Opposition lambasts government for delaying release fees report release

The opposition has lambasted the government for its delay in releasing the Fees Commission's report into the feasibility of fee-free higher education.

President Jacob Zuma said he will make an announcement on the report - that was finally released on Monday - once the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Higher Education Funding has processed the report and concluded their work.

The report recommended that students "accept the common sense and inevitability of paying for what they receive‚ if and when they can afford to do so would be politic and responsible and very much in favour of future generations".

The report also recommended that students at TVET (technical and vocational education and training) colleges receive free education while university students get government-backed Income Contingent Loans (ICL) loans that students start repaying at a specific income level. ICL loans will be made through commercial banks and purchased or backed by the government.

It is recommended that ICL Loans should replace the National Student Financial Aid System (NSFAS) and repayments be recouped by SARS through income tax.

The report also recommended the government to increase its block funding to at least 1% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and registration and application fees be scrapped entirely.

The report found there is a shortage of suitable student accommodation and recommends the government develop an affordable plan to develop more accommodation.

The Fees Commission was established in January 2016 to investigate the feasibility of fee-free education following widespread student protests under the “Fees Must Fall” banner. It was chaired Justice Jonathan Heher and its report was finalised in August this year.

The Congress of the People (Cope) said they are concerned about market confidence in the government as the rand continues to weaken in the light of speculation that Zuma has "gone rogue" and may aim to implement fee-free higher education.

Cope was referring to recent media reports that the plan for free tertiary education was apparently devised by Morris Masutha who used to date Zuma’s daughter.

"The fact is that there is ample evidence to suggest that Zuma may once again act irrationally."

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said such rumours can ordinarily be dismissed‚ but it is a "chilling possibility". They called on the president to dismiss the "bizarre" rumours.

"We have seen‚ time and time again‚ that President Zuma will put his own interests above the best interests of South Africans."

The South African Communist Party (SACP) said they denounce "parallel state mechanisms which undermine or subordinate democratically established state authorities provided for in our Constitution".

Cope said they are also concerned about the resignation of Treasury's deputy director-general of budgeting‚ Michael Sachs. Sachs told the Sunday Times he would quit if Zuma went ahead with pushing for free university education for families with less than a R 350‚000 annual income.

National Treasury in a statement confirmed Sachs had resigned on Monday and said it was "saddened". The rand fell from R14.40 to R14.54 against the US dollar‚ after Sachs' resignation. This may have been linked the belief that given Sachs' resignation‚ Zuma may go ahead with his plan for free education.

The SACP said they are "deeply concerned" that Zuma did not share the report with SACP Secretary General and former Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) rejected the recommendations of the report. "The report's answer is segregation of students by giving those who attend TVETs a fee-free education and denying it to those who attend universities."

They criticised the commission justifying the "segregation" of students by saying TVET colleges address the skills the economy needs.

"The Commission seems to suggest that those who attend universities can afford‚ whilst those who attend TVETS are in the main poor ... The Commission's recommendations imply a class segregation in which we reproduce universities as destination centres for the rich and TVET colleges as destination centres for the poor."

The EFF believes this "segregation" will manifest in the form of race‚ because predominantly black students will attend TVET colleges while the majority of white students will attend universities.

The EFF believes South Africa can fund all students and that the solution to free‚ decolonised education is nationalising mines and banks to "expand its fiscal capabilities".

The DA said the delay in the release of the report has caused students to stress about their financing for next year.