free education!
It is easy to dismiss this as mere universal figures and question their impact on individual households. At the time the decision was made, this meant that close to 90% of households were exempted from paying university fees, redirecting whatever income that they had to other important household items.
Taken at a micro level, hon the House Chair, I went to visit the University of Johannesburg this week. In my conversation with the Vice Chancellor, I established that of their 50 000 or so students, the number of those funded by NSFAS has increased, from 41% in 2017 to a high of 65% in 2021. The university does not hesitate to mention that 2023, 50% of these students were women and 99% of them are black.
Other than Gauteng. they draw their students from the highly rural provinces of KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga. What is even more impressive, is the fact that NSFAS-funded students performed excellently, with a high of
89% in 2020 versus talent that could have otherwise languished latent in the villages, townships and flats, like the generation before them.
The University of Johannesburg is no exception. A similar trend exists in most institutions, with some of them having close to 90% of their student population being funded by the NSFAS. Over the years, most students in TVET colleges were funded by the NSFAS. I have seen their living accommodation and travel allowances - catching up with university students.
This, for these students and their families is free education!
These are the gains that the DA want to reverse, just as they reversed many in the local municipalities where they now govern. They call this a choice between socialism and liberal democracy. We do not label it, because it is for us about collective, human and societal development.
As for the EFF manifesto: The less; the better! Only those who believe in the tooth fairy and Father Christmas will be bold enough to vote for a basket of such whimsical wishes. You could hear the hon member who initiated this motion, could not
even articulate how the EFF will fund this preposterous proposal that they have.
In 2019, our Ministry announced R2,9 billion to fund towards wiping off the historical debt that has weighed heavily on middle- and upper-class families. That is another huge relief that so many of them ultimately can graduate. Part of the announcement by government in 2018 was a commitment to investigate the possibility of a fund, to finance students who did not qualify for NSFAS whose household income was less than R600 000.
This year we announced the NSFAs loan scheme that will target these students and see them receive the same allowances as NSFAS-funded students. At the end of the term, if these students pass well, they will only be required to pay 50% of their tuition fee and, still, only when they start earning an income. This maybe be half-a-loaf for this category of students, but we estimate that the initial R3,4 billion will go towards 39 000 of them, so that it gives them a foot into the future.
Last week, hon House Chair, I visited the Central Johannesburg College and took the opportunity to interact with the students
and staff from there. Two of the students, who are studying their National Certificate Vocational Level 4 in Industrial Electronics were engulfed in projects which they hope will launch their careers into the future, as small business owners or as professionals. They are both funded by the NSFAS.
One of them attained Grade 12 with flying colours, sending a message that TVET colleges are fast becoming institutions of choice. TVET colleges are at the centre of skill in the workforce in our country. They have changed their complexion in terms of race, but also in terms of gender, with more young black women choosing to study traditionally male professions.
TVET colleges have also shared their historical scene of being the Cinderella of the post-school education system. They contribute to the 20 000 artisans that we produce annually. We are today involving more than 700 students in centres of specialisation across the country, who spend some of their time at the college and the rest at their work. This is revolutionary for the skills demand in our country, with TVET colleges at the centre.
Those colleges train drone pilots, maritime engineers, mechatronics engineers, admin assistants, boilermakers,
welders, builders, human resource assistants, chefs, musicians, fashion gurus and any skill that you may think of that will propel you into the world of business and trade.
Many of these students are going to work in mining, in corporate and government, or to establish their own companies.
Last year, on their graduation, more than 350 students, not only received their certificates, but were also handed with toolboxes because now they are qualified tradesmen and women. This is a tradition we hope will continue. We also launched, last year, hairdressing as an occupational trade, which involves 19 of TVET College students who will be studying here, who will be expected to pay no fees at all. Just as in many other occupational trades, they too will be covered by the NSFAS. This for them is free education!
This week, hon House Chair, I received reports from two community colleges - those of Mpumalanga and the Free State. Like all community colleges, their learning centres offer free education funded through the department and its entities, such as Setas and the Skills Fund. These community college programs ranges from senior certificate, drivers’ licenses, welding, upholstery, sewing, ICT, basic computer literacy, amongst others.
These programs are targeting people of any age who require short term skills to improve their businesses or to start one. Some of the students, such as Vusumuzi Gama from Bona Wena, acquired a senior certificate in 2023 and has this year started his degree in education at the Tshwane University of Technology.
Vusumuzi, who I excitedly spoke to this morning, not only studied at a community college, he went on to study at a TVET college for his N6 in Transport and Logistics, and also in a farming project. Him studying at Tshwane University of Technology indicates the articulation that exists within our system of higher education.
