Regular readers of this website, who I count as myself and
possibly an automatic Spyware monitor, might be surprised to discover that this
post has gone back in time by 10 years.
No, this is not some DeLorean driving back in time but this
slightly conservative blog is leaning back to its liberal roots of student
idealism and revolutionary ideas. We are sitting here on 22 October 2015, the “day
after tomorrow”, but not much has changed in the past decade in South Africa, a country
which is in a state of static flux and mediocre progression… and its students
are fed up.
The ANC government’s decision to increase tertiary education fees essentially
has made the dream of escaping poverty unreachable for many South Africans who
cannot even pass the first hurdle of registration fees which are three times
higher than a minimum monthly salary. At the same time, the government spends
its limited resources by propping up the tribal loyalties of the ruling elite to
entrench its power. Of course, attacking this culture of corruption is clichéd and doesn’t
need to be explained further. However, to the “born free” generation, words such
as Nkandla, service delivery and slow-BEE transformation have become symbols of
dashed hopes.
Nothing is free and neither should tuition fees be either,
but every South African that has the will but not the financial means to develop
his or her skills should be given a fighting chance. Can the universities not expand on their student loan systems where students can pay back their tuition once they
are employed or pay back by social service? By increasing the
fees as a solution for a dire funds deficit, these students cannot even start
on the employment map and they just will be transferred as another cost to
government’s other social security budgets.
It is economics 101: a flourishing economy
must have a sustainable middle-class and an equitable distribution of wealth that
broadens the tax base. By increasing tertiary fees, another generation in South
Africa is being excluded from joining the skilled job market, and so confining
their families to an unbreakable cycle of poverty. Needless to say, South
Africa’s skills shortage has to be addressed immediately as the only long term solution to re-generate employment and alleviate its shameful unemployment rate.
This is the half-baked future of a South Africa dreamed
about 20 years ago. It is a country where the white minority graspingly holds
on to its share of the pie, and the ruling ANC is most concerned with how to
split the pie with its cohorts but few are worried about how to keep the oven
burning so more pies can be baked to feed those who are hungry. The irony is
that the ANC, which by its nature and constitution is the freedom fighter of
South Africa’s history, is now seen as the establishment and a hindrance as
they sit in their ivory towers in Tshwane. In being so obsessed with addressing
its past, South Africa is forgetting about its future. Education should be a
national security interest, and if it means that belts have to be tightened in
foreign affairs, military spending or for one of Zuma’s wives then so be it.
Zuma’s tenure has been defined by directionless movement without
a clear plan on how to address the country’s long term issues. The ANC has not
provided a clear map of the country’s future, and to quote a relevant movie of
the day, where we are going there may be no Rhodes, or no Wits and UCT either!
No comments:
Post a Comment