Zuma planning shock free university announcement: report
President Jacob Zuma is reportedly planning to make a shock announcement, introducing free education across the board through a controversial funding plan.
According to a report by TimesLive, citing government insiders, the president plans to defy all recommendations and findings that South Africa cannot afford to cover the cost of free education.
Specifically, the announcement would be contrary to the yet-to-be released findings of the Heher Commission, which found that universal free tertiary education was simply not feasible in South Africa.
The insiders said that Zuma will make up the shortfall by cutting back departmental budgets across government to make R40 billion available for the 2018 academic year.
If the plan proceeds‚ it is likely to cause chaos throughout the state system as budgets are allocated according to programmes, TimesLive reported.
It also undermines Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s statements when he presented the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement last month.
Gigaba indicated a funding shortfall of more than R61 billion over the next three years would be created if government were to finance the full cost of study for 40% of undergraduates.
The announcement, which is expected within the coming week, could be seen as a major boon for Zuma’s faction in the upcoming ANC December conference.
However, it has also raised concerns as to how the decision will affect the market, with some analyst saying that it could be the move that officially leads South Africa to junk status.
Read: University ranking index: 2017’s best performing South African university
Loading ...