In conclusion, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Unesco, the foremost international institution of education, science and culture, recommends that governments all over the world should spend between 15% and 20% in education is a proportion of overall government expenditures. Here in our country, we have reached more than 22% in education and 6,4% of GDP, which makes us amongst one of the highest in the in the world.
Listening to the speaker before me, and some of the speakers who will speak after, you will realise that our education system is working. It does not produce monolithic citizens, but robust ones, even to the point of being ridiculous. We have positioned our post-school education system at the centre of skills development in this country, and its bedrock is fee- free higher education for low-income households.
We have taken the decision we have, not as a sign of defeat, but as a sign that we intend moving forward even faster. Some may argue that we should not provide fee-free higher education for those who are currently benefiting at all, if we are not going to provide it for everyone. Whereas others would argue that everyone for himself and the devil takes the utmost.
We have saved the utmost and, with means in the future, we may even save those who would not need saving. I have no doubt, hon House Chair, that if the national fiscus would allow, even the child of a Deputy Minister would qualify to study for free. To the EFF, as we say in the Communist Manifesto, “From each according to ability, to each according to need”. Thank you very much for listening.
Ms C V KING: Hon Chair, if the R2 billion Medium Term Budget Policy Statement, MTBPS, budget cuts for student funding and the R16 billion reduction over the MTEF period did not give you a hint that there is no money to increase student funding even slightly under the banner of fee-free higher education, then you are simply delusional. Our debt service cost has increased to roughly R1 billion a day and three million South Africans pay 90% of income tax. We have a shrinking tax base, and we are squeezing more revenue from fewer people. Show us the money to sustain fee-free higher education?
NSFAS’ budget has increased from R11,8 billion in 2016 to R53,6 billion in 2024-25. If you couple this with university tuition and accommodation fee increases, it is clear that the unquenchable terms for student funding are unsustainable. This has led to the scheme continuously being bailed out to cover funding shortfalls.
Last week, we heard 87 000 students will be affected by the R1,1 billion NSFAS, shortfall with NSFAS having to dip into its reserve to cover the student funding shortfall for 2024. Once again, we say, show us the money to sustain fee-free higher education.
This quasi-SOE, NSFAS, has been successful in centralising its operation in ensuring more funds exit the system to third parties, as in the case of the direct-payment service providers and student accommodation pilot project, and accrediting agents, forcing students to abandon their studies because of delayed funding decisions. This left students hungry and destitute, due to an unrealistic across the board accommodation cap and poor accreditation of student accommodation facilities.
The quasi-SOE, NSFAS, has also been successful in creating syndicates, looting the entity of student funding. Who can forget former CEO, Andile Nongogo’s collusion with the contracts of the direct-payment service providers, and NSFAS chairperson, Ernest Khosa, who had to step aside after being implicated in voice recordings. Under whose watch did the fee- free higher education come to light? None other than the Minister whose political home, the SACP, allegedly benefited from NSFAS funding kickbacks. This Minister has surely shown where the money is to benefit a few, at the expense of many.
Public servants’ income tax deductions are not enough to cover fee-free higher education, so the Department of Higher Education and Training, DHET, is now proposing tapping into
the pension funds of government employees through the Public Investment Corporation for targeting the children of public funds. Parents whose children fall in the missing middle will be double taxed, to fund an unsustainable funding model. This ANC has shown where the money is – public servants.
The Ministerial Task Team, MTT, report on NSFAS operation and student funding sustainability highlighted: “The current implementation of a fully subsidised model of student support has become unaffordable, due to the high costs involved, the dire fiscal situation and the growing demand for support within the framework of the current policy.”
Since 2016, the Heher Commission and the DA have told the ANC government that fee-free higher education is unsustainable, and this has been proven by various African countries, who moved away from this model to a cost-sharing model.
Afrikaans:
Hoor is min as dit by die ANC kom.
English:
Since we are the government in waiting, let us show them how we can make more out of what we have when good policy is
implemented. The income-contingent loan system is a more sustainable approach to ensure that funding is available for the next generation. Providing differentiated support to students from different socioeconomic backgrounds by a range of funding sources, through a tiered system of funding will incorporate all students. Loan repayments only happen when students find employment; conversion of loans into bursaries on good academic performance; get funding to career fields in demand and in the job market; decentralise the administrative function of NSFAS to institutions, collaborating with private student accommodation providers, through the establishment of a public-private partnership; involvement of the Competition Commission to root out any price fixing between the accommodation service providers.
