Student groups dismiss Zuma’s varsity talks
THE EFF Students Command (EFFSC) has slammed a meeting between university heads and President Jacob Zuma as superficial.
The meeting on Tuesday discussed violence and destruction of property on campuses, funding for students and transformation, among other things.
“This was not a legit meeting. It is confirmation that predominantly white institutions are finally feeling the pressure from all the student uprisings,” the EFFSC said.
The Higher Education Transformation Network also condemned the meeting.
“Vice-chancellors complain about student violence and the funding failures of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), and they continue to pay lip service to transformation. Yet they are the same hypocrites that continue to sabotage the nation by flouting employment equity and labour relations legislation with impunity,” it said.
After the meeting on Tuesday, Zuma said any shortfalls in financial aid shouldn’t be used as a justification for hooliganism and vandalism.
“Equally, students protesting for the transformation of institutions must focus on dialogue and legitimate means of negotiation and protest to bring about change. Where such unacceptable violent behaviour occurs, institutional management must take firm action in line with the law and their respective policies and rules.”
Zuma announced that a task team would be set up to explore solutions to short-term student funding challenges. Funding for poor academically capable students disbursed though the NSFAS had increased from R441 million in 1997 to more than R9.5 billion this year.
The task team would consist of officials from the Department of Higher Education and Training, the Presidency, the NSFAS, two vice-chancellors, two student representatives and other higher education stakeholders.
Belinda Bozzoli, the DA’s spokeswoman on higher education and training, said the task team would fail if it didn’t include representation from the Treasury.
The DA would write to the president to ensure that Treasury representatives, empowered to commit the proper funds, would also be a part of the task team.