Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance would fight for higher education funding, DA leader Mmusi Maimane said on Thursday. “No qualifying student should be withheld from the opportunity to pursue higher education because they cannot afford it,” said Maimane at a media briefing in Parliament. “We must empower young people through education to secure our democratic future,” he said.
The DA, he said, “supports the legitimate protests of students against Jacob Zuma's government that is failing to provide both students and institutions of higher learning with adequate funding”. Maimane shared that the National Assembly Programming Committee on Thursday morning confirmed that the House would debate the state of higher education next week after a briefing from Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande.
He said the party would hold Nzimande to account, and if he could not take responsibility for the crisis the country found itself in, nor provide solutions, “he must resign”. He stated the country wass at a “tipping point” as many of the county's youth ran amok showcasing their unhappiness with the education system, and with the fruits of democracy, which they felt they were not receiving. He said South Africa “now requires that President Zuma shows strong and decisive leadership.
This is a crisis of his government's making and must be addressed as a matter of urgency”. Turning his focus to the youth, Maimane said: “Young people are being limited in their opportunities to study and find work as a result of government's failure to fund higher education and grow the economy to create jobs.”
Noting the breach of security which took place on Parliament's premises on Wednesday, he said that it “resulted in the detention, arrest and prosecution of a number of students”. Maimane urged the South African Police Service and National Prosecuting Authority to “show both restraint and fairness in the treatment of students”. He also urged students to obey the law as they protested.
He further noted how during the medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) on Wednesday, Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene, had “astoundingly failed to address the funding crisis and provide hope for students”.
Maimane said university fees had more than doubled while funding per student head had declined over the past 20 years. Maimane said the DA believed that “the higher education funding crisis can be addressed so long as there is political will to do so from the ANC”.
African News Agency
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