Reiterating this since 2016 has finally caught the attention of the MTT, who fully recommended all the above policy proposals of the DA. Even the Minister’s own MTT of sound minds said that the DA has progressive policies to steer higher education into the right direction.
As I echo the words of Rhodes University SRC president, who was clear during our oversight in the Eastern Cape: “Fee-free higher education means nothing to us.” Matriculants, students,
academic staff and researchers, 29 May is our opportunity to save our future. Make it a good one, make it a DA one.
Afrikaans:
Staan saam om ons land te red. Stem DA en ons hou Joshlin Smith in gebed, wat tot vandag toe nog nie gevind is nie. Dankie.
Ms H O MKHALIPHIL: Hon Chair, fellow South Africans, when the EFF government takes power on 29 May, we will ensure free and quality education to all. Firstly, the EFF government will introduce free, decolonised education for all, advancing issues of indigenous knowledge, sovereignty, and economic freedom in education.
Secondly, the EFF government will provide free higher education until a first degree for all and will provide scholarships. Thirdly, the EFF government will cancel all student debts of all students who were excluded based on fees and give certificates, diplomas and degrees to all students who passed and were denied their qualifications because of outstanding fees. Fourthly, the EFF government will clear all historical debts of students, including NSFAS debt owed by graduates.
Fifthly, the EFF government will establish a centralised higher education registration system, so that students are not required to fill in their details and register more than once. Sixthly, the EFF government will have a central application approach for all categories of institutions of higher learning to make one application for each category of institution.
Seventhly, the EFF government will make the central application website free and not require users to have data. Furthermore, the EFF government will provide two warm meals per day to each student at institutions of higher learning, as it happens to all other institutions, as we speak that is covered by the EFF. Lastly, the EFF government will allow all students to travel for free on public transport, provided they carry their student card.
We call on all South Africans on the 29 May 2024 to vote for the EFF to fulfil all these commitments and change the lives of our poor people. Thank you very much.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): Please, go ahead.
Mr S S ZONDO: Hon Chairperson, greetings to you. In a country free of corruption and ... [Inaudible.] ... ambit state coffers, fee-free higher education for all does not seem like
such a farfetched idea. However, in the current economic context of our country it just seems unattainable. Therefore, allow me to adopt to the fucus of this debate to be more suitable to the current economic ... [Inaudible.]
The provision of the higher education for students in need those whose results qualify for higher education. The IFP has always been advocating for policy of education for liberation as His Excellency the late Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi the party founder taught us that education be used as a tool for liberation.
He always emphasised that we understand that knowledge is the
... [Inaudible.] ... against oppression.
Therefore ... [Inaudible.]
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): Hon Zondo.
Ms L L VAN DER MERWE: House Chairperson.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): Yes. Hello. Hon Vand der Merwe.
Ms L L VAN DER MERWE: House Chairperson, we are aware that the hon Zondo might be having connectivity issue.
Can he please come after the next speaker to finish his speech.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): Oh, I thought you wanted to finish his speech for him. That is fine. We note the time he already spent.
Ms L L VAN DER MERWE: House Chairperson, thank you so much.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): Thank you.
Afrikaans:
Dr W J BOSHOFF: Agb Huisvoorsitter, ...
English:
... it is interesting and maybe surprising that the FFP might at sometimes think that there is something which the EFF says is sensible.
Now we agree on the point that the higher education is not just expenditure, but it is an investment into the economy. It
is more than consumption in that sense it fundamentally differs from social grants which actually stimulates consumption and in the way it is supposed to stimulate the economy also but, in fact it actually only uses up the money which is available for other things.
However, that is where we differ from the EFF. There is in fact no such thing called free lunch as the saying goes. Now the price for free higher education and there are multiple prices. The one thing is that universities lose their independence because of the dependence the have from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, and it gives the state, yet another string attached to funding of universities. Then it also causes higher education to become detached from the labour market in this case. Because students can study basically everything. There are no criteria looking into the employability of students after they have completed the higher education. And therefore, we have this phenomenon of jobless or unemployed graduates. Then it concentrates state expenditure into one institution in this case NSFAS.
Now that invites two things on the one hand ineffectiveness and on the other hand corruption. If we look at NSFAS we see both. There is actually no end to the chronicle horror story
of NSFAS. Sometimes it looks like there is some way of improvement and it is back to the old style again.
Now the solution to this would be indeed to turn government or state-funding for higher education into loans which have to be paid back as there is no such thing called a free lunch. Then nothing of real value is ever free. If we have loans, there would be less admin problems to determine whether somebody qualifies for the loan. The money can be collected back by registering student on the pay as you earn system of SA Revenue Service, Sars, as soon as the student get funded and as soon as the student starts working can start paying back the money with an interest rate linked to the tax bracket which the student functions.
