Malema disappointed in #MidTermBudget

Published Oct 26, 2016

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Cape Town - Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema on Wednesday said he was disappointed that calls for free higher education had not been fully met in the 2016 medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS).

Malema lashed out at the ruling African National Congress (ANC) for failing to provide free tertiary education, suggesting that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who delivered the MTBPS in Parliament, had also had his hands tied. “Students are angry. They [students] were promised free education in 1994 and the ANC owes it to this generation to deliver free education. We must stop this thing of shifting goalposts and wanting to accuse other people for our failures,” Malema said.

“The ANC must take full responsibility and continue to look for money, call a national dialogue where concrete proposals will be made on where money can be sourced so that we finance this free education. It is not going to go away, it is going to happen, year in, year out, until free education is delivered.”

Earlier, protesting students clashed with police outside Parliament after handing Gordhan a memorandum, with stun grenades being used to disperse the crowd of protesters.

Malema said the EFF differed with Gordhan on the what the country's spending priorities should be. “We do not agree with his budget, we don't agree that he did not declare free education. But his limitation is that he is serving a wrong organisation,” Malema said.

Gordhan allocated an additional R17.6 billion to funding higher education over the next three years to 2019.

African News Agency

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