ANC wants to clip wings of varsities
Autonomy frustrates free education, according to East Cape proposal
IF the Eastern Cape ANC has its way, the governing party should come out of its elective conference at Nasrec in Soweto with a clear programme to end the institutional autonomy enjoyed by universities in South Africa.
This is based on the party’s belief that it frustrates the attainment of free education.
This was said by the ANC’s provincial secretary, Lulama Ngcukayitobi, prior to a two-day provincial general council today and tomorrow which will refine policy positions ahead of the national conference.
Ngcukayitobi said the Eastern Cape would reject the Heher Commission’s recommendation that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) be replaced with the Income Contingent Loan system which would be financed by the banks .
Instead, the province will push for the ANC to see to it that free education is delivered to students from poor and working-class communities.
However, he said the Eastern Cape would also argue that the government should develop policy to challenge the “free-for-all” autonomy exercised by universities.
“We are of the view that universities must be regulated because their so-called autonomy contributes towards the difficulty to attain free education,” Ngcukayitobi said.
“The cost of education in our universities is too high because there is a free-for-all in how they determine their tuition fees and other student costs, which is a concern because it excludes the poor and that is a concern that the ANC must address decisively.”
Also, the Eastern Cape ANC would propose that part of the regulation of universities would include probing how the qualifications offered and the curriculum linked up with the government’s development goals.
“The graduates universities produce must have the necessary skills that are in demand in the market and government and, as such, the university curriculum must speak to that to avoid further escalation of the unemployed graduates scourge.”
Ngcukayitobi said the province was also concerned about the high dropout rate in the basic education phase in light of statistics that revealed only half of all pupils that started Grade 1 made it to matric.
Today and tomorrow are meant to give party members and the public a chance to discuss policy positions to ready the province to make a meaningful contribution on policy matters at Nasrec, where the ANC will adopt policies and elect a new leadership.
Discussion commissions in East London will dwell on issues of strategy and tactics, economic transformation, organisational renewal, peace and stability, communication and the “battle of ideas”, education, health and governance.
Ngcukayitobi said there would be another one-day provincial general council next week before the national conference to consolidate suggestions.
The province would also strive to lobby for its unique proposal that the ANC consider electoral reforms on how it elects its leaders, Ngcukayitobi said.
The policy proposal was initially brought into the public discourse by ANC provincial chairman Oscar Mabuyane in June.
Ngcukayitobi said the province was happy that its party electoral reform suggestion had been embraced by the ANC veterans’ league and party stalwarts.
“When the entire membership of the party directly votes for leaders, membership will have more power on how the party is run, while leaders will only carry out decisions of the membership,” he said.
There is a free-for-all in how they determine their tuition fees