House Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the House -
1) notes that hundreds of poor university students marched to the office of the Minister of Higher Education and Training to demand free education yesterday, 2 March 2015;
2) also notes that the majority of the poor students were actually ones that had already been accredited by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, as beneficiaries, but because the fund has so little money they were finally excluded;
3) further notes that the institutions involved were the Tshwane University of Technology, the Durban University of Technology and the Vaal University of Technology; 4) also notes that due to the failure of government to provide adequate resources for higher education, our students are left with no choice but to drop out, even though they are poor and accredited or deemed to be official beneficiaries of NSFAS;
5) further notes that NSFAS, in its present form and shape, and with its current resources, will never be able to satisfy the ever increasing demand for higher education, mainly by poor black students;
6) acknowledges that the reality today is that every year there are an increasing number of black students that matriculate with good results, only to be told that they will never be able to gain entrance to university;
7) also notes that this is the year of the Freedom Charter and advises the government to at least extend its resources to cover the financially needy and poor students who qualify for NSFAS; and
8) finally notes that NSFAS, however, is not the solution, because the solution is free education as advised by the Freedom Charter and supported by the EFF. Agreed to.
