Ja, well, no: ANC just doesn’t know

DEAR SIR — The governing ANC’s response to the higher education crisis is all over the place. They veer from admonition to attempted solution via inconsistent messages and action and the occasional unthought-through slogan.

President Jacob Zuma panicked last year, usurped the statutory rights of universities and declared that there would be no fee increase. Last week, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said universities should decide for themselves what the fee increase should be. (He could not resist a bit of statist interference by adding that he thought the rise should not be higher than 8%).

Last year, when students finally realised that the state, rather than the universities, is the locus of power in making decisions about education funding and marched to the Union Buildings, the ANC was forced to claim the problem as its own.

But this year, the minister, presumably for once backed by the president, cynically handed all responsibility back to the universities, hiding behind a suddenly discovered respect for university autonomy to pit students against universities rather than itself. Last year, the president declared that a commission of inquiry would be set up to tackle the urgent problems of funding in the sector. But we hear that the commission will be able to report only in mid-2017, meaning that its recommendations are unlikely to be implemented before 2019.

Last year, the government declared that there was no more money for universities; but this year it added R13bn to the higher education budget to stave off student protests.

The minister has consistently called on students to return to class and desist from violence. But last week, the ANC secretary-general said that universities should be closed for months on end to “teach students a lesson”. The minister duly echoed this.

The ANC-aligned South African Students Congress shut down Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in July. But today the minister says it is being supportive. Meanwhile, labour federation Cosatu speaks in favour of the protesting students.

So, which is it? Is the ANC in favour of protest or against it? Does it endorse university autonomy or not? Does it believe the state has some responsibilities, the state carries all the responsibility or the universities have to bear the brunt themselves? Does it have money or doesn’t it? Does it want a rapid solution or not? Does it want universities to close, or students to continue with their studies? We don’t really know.