Then there is a shorter time for this investment in higher education to pay back the money because we do not have to wait until the persal has paid back all the taxes in the normal course of economic life, but to look at when they just pay back their loans as it should be. That will also cause higher education to be more aligned with the labour market and it will solve the problem of the missing middle as well as post- graduates, degrees or qualifications the people need to be professionally qualified. I thank you, hon Chairperson.
Mr S S ZONDO: I am back, Chairperson.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): We now go back to the hon Zondo. Hon member you have two and half minutes left, please go ahead.
The hon Zondo.
Mr S S ZONDO: Hon Chairperson, the IFP has always advocated for the policy of education for liberation. As His Excellency the late Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi the founder of the IFP taught us that education be used as a tool for liberation. He always emphasized that we understand that knowledge is the best leverage against oppression. Therefore, the oppression of poverty should not be used as a weapon to keep deceiving students away from bettering their lives and the lives of their families.
If the student has managed to overcome the lack of resources, and the harsh reality of being part of ... [Inaudible.] ... then still managed to obtain the marks needed for pursuing the higher education, they should be rewarded from National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS.
It is with in this mind that we call for the reconstruction of NSFAS and advocate for institutional funding model were institutions with regarding allowances to students. Students who depend on NSFAS funding deserve a system that is functional, efficient and reliable to ensure that their studies continue without unnecessary hindrances and delays.
In the recent years we have seen the devastation by a myriad of delays at students depending on NSFAS students where students wrote exams with empty stomachs as they were unable to afford a meal and as a basic necessity. In a country where education seem to be pulling on back barriers, we as the IFP made it our mission to ensure that education of our young people regardless of their socioeconomic status, remain a top priority as we have stated repeatedly education is not depriving by the fundamental right. Therefore, it is no way a young person accepts lack of services or for a justification to not further their education.
Young people should vote for the IFP on 29 May because we have been always calling for the removal or the resignation of the Minister of Higher Education as he is the one causing all the havoc that is happening. We have seen the resignation or the firing of the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of NSFAS and later
the firing of Mr Khosa who was the chairperson of the board. Who is next because the main person is still on the block? Let the people of South Africa ... [Inaudible.] I thank you.
Mr A M SHAIK-EMAM: Chair, sorry, moonlighting and not getting paid for it.
The ACTING CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): Go ahead. Please, go ahead.
Mr A M SHAIK EMAM: The NFP has a few concerns to raise. First of all, I know it's very easy for everybody to say, fee-free education, fee-free education. It sounds like a stuck record. I think we need to be very realistic about this. First of all, do we have the necessary financial resources? Secondly, do we have the necessary capacity to be able to accommodate all these people? Thirdly, and very importantly, we need to address the high dropout rate. Now, let's assume you're spending R12 billion on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, and that if there's a 60% dropout in the first year, it means you're losing an estimated R8 billion. Should we not be addressing that? Should we not be talking about ensuring that these TVET colleges that we are funding through the NSFAS speak to the skills needs of the country? What is
the purpose of thousands of them qualifying, and graduating, and you can't accommodate them because you've got an abundance in certain skills, and you've got a shortage in other skills? Should we not be addressing them? Then you've got the corruption when it comes to student accommodation. There are political parties that are apparently making demands on owners that they want a cut every month. If they don't do that, they don't want to allow these things to take place.
Again, we seem to have a problem there.
Then it's the issue of whether students are able to be accommodated as far as the transport is concerned, suitable accommodation, but more importantly, where are the mechanisms to monitor that these learners that you're giving them all this money are going to college every other day, that they are complying with the requirements, that they are passing, that they are doing the right thing so they can be an asset to society. Now, whilst we say we must provide them with education, we have to provide them with quality education.
We have to make sure in the interest of all the taxpayers that they are compliant. There can't be just a free-for-all, just paying for student financial aid, no mechanism to check
whether they're going to college or not, and high dropout rates. We can't have those things. We'd rather spend the money on those that are wanting to study and want to make a difference. Very importantly, like I said, the issue of this curriculum is very important, but we don't seem to be addressing that particular problem. So, as the NFP, we will support any measure to have fee-free education on condition you get value for money. We seem to be singing that song as the NFP, every other debate, value for money. So, if we can't get value for money, we need to have a rethink on the system.
Lastly, I want to say there needs to be some communication mechanism in place for those who are having difficulty reaching the NSFAS in getting correspondence, and responses in terms of the application, where we too can get involved to intervene so that we can ensure that those that are eligible for it, get it and get it timeously. Thank you very much, Chairperson.
