DEFEND STUDENT VICTORIES AGAINST DELIBERATE NEO-LIBERAL AGENDA
The South African Students Congress (SASCO) notes with caution the deliberate attempts to reverse the progressive victories by the students of our land against fee hikes and neo-liberal student funding by the government. The special NEC meeting of our organisation convened by the President under section 14.1 (d) of our constitution to deliberate and reflect on the budget speech by Mr. Titus Mboweni, the minister of Finance.
The special NEC meeting of our organisation is disappointed at the austerity measures being imposed by the government especially as it relates to post-schooling education and training. We deem the budget cuts on NSFAS and higher education in general as but another project to undermine and spit on the face of poor students from working-class backgrounds on their genuine struggles. Of concern to SASCO is the blatant silence by both the President during SONA and the Minister of finance during the presentation OF budget speech on historical debts, student accommodation, and the dire state of our TVET Colleges.
Part of our expectations from the government was that it would reflect on the depressed state of our economy, the ever-escalating cost of living and education, and make a bold pronouncement on the need to readjust the definition of poor and working-class citizens of our country. It has been our consistent call that there needs to move the threshold of NSFAS from R350 000 household income per annum to about R600 000 household income per annum. Our government also missed an opportune moment to introduce wealth tax to fund and sustain fee-free higher education and training and fund National Health Insurance (NHI).
2021 ACADEMIC YEAR REGISTRATIONS
The NEC has noted the delay of registrations across all universities in the country due to various factors, for example, the ample difficulties faced by many families find themselves in during this time, and more especially, the delay and incompetence from NSFAS in advising universities about the approval/rejection of funding applications. As an organization we call for the following interventions to be made by universities and NSFAS;
1. Financial clearance of all students so they register (with or without the outstanding debts)
2. Extension of applications for all the financially needy and academically deserving students who have been admitted to various institutions of higher learning.
3. Extension of registration period across all institutions of higher learning in the country
As the organisation we will be meeting all student formations, progressive civil societies, Labour Movements (COSATU, SAFTU, NEHAWU, SADTU). As we prepare for mass rolling actions against the austerity measures especially the ones being imposed in our sector as means to entrench the neo-liberal agenda currently being spearheaded by the government of the day. We will also meet the ANC Top Six to appeal to their conscience and remind them of the realities lived by South African citizens which they clearly don’t have a grasp of. The special NEC also agreed that SASCO shall not actively campaign for the African National Congress in the upcoming Local Government Elections unless it reprioritises the Higher Education sector as one of its important sectors, we can’t afford to sell false hope to South African citizens on behalf of the ANC. Part of our consultations and move to our National General Council is to evaluate whether or not it is beneficial to have our alliance with the ANC and if whether the ANC is still the champion for the National Democratic Revolution.
We will on every Wednesday have provincial pickets to raise awareness about the budget cuts which amount to 24.6 Billion within the Higher Education sector, especially about the 6.3 Billion which directly speaks to NSFAS, against the proposed policy reviewal at NSFAS and the funding methods. We shall never sit back and allow the reversal of our gains achieved by generations of the student movement by one bored chef. We will on the 31st of March 2021 have a march to Union Buildings and we shall mobilize all provinces to be present, because on the 14th of October 2020 we marched to the President and submitted a list of demands which included turning TVET Colleges into Construction sites and develop their infrastructure in line with making TVET Colleges institutions of choice but recently the Chef has decided that 932 Million must be cut from the TVET Infrastructure Grant, clearly this is an insult to us.
Issued by SASCO NEC
Bamanye Matiwane
President
079 026 5759
Buthanani Thobela
Secretary General
073 257 5677
sg@sasco.co.za
For Enquiries:
Luvuyo Barnes
Media & Communication Liaison
079 393 7131
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