Students leave the campus at the North-West University in Mahikeng, South Africa, (also known as Mafikeng) Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. Protesting students burned down several buildings on the campus Wednesday forcing the evacuation and indefinite closure till further notice a spokesman said Thursday. (AP Photo)

South African president, Jacob Zuma announced that free higher education is imminent for first year university students in 2018.  Zuma made the pronouncement during a breakfast show organised by Progressive Movement Forum ahead of ANC National Elective Conference in Nasrec, Johannesburg on Saturday.

“We have taken a decision that free education will be allocated to all students from households with a combined annual income of up to R350 000 by 2018 academic year. We have reached that decision after considering all the reports and the state of our universities and TVET colleges.

“We also had a consultative meeting with relevant departments, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Higher Education and Training, the Presidential Fiscal Committee and Cabinet. Therefore we reaffirm that education remains an apex priority of government’s pro-poor policies and a central pillar of our fight against the socio-economic legacy of apartheid and colonialism,” he said.

Zuma further said the past injustices resulted in triple challenge of race, gender and class-based poverty, inequality and unemployment as outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP). He added that the failure to accelerate equitable access and success in higher education and training directly threatens the achievability of key objective and everything they have built thus far.

“Government will increase subsidies to universities from 0.68% to 1% of the GDP over the next five years. This was recommended by the Heher Commission and is in line with comparable economies in order to address the overall gross underfunding of the sector. This will be done in order to kick-start a skills revolution towards and in pursuit of the radical socio-economic transformation programme as outlined during the 2017 State of the Nation Address (SONA).

“The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Hlengiwe Mkhize shall revise this quantum periodically in consultation with the Minister of Finance, Malusi Gigaba. Having amended the definition of poor and working class students, government will now introduce fully subsidised free higher education and training for poor and working class South African undergraduate students,” Zuma said.

He added that the initiative will commence in 2018 with students in their first year of study at public universities. Zuma said students categorised as poor and working class, under the new definition, will be funded and supported through government grants not loans.

“The provision of fully subsidised free education and training will be extended to all current and future poor and working class South African students at all public TVET colleges starting in 2018 and phased-in over a period of five years.

“For TVET colleges, full cost of study will include tuition fee, prescribed study material, meals, accommodation and/or transport. The government will further invest in the training and development of existing TVET staff and the recruitment of additional qualified staff to improve the quality of teaching and learning at TVET colleges,” Zuma said.

He further said funds will also be directed towards the improvement of infrastructure in the TVET sector. Zuma added that NSFAS packages already allocated to existing NSFAS students in their further years of study will be converted from loans to 100% grants effective immediately.

“This policy intervention will enable government to extend fully subsidized free higher education to youth from well over 90% of South African households. Duly, from 2018 onwards, eligible South African children of the unemployed, social grant recipients, South Africans earning below a minimum wage, domestic workers, farm workers, mine workers and entry level civil servants such as teachers, nurses, policemen, municipal workers, security guards, refuse collectors and informal traders amongst others will now access public universities and TVET colleges for free through grants provided by their government.

“In order to achieve its intended targets of access and success, fully subsidized full cost of study will include tuition fee, Prescribed Study Material (PSM), meals, accommodation and/or transport. As a result of this substantial increase in subsidy to universities, there will be no tuition fee increment for students from households earning up to R600 000 a year during the 2018 academic year,” he said.

Zuma added that the matter in relation to the management of NSFAS debt due to its complexity will be dealt with by Mkhize. He said after due diligence has been undertaken by Mkhize, the department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and the National Treasury will determine the quantum of funding required.-Newsnote

By BAKANG MOKOTO

Potchefstroom Magistrate’s Court granted bail to two people who allegedly attacked and assaulted a traffic officer between Klerksdorp and Johannesburg on N12 on Sunday last week.

Sabata Kortman (32) and his sister, Ntswaki Kortman (26) were arrested on Sunday After they allegedly attacked and assaulted Johannes Manthi. They appeared at Potchefstroom Magistrate’s Court on Thursday for a formal bail application. Sabata Kortman was granted R5000 bail, while his sister, Ntswaki received R2000 bail.

Kortman was seen on a video man-handling Manthi during the incident. He also threatened to ‘cut-off’ Manthi’s manhood. Manthi said he handed Sabata a fine for overtaking in a barrier line.

“I was on duty with two of my female colleagues 12km outside Potchefstroom when the incident happened. I stopped the motorist who was driving a Yaris vehicle after he overtook another vehicle on the barrier line. I gave him a fine for breaking the law, however all hell broke loose when I requested a physical address from him.

“Kortman gave me a post address instead, but I politely explained him that I needed a physical address. He failed to cooperate and hurled insults at me. He demanded his driver’s licence back but I refused. Kortman man-handled and assaulted me in the process,” Manthi said.

A 47 year-old man is living with disability after being involved in a horrible car accident back in 2013. Manthi said he lost a limb during the accident and being attacked in public especially by motorist was absurd and distasteful.

“The area is one of the high risk areas and more than 55% of accidents took place here. So, being attacked for doing my job is debauched. We are here to assist and render our services to all road users. Traffic officers’ high visibility on the roads, endeavour to minimise disruption. Traffic officers also provide safe and timely response to incidents.

“We liaise with emergency services where necessary and relieve congestion as soon as possible. So, this incident will not deter my spirit and I am looking forward to work with cooperative motorists on the roads during festive season,” he said.

Meanwhile, MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management department, Dr Mpho Motlhabane said necessary steps will be taken against motorists who find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Motlhabane said this during Arrive Alive campaign in Klerksdorp.

“We will not allow law enforcement officials to be intimidated by motorists. We also encouraged all those who will be travelling to various destinations to abide by the rules of the road at all times.

“The department does not condone any form of behaviour where our police will feel threatened when they have to carry out their duties. It is important that all sections of society respect police officials as they are the custodians of the law,” he said.

The case was postponed until 22 January 2018.

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