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‘Apartheid windfall tax’ amongst fundraising suggestions in Wits SRC’s Free Education Model

UCT students during a protest over an increase on the tuition fees. Picture Credit: Gallo Images
UCT students during a protest over an increase on the tuition fees. Picture Credit: Gallo Images

The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) student representative council’s (SRC) Free Education Model would see government “immediately increase its subsidy allocation to the university system to the 50% levels that were achieved up to 2000”.

The model‚ unveiled on Monday‚ would also “call upon corporate South Africa to champion the creation of the Infrastructure Fund which will reduce the cost of running our universities by 10%”.

This would see the allocations to tertiary education costs being as follows: Government 50%‚ Corporate/private 29%‚ Infrastructure Fund 10% and student burden – R11-million.

Protesting Wits students will face ‘full security on all campuses’

SRC secretary-general Fasiha Hassan told Radio 702 on Monday morning that the model would be presented at the “presidential imbizo” on Monday‚ where “all the relevant stakeholders on a national level are going to be in the same room”.

She said it would be the first funding model so far that has contained “input from students”.

The imbizo was disrupted when student leaders became agitated when President Jacob Zuma left the meeting to go to the African National Congress’ Luthuli House offices after giving his speech.

The SRC’s model calls for the “abolition of the NSFAS (National Student Financial Aid Scheme) model as its loan approach only contributes to the ‘black tax’ phenomenon”.

“Instead of NSFAS‚ we recommend the creation of a ‘Higher Education Endowment Fund’ to be dedicated to funding students across various institutions. The funding would be on a grant rather than a loan basis. The Endowment Fund would then recover its funds through a levy system once students have graduated.”

The SRC models identified five sources of funding for the fund:

 - “The Skills Development Levy;

 - “An increase in the company tax rates;

 - “An increase in tax rates for the rich;

 - “An apartheid windfall tax on all companies that benefited from the evil regime; and

 - “An increase in the wealth taxes (donations tax; dividends tax and estate duty).”

When questioned on Monday about what would happen if the “model for free education should be rejected”‚ Hassan said: “Should there be an issue about implementation‚ it will be very‚ very difficult for us to go back to the academic programme.”

“We would love to go back to the academic programme‚ all of us would like to do so‚ but we are not going to go back to the academic programme until we can come to the table with the right stakeholders and begin a negotiation process‚ such that free education‚ at least‚ we’ve got some form of commitment and some form of implementation (on it).

“Until that happens‚ unfortunately we cannot move forward‚” she added.

 

– TMG Digital

 

 

 

 

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