Mr S NGCOBO: House Chairperson, section 29(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa states that everyone has a right to, “further education which the state through reasonable measures must make progressively available and accessible.” But when one looks at the state of higher
education in South Africa, it is clear the ANC-led government has failed to take reasonable measures to ensure that further education is made progressively available and accessible.
Each year, we see many young people being turned away from institutions of higher learning because this government has left them behind. Due to its mismanagement of the economy and corruption, the government has lost billions of rand over the years, leaving many young people with no money to access further education. Cadres have been enriching themselves, their families and friends, while many young people in institutions of higher learning have been neglected. That is why there is no money to fund fee-free higher education in South Africa.
IsiZulu:
Kuyimanje, Sihlalo, abanye babafundi e-UKZN eMgungundlovu baswele okuya ngisho nasethunjini. Sebeze bacele emiphakathini eyakhele inyuvesi. Konke lokho kungenxa kokwehluleka kukaHulumeni kanye no-NSFAS.
English:
We do not support the EFF’s motion because we believe that there is an alternative funding model which can be used to
make higher education progressively available, and that is the DA’s alternative funding model. Under this model, students will have access to a variety of government loans, each coming with favourable repayment conditions.
These differentiated loan schemes suggest the introduction of income bands linked to the portions of awards and the regular updating of these bands. There's no doubt that this approach has the potential to facilitate the repayment to the state at a later stage, thus ensuring that resources are available that can be redirected to towards supporting incoming students.
This way, we will ensure that loans cover the full cost of study of some eligible students, rather than a portion of the cost for a larger group. Under a DA-led government, proportional assistance will be provided to those in the missing middle, who can afford to pay a portion of their expenses by using updated criteria.
We will essentially fund NSFAS at a higher level to provide proper support for the poor and the missing middle. By so doing, we will ensure that all applicants from households with an annual income of up to R600 000 have a fair chance to apply
for financial aid. The funding model of loans will also include scholarships as an option.
Such scholarships will be awarded to outstanding students, and these will be nonrepayable. To reward hard work, loans will be converted into bursaries based on the academic performance of the students. We also do not think that it makes sense to provide free higher education for those who can afford to pay their tuition.
That is why that is why we believe that students from high- income households will not receive government financial support for fees or other expenses, as they will be able to pay for their own studies themselves. To address problems around accommodation, we believe that there must be public- private partnerships.
We acknowledge the crucial role played by private providers and developers in meeting the demand for student housing, especially in areas where the government efforts fall short. The current NSFAS approach, which often sees private service providers as enemies has to come to an end. We believe that this relationship should be enhanced. By so doing, we'll be able to solve a number of problems around accommodation. It is
clear that the DA's alternative funding model is the best solution to make higher education in South Africa progressively available.
IsiZulu:
Ngakhoke, Sihlalo ohloniphekile, ngomhlaka-29 May kulo nyaka abafundi ezikhungweni zemfundo ephakeme kanye nabobonke abantu ababhalisele ukuvota eNingizimu Afrika kumele baphume ngobuningi babo bavotele i-DA ngoba i-DA iyona kuphela enezixazululo esizokwazi ukuxazulula izinkinga ezibhekene nezikhungo zezemfundo ephakeme eNingizimu Arika.
English:
I thank you.
Mr W T LETSIE: Hon Chair, Deputy Minister has left some few minutes, can you please verify that.
The ACTING HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): Please continue.
Mr W T LETSIE: Thank you very much for that.
Sepedi:
Ke hlwekile akere? Ga ke na maminanyana?
English:
The ANC strongly believes that providing access to higher education for the unprivileged individuals can catalyse positive change in their personal lives and society, as a whole. The organization has consistently prioritized ensuring that individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds can use higher education – Please protect me Chair. ... in transforming their lives and contributing to the to the economy. Hon members, it is clear that higher education is important because it gives people the chance to learn specialized skills and knowledge.
This can help them to find good jobs and build sustainable lives as the job market changes. It is becoming more important to have diverse and well-educated workforce to support the economic growth and sustainable economy.
We believe that we have equipped individuals over the years to gain knowledge and critical thinking skills, where many were from poor backgrounds. Were able to break the cycles of poverty and contribute meaningfully to society. Universities are known for their innovation and research, making them important contributors to the technological advancement by
providing access to higher education for those who may not have the opportunity otherwise.
We create a more diverse pool of talent that can contribute to this advancement. This in turn has a positive impact on various industries and leads to economic development. The ANC has made strides in reducing inequalities by opening doors of higher education to those who are financially disadvantaged.
