(Debate in parliament: Adjustment Budget for the Department of Higher Education and Training)
The Department of Higher Education and Training already receives the third biggest parliamentary allocation. At R97,4 billion, it is only surpassed by Social Development and Police. If the compulsory skills levy deducted directly from employers is taken into account, it moves into second place.
The R35 billion budget of the bursary scheme for the poor and working-class people, NSFAS, would have been in eighth place out of 41 if it had been a department on its own.
In the current emergency budget, officially referred to as the adjustment budget, R1,7 billion, or 1,8% of the parliamentary allocation, was cut back while R8 billion, or 41% of the direct levies, have been lost.
The first is an indication of the preference that Higher Education enjoys, while the second provides an indication of the economic damage caused by the lockdown.
The FF Plus also views this Department as vitally important for South Africa. Not only are the knowledge and skills that have been developed important, but also the cultural adjustments that have to be made at this point in time.
South Africa's ability to take its rightful place in the international community depends on our ability to reconcile our Africa-identity with the prevailing global system on political, economic, scientific, educational and even recreational levels, which are predominantly Western.
When one is born outside of the prevailing global system, one can choose to simply ignore it, sacrifice one's own identity and assume the global identity, lament the injustice, or reconcile one's own background with the global system – without taking anything away from the one, but knowing enough about the other.
If universities do not play a decisive role in this process, South Africans will only fall further behind – regardless of whether they are satisfied with it or lamenting it. Part of this process would be to develop at least one Nguni and one Sotho language to a fully-fledged academic language; and to celebrate Afrikaans that has paved the way.
While this should be the ideal that we aspire to, there are numerous dysfunctional universities and colleagues who have labelled Afrikaans as nothing but a hindrance to access.
The biggest problem with the budget allocated to Higher Education and Training is not the expenditure, but the execution.
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