Parliament - The ANC is politically committed to working towards delivering free education, President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday when pressed on the subject by the Economic Freedom Fighters.
EFF MP Mbuyseni Ndlozi asked Zuma during presidential question time in the National Assembly what his “political attitude” was towards the demand from student protestors for free university education.
“I am sure you will recall honourable member that the matter of free education is a policy of the ruling party, that is our policy, established decades ago and we have tried to begin to implement it,” Zuma said.
“That is why at the lower levels there are schools that are free from fees, as part of the implementation of that policy. What we have not done is to say from today the education is free, but we have said that is our goal.”
He said this had resulted in students from poor families attending school free up to matric.
“With regard to the institutions of higher learning, that is a matter we have been looking at and the department has been looking at it to actually put up a commission or a grouping to deal with the matter, investigate it, there is even a report that has been written on that issue… how do we implement this. That report will be taken into account by the commission.
“What I am happy about is that for the first time in the country, everybody agreed with the ANC policy that there must be free education,” he added to applause from the ANC.
Zuma skipped over questions as to how a projected funding gap of some R2.3 billion, created by his October 25 announcement that there would be no university fee increases in 2016, would be bridged.
“The issue of zero percent is not going to affect the start of schools next year… and there will be money to pay.”
The opposition accuses Zuma of bowing to student protesters for political expediency and leaving Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande and under-funded universities to struggle with the shortfall.
This week, the chief financial officer of the department of higher education told MPs that it had only R300 million it could reprioritise to help plug the funding gap.
Zuma also called for measures to make universities more accountable, saying they could not have absolute autonomy as they benefited from public funding.
“While accountability mechanisms exist already, it is clear that such mechanisms need to be streamlined and improved,” he said.
“There is no autonomy that could be absolute. It is relative, and everything is relative, and that is what must be found within balance… that is a very important political point, and we are saying therefore how do you balance these two.”
Zuma said the issue would in part be addressed by the new higher education bill that was tabled in Parliament recently, amid the nationwide protests that prompted him to scrap fee increases. It would also be mulled by the commission he promised to set up to deal with a range of issues raised by protesters.
“Without giving instructions to the commission, we will hear when they do their report, what are they saying on those matters.”
He insisted that the new bill, which has garnered criticism, would in no way interfere with academic freedom.
African News Agency
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