Zille lashes out at race as criteria

THE use of race as a proxy for disadvantage is not viable and the University of Cape Town needs to move away from this admissions policy, DA leader Helen Zille said yesterday.

She was speaking as part of a DA Student Organisation’s election campaign for SRC elections and did not mention the university’s admissions policy directly, but discussed it briefly in response to questions from students. She said there should be a system in place which looked at and weighed genuine disadvantage.

Zille told the story of a woman’s CV which had landed on her desk. She had noticed that the woman had matriculated, with an A in one subject and a C aggregate, from a disadvantaged school.

Zille had realised that a C aggregate from that school was comparable to an A in a top school and encouraged her staff to interview the woman, who now held a top job in the DA.

“I believe the top five percent in every school needs to get into a good university.”

Zille suggested that criteria such as a prospective student’s school, their family’s income and whether they had required financial aid to attend a top school be looked at.

Earlier this year, UCT called for public submissions on its admissions policy which is being reviewed.

Zille called for a changed economy which included all South Africans in its success.

“I do not have all of the answers as to what that new economic consensus should look like. But I do know one thing – so long as our deep, deep inequalities in education still exist, we will never redress the economic injustices of apartheid. It is as simple as that.”

The DA, through its governance of the Western Cape, already had evidence of what led to improved results, she said.

“More time in the classroom, working through the core curriculum, with a good text book in each subject, a focus on literacy and numeracy, and good teachers who are well prepared and on time.”