The Department of Higher Education's quarterly report for 2019 is a micro version of what is going on in South Africa as a whole.
Many of the planned outcomes for the period (April to July) were not achieved. The worst is the maintenance programme where a mere 2,7% of the annual budget was spent instead of 40%.
And as is the case in the country as a whole, there are indeed a few isolated areas of excellence. For example, the ideal of 60 days for making an appointment to do a trade test has been improved upon as in practice, the actual time for making an appointment is just 37 days.
The reasons for the underspending are repeated like a refrain throughout the report and come down to a lack of competent personnel.
There is a significant correlation between the legal restrictions placed on appointing qualified individuals due to their demographic characteristics and the inability to achieve the planned outcomes.
The FF Plus supports, but laments, the report.
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