This has helped to reduce socioeconomic inequality and provide opportunities for the marginalized communities to access educational opportunities that were previously unavailable to them due to historical limitations.
Members and has National Student Financial Aid Scheme, Nsfas played a pivotal role in breaking the cycle of poverty for many low-income households in South Africa. It has contributed significantly to the development of black professionals by providing financial assistance to students. Access to education is crucial in breaking the cycle of poverty, as it equips individual with the necessary skills and knowledge required for better job opportunities.
The ANC believes that economic empowerment in high education goes beyond financial support. National Student Financial Aid
Scheme programme has empowered students by relieving them of financial constraints, allowing them to focus on their studies. This has led to increased graduation rates and improved earning potential for graduates contributing to the economic upliftment of individuals and their families. We have witnessed the positive effects of the increased funding from Nsfas which has resulted in a significant increase in the number of black professionals in various things. This includes professionals in medicine, engineering, business, science and other important disciplines.
The emergence of a diverse group of skilled professionals contributes to a more inclusive and representative workforce. Transformative change involves addressing skills shortages in the labour market. Under the ANC-led government financial aid is provided to students pursuing fields that have high demand and skills shortages. National Student Financial Aid Scheme played a vital role in bridging critical gaps in the labour market, particularly in the development of a knowledge-based economy.
The challenge of balancing fiscal sustainability and affordability while supporting the missing middle in higher education is significant. The missing middle refers to
students whose families have incomes that are too high to qualify for full financial aid but are still unable to afford the cost of higher education. The government has made significant progress in its funding model by expanding the eligibility criteria for free education.
The new criteria cover a wide range of income levels within the missing middle. Providing more students with financial aid. This ensures that the financial inequality is not the barrier for anyone seeking education. The social justice and equality component of free education is crucial for ensuring equal opportunities for economically disadvantaged individuals particularly those who were previously disadvantaged. The ANC- led government has advocated practical examples of transformation and it understands that funding is an essential component of contributing to the economy. By providing funding, this government has produced a skilled and educated workforce. That is something that nobody can argue against.
Treasury has studied various funding models for higher education, including income contingent loans and other innovative financial mechanism to support the missing middle. This government has already committed to support the poor and the working-class student to understand which has evolved into
a grant. It is evident that the government needs to improve their livelihood of these students.
Accessing opportunities of learning and affirmative action is crucial in South Africa, especially given its history of apartheid and the resulting inequalities. Affirmative action is an intervention aimed at redressing these imbalances by providing opportunities to individuals from previously disadvantaged communities. These policies have encouraged the inclusion of underrepresented groups in various sectors, including in education.
We strongly advocate for the development of a diverse and inclusive workforce, which will help foster a more representative and equitable society. Affirmative action plays a critical and vital role in creating an equitable society by transforming higher education institution. By actively promoting the enrolment and hiring of individuals from historically marginalized groups, universities and colleges become more reflective of the country’ demographics. This leads to a more inclusive and supportive academic environment.
It is worth emphasizing that the ANC has recognized the importance of providing free education in South Africa as a
crucial measure for promoting social transformation and economic development. These initiatives are aimed at addressing the historical injustices that affect the country’ education system and creating more inclusive, equitable and accessible opportunities for all, regardless of the of their socioeconomic background.
The ANC understands that education is a powerful tool that can break the cycle of poverty and inequality, and that by investing in quality education, the country can build a more just, prosperous and sustainable future. Our strategy has been to expand the Tvet colleges sector and embrace digital learning opportunities. This has enabled us to increase the supply of skills and trade education which has helped address the demand and supply gap.
Tvet colleges, have recognized the importance of providing industry relevant curricula to their students. To achieve these, Tvet colleges have taken several measures, one of which is close collaborations with industries. These partnerships allow student colleges to tailor their programmes to the needs of the job market, ensuring that students are equipped with the skills that are needed.
We have seen post COVID-19 that the digital learning opportunities can extend education beyond the physical constraints of traditional institutions. Online courses and eLearning platforms that provided flexible options for LET youth to upskill or complete their education. Combining traditional classroom teaching thus digital element creates a blended learning environment. This approach caters to different learning styles and allows students to access resources, material and environment.
Maybe at this point, Chair, I must skip and try and respond to what our colleagues have said. I think maybe let me start with what the DA would have said at the state of the nation address with their hon Tintswalo Khakhau. She said that Nsfas could have a budget cut of R1 billion less, this year and that will result in 87 000 students not being funded. Well, let us do a simple mathematics here. I think those of you who have calculators can help me with this one. If 87 000 students need R1 billion for funding, it will mean that the R47 billion that this ANC-led government has put aside for the last academic year would have funded over 4 million students, last year alone. I am sure you know that that does not make sense. In fact, DA believes if you take that mathematics, it costs
R11 000 a year for a student to study in South Africa? I mean,
how... [Inaudible.] 01:39 is that? Secondly, she went on to say under what she termed solution number three when she was debating in the state of the nation address and I want to quote her. She said:
Reforming Nsfas and creating a sustainable environment and partnership with the private sector.
