FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3 0CTOBER
STATEMENT OF THE ANC NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ON HIGHER
EDUCATION PROTESTS AND DEMAND FOR FREE HIGHER EDUCATION

The National Executive Committee (NEC) deliberated extensively on the ongoing

protests in higher education. The NEC is disturbed by the interruption of the academic
programme that has resulted from the wanton destruction of property, intimidation and
violence.
The ANC expresses its condolences to the family of the WITS employee who lost her life
in the past week.
The Freedom Charter says that The Doors of Learning and Culture shall be opened. It
says specifically that higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by
means of state allowances and scholarships on the basis of merit.
At least two Conferences of the ANC confirmed our resolve to implement free higher
education, for undergraduate level students from poor and working class families. We
have been hard at work to ensure the progressive realisation of this objective.
Some of the ANC- led governments interventions include:
Substantial injections of new funding since 2010 to support the progressive introduction
of free higher education and training for the poor:
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is a state funded programme for
funding poor students at universities, technical and vocational colleges.
- Government, through NSFAS, has already introduced free TVET college education to
poor students.
- NSFAS bursary funding at TVET colleges has increased from R318 million in 2010 to
R2.3 billion in 2016 and loan funding at universities has increased from R2.2 billion in
2010 to R6.4 billion in 2016.
- Substantial additional funding disbursed by NSFAS from the National Skills Fund (NSF)
for scarce skills bursaries, Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) for
bursaries to support skills in specific sectors, Department of Basic Education for teacher
bursaries and Department of Social Development for Social Work, amongst others. A

total of R14.6 billion will be disbursed by NSFAS in the 2016 academic year to support
approximately 480 000 students.
- R2.543 billion of the R14.6 billion has been earmarked for loans to pay off the historic
debt of NSFAS qualifying students who were either underfunded or not funded in the
2013, 2014 and 2015 academic years.
- Governments provision of R1.9 billion of the R2.3 billion shortfall resulting from the
subsidization of the 2016 university fee increase with more than R4.5 billion in the
2016/17 financial year being reprioritised to NSFAS.
The NEC believes that the interventions of the ANC-led government give practical
expression to the education provisions of the Freedom Charter. In fact, NSFAS goes
beyond the Freedom Charter demands in that thousands of poor students are assisted
through NSFAS. This funding model advances our goals of addressing inequality and
ensuring the poor are not excluded from enjoying the opportunity of accessing higher
education.
The recent announcement by cde Blade Nzimande, the minister of Higher Education,
was welcomed as a significant step toward realising fee-free higher education for poor
students. Students, who are current recipients of NSFAS and new applicants, will be
supported to meet the costs of 2017. Students whose families earn up to R600 000
annual household income, will not have to pay any fee increases. This so-called missing
middle will also received NSFAS support. This is an unprecedented progressive
intervention by the ANC government. Only those who can afford to pay will pay the
increased fees.
The NEC agreed that, given that over 75% of students in universities and colleges will
benefit, the government has moved a long way toward achieving fee-free higher
education for many that are in need of assistance. We continue to support the principle
that those who can afford to pay for higher education, must continue to do so in line with
the principles of solidarity and cross-subsidization.
We call on students to return to lectures and continue with the academic programme.
We appeal to parents to ensure an orderly return to learning.
The ANC continues to support and respect the rights of all in society to protest
peacefully. The violence and destruction of university infrastructure accompanying some
of the current protests cannot be justified. Destruction of property means public funds will
have to be diverted from funding poor students to refurbishing infrastructure. We cannot
afford to lose more lives or continue to disrupt the academic programme.
We call on all to respect the rights of those students who wish to resume their studies
and to identify and isolate those who perpetrate acts of violence and destroy public

property. The NEC further asks the police and the criminal justice system to bring the
alleged perpetrators to justice.
The NEC encourages all structures to submit proposals on fees in higher education to
the Heher Commission to ensure that the final proposals of the Commission include a
broad range of views and perspectives.

Issued by Gwede Mantashe

Secretary General: African National Congress

Inquiries: Zizi Kodwa

0823304910