Nehawu slams IMF queries on higher education in SA

THE National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) said yesterday it was concerned by the “official queries” made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) representative in South Africa on the policies of free higher education in the country.

This comes after reports that Montfort Mlachila, the IMF’s senior resident and representative in South Africa, queried the country’s move to offer free tertiary education, saying more money should instead be spent on primary and secondary education.

“Spending a lot more money at the tertiary level through free tertiary education is missing the crucial issues. A lot of the students who do get to tertiary education and get it for free can definitely afford it. Even if they can’t afford it immediately they can in future by getting jobs,” Mlachila was quoted as saying.

At the beginning of this year, the South African government introduced fee-free tertiary education for all students from homes whose income is less than R350000 per annum.

Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha said the IMF regurgitated the Verwoerdian doctrine and was stating that the South African government should merely spend on basic education, which was another way of saying that it must keep the university education elite and predominantly white.

“Mlachila betrays his ignorance of the fact that until the 2015-17 students’ uprisings in higher education, budgetary allocations to universities generally remained stagnant while demands for access increased. This was part of the neoliberal dogma, assimilated by the post-1994 government from the same institutions such as the IMF,” Saphetha said.

“We believe that the IMF has no expertise to make comments on education and other social services, and this is reflected in its track record in Africa… It must stay out of the South African democratic policy-making process,” he said.

Meanwhile, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde is in South Africa meeting SA Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago on recent economic developments in the country. Lagarde’s visit is part of her annual tour of African countries. She will pay a courtesy call on President Cyril Ramaphosa and meet with other stakeholders.