I am sure you can hear that. In fact, you will hear when I respond to hon King. What is the DA’s policy on free education? They want children from the low-income households who are Blacks, Indians and so-called Coloureds to be subjected to banks and loans so that immediately after graduating they go and work to pay these loans and they do not work to uplift the economic environment of their families.
Hon Tintswaloship Mbana sponsored the debate. He claims that they are calling for free education, which, by the way, we are providing. As hon Deputy Minister has said that we are providing free education to those we can afford currently.
Tintswaloship Mbana himself is a child coming from the rural province of Mpumalanga. He attended a free fee primary school, attended free fee secondary schooling and did well for himself to get into an institution of higher learning. Guess what?
Funded by Nsfas, he graduated and obtained a university qualification, a true Tintswalo with the programme or a product of this ANC-led government policies that he wants to come here and disregard.
The Tintswaloship again wants to mislead the nation by saying that Minister Blade was caught on audio recordings. South Africans can listen to that audio here is no way. There is no way where Minister Blake is there on those recordings. Even that recording does not say Minister Blade is on the recordings.
Ms H O MKHALIPHI: Hon House Chairperson, on a point of order: Hon Shikwambana is not Tintswalo. So, that person on the podium must stop calling hon Shikwambana Tintswalo. He is hon Mandla Shikwambana, president of the EFF Student Command
The ACTING HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): Thank you, hon Mkhaliphi. Hon Letsie, please go ahead, be on your lane, you have three added minutes in your time from the Deputy Minister.
Mr W T LETSIE: Thank you, very much, Chair. Hon Shikwambana sponsored this debate just to read through the ambitious,
unattainable manifesto of the party of 11%. Maybe we have given them enough free airtime. Maybe let me go to hon King, as expected, she argues that what the ANC-led government is doing for children that come from a low-income household by providing free education to over R1,2 million students, as we heard from the Deputy Minister, who over 70% of them are Blacks, is not sustainable. This is what the DA stands for. It does not want these numbers that we are talking about to succeed. She argues that, the state must save money instead of providing children from this low-income households with education so that they can take themselves out of the bondage of the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and social ills. And that is what in essence the DA policy is. They do not want any government that seeks to give any black child a chance or any Indian or coloured child, a chance to participate in the mainstream economy.
Hon Mkhaliphi should not have been debated because she said nothing that hon Shikwambana said. That is to read from the ambitious unattainable manifesto of that 11% party. Hon Zondo of the IFP, again did not disappoint. He had absolutely no point to make except to lay unsuspecting voters by mentioning the late Prince Mangosuthu’s name, may his soul rest in peace,
hoping to ride on the sympathy of voters out there. So, there is nothing there to respond because he said nothing.
Hon Boshoff, it is interesting that, for the first time, the Freedom Front Plus openly disagrees with the DA on the importance education. While the DA says we must save money and have the poor remaining poor. You are saying let us subject them to loans and all of this. So, I do not know how that moonflop pack of yours will now unfold. Having seen that, at least, you have openly disagreed with them for the first time. You stand for what you say that we must loan poor Blacks, Indians and the so-called Coloureds to get education because for you, with this Blacks, Indians and so-called Coloureds graduate and start earning a salary they must not progress.
They must rather concentrate on paying off the loans and so that they remain poor for the rest of their lives. We see you and I hope our voters at home also see you.
Just a point of correction, hon Shaik, Nsfas students actually account for 80% of all graduated universities and it is not them who are dropping out. Hon Ngcobo of the DA has come out to say that Blacks, Indians and so-called Coloureds must be subjected to loans. He only said this and I want to speak for him now. He only said this to avoid being sent to Harvard. You
know there, in that party, if you say contrary to what those with the light pigmentation who do not want you to support your own Blacks, Indians and so-called Coloureds, they send you to Harvard as it has been seen by many others.
