Chairperson, Cope cannot support this Budget Vote.
We do not support Vote No 17 for the following reasons. The Minister of Higher Education and Training has failed to provide leadership and to intervene in the crisis gripping the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Instead of showing good leadership and heeding the call to intervene, he decided to run away from the explosive situation. He delegated the leadership role of diffusing the explosive situation to the Council on Higher Education, CHE.
The department still has to achieve its objectives of 2010-11. We have witnessed violent student protests around accommodation, academic exclusion and fee increments while, in real terms, state funding declines.
The Minister's plans remain on paper. The Further Education and Training colleges, FETs, have been the focus of the Minister but, each year, South Africans witness long queues of both parents and students outside universities. How is the Minister dealing with the perception that FETs provide inferior education?
The Minister also runs his department through ministerial commissions and committees. When is he planning to take over the reins? This will save taxpayers' money amounting to millions of rand. Taxpayers are unable to afford this high-living Minister and the commissions and committees. We won't support this Vote. Thank you very much, Chair.