Mantashe flays ANCYL’s stance on varsity fees hike
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has slated his party’s youth wing for rejecting Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande’s proposed tertiary education fee increment of not more than 8%.
Speaking at the 13th national conference of the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union (Sactwu), Mantashe instead applauded Nzimande’s announcement on higher education fees, saying it was the right step towards free, tertiary education for the poor.
“We would like to express our support for comrade Blade’s [Nzimande] decision ... I have seen this, people shouting from different angles, including our youth league. What they miss comrades is that the ANC has committed to free education for the poor,” said Mantashe.
He said the ANC believed that those who earned enough money to pay for their children’s university fees should continue to do so, but that the state should support poor children until they obtained at least a junior-level degree. On Monday, Nzimande announced that tertiary institutions were allowed to hike their fees by not more than 8% and that the state would fund the fee increases of poor students who are beneficiaries of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. Nzimande also made provision to cover fee increments for students in the so-called missing middle, which are those whose parents earn more to qualify for NSFAS but too little to afford university fees on their own.
The ANC Youth League on Tuesday came out against Nzimande’s decision, saying it reiterated its position that there should be a moratorium on all university fees, pending the outcomes of the presidential commission on free education.
Nzimande’s decision has led to violent protests at institutions of higher learning across the country, with student organisations vowing to continue with their demonstrations until there’s a 0% fee increase across the board.
Mantashe said Nzimande’s decision was the most important step towards achieving free education.