So, to the people of South Africa, you have heard all political parties speak here today. I am sure you now know who has the best interest of those coming from low-income household as far as tertiary education is concerned. We will continue to fight for those who come from low-income households to get free education. Maybe at this point I must say that we are indeed concerned, as we have said many times, about the state of Nsfas. It is not the institution but the personnel working at that institution. We want a workforce at Nsfas that understands that every single hour they do not disburse funds, it is one hour too much for a black child who has absolutely nothing in his refrigerator or hers. It is a one hour too much and for a for a child at this university who has absolutely nothing to look for something to get into their stomachs. So, want to ask those people who are working at Nsfas that you cannot continue to take long to respond to appeals of students. You cannot continue to take long to give our students at these universities, their disbursements. Every single hour that you are taking, is one hour too long. If you
cannot work diligently in resolving your own problems there, maybe it is time that you ship out so that we get the workforce at Nsfas that will put the best interest of these kids at heart first.
The ANC-led government has continued to put, in the medium- term budget around R153 billion, only on bursaries in the next two years this year, next year and the year after, so that the Blacks, Indians and so-called Coloureds who come from low- income households continue to get free education. Please do not forget to go on 29 of May to vote correctly and to vote for the only party that gives free education not only on paper with an ambitious manifesto. We have been doing it for a few years now.
We have over 4 million graduates since 2018 who have been funded by Nsfas, 4 million Blacks, Indians and so-called Coloureds who have come out of poverty and who are today providing for their families. This year, it is 1,2 million and next year, probably 1,3 million. We will continue to provide education free education to these kids and making sure that they take their families out of poverty. Thank you very much. Do not forget to vote for the ANC on 29 May 2024 in the. 10th of May 2024. Thank you.
The ACTING HOUSE CHAIRPERSON (Mr Q R Dyantyi): Thank you, hon Letsie, hon Mkhaliphi saved three minutes and that will be added to hon Shikwambana. You now have five minutes, hon Shikwambana.
Mr M SHIKWAMBANA: Hon Chair, it is not our problem that the Deputy Minister seems to have hearing challenges. That explains the status of Department of Higher Education and also the crisis which we are faced with at Nsfas. It is also not surprising that the DA is actually not supporting our Motion of free education because they know that it does not seek to benefit them. It seeks to benefit the black majority of young people, the students of South Africa, and they have no interest on the Black Lives. That is why they will never support anything that seeks to transform or seeks to give access to black people and black students higher education.
So, with hon Letsie, he just spoke a lot of things but said nothing. He tried by all means to want us to soothe into the concept of the into the concept of the Tintswalo. We do not know who, is Tintswalo because Tintswalo is known by Cyril Ramaphosa and him, hon Letsie. So, we are not going to take those things into consideration. House Chair, the founding principles and programmes of the EFF are that of fighting for
free quality education as one of its fundamental pillars. Our call for the localizations of mines, banks, and other strategic sectors of the economy has always been linked to the provision of free quality education.
Our calls for an end to corruption in all government department has been linked to our demand for free education. Our calls for increased for corporate taxes has always been linked to the provision of free education. When we launch the EFF Student Command on 16 of June 2015, the founding principle of the EFF Student Command is that of fighting for free education and we want free education.
Now, we know that since 1994 the ruling party has made empty promises of free education and have not lived to the commitment of free, I mean of their own Freedom Charter that says, “The doors of learning shall be open to everyone”.
Instead, the ruling party has closed the doors of learning and culture by allowing institutions to exclude thousands of students across the country. Free higher education for all in South Africa is possible and that is needed.
It is the will of politicians to introduce free education for all. In the immediate, the government must illegalize or must
make it illegal all forms of financial exclusion and to allow all students to finish their studies without problems. All student debt should be scraped off and all students be allowed to attain their degrees. The future of this country should be a future of educated youth and not of semi-literate politicians that filled the parliamentary benches of the ANC and the DA. We cannot leave the future of this country to the uneducated leaders because they will lead us nowhere.
So, House Chair, free education is the solution. I see hon Letsie is trying, by all means, to mislead South Africans and says there is free education in South Africa. He speaks of free education in South Africa deeply referring to Nsfas.
National Student Financial Aid Scheme, Nsfas is not a solution of free education. Nsfas has collapsed and is collapsing. Our students are struggling on the ground because of the very same Nsfas.
The only solution of Nsfas is quality free decolonised education that is going to be given to all qualifying students with academic merit. These students must be allowed to the institutions of higher learning without any form of going up and down, applying for a funding from Nsfas which requires you to even explain to them how poor you are before they can give
education. Education should not be treated like that. If we are serious about South African education, we should deliberately give all qualifying South African students an access to higher education. This must not be in a form of loans like the DA wants, not in a form of Nsfas like the ANC speaks about but in a form like the dependable free decolonised education for all. Thank you, House Chair.
Debate concluded.
Business of the day concluded.
The mini-plenary session rose at 12:15.
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