The South African Union of Students (SAUS) has challenged embattled finance minister Pravin Gordhan to provide a lasting solution to the ongoing student protests on free education‚ during his mid-term budget.
Gordhan is due to present the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on 26 October against the backdrop of a stagnant economy.
The call by the student body comes amidst controversy and uncertainty on Gordhan’s future as the finance minister‚ after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) issued him with summons.
Most student arrests 'arbitrary': Lawyers for Human Rights
Last week‚ NPA head Shaun Abrahams announced the decision to charge Gordhan with fraud relating to his approval of the early retirement of his former deputy‚ Ivan Pillay‚ when he was commissioner of South African Revenue Service.
The NPA alleges that this was a contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.
SAUS is a union of student representative bodies and student formations across the country. The union mostly represents students on national issues.
Speaking with The Times‚ SAUS president Avela Mjajubana said that in his mid-term budget the finance minister should table a concrete plan to address the fees must fall funding‚ so to avoid the same situation happening next year.
“The minister of finance on his mid term budget he must also propose to parliament on how the private sector is going to be taxed to fund free higher education. We are committed towards free education but we need commitments from government.
“We are not saying that there must be free education next year; we say that there must be a clear deadline. Next year we do not want to be in a discussion of fees‚” Mjajubana said.
In August Mjajubana made a submission at the Fees Commission on behalf of student formations. He submitted that free higher education in South Africa was feasible.
Mjajula lambasted President Zuma for the “lack of interest” in engaging with students in order to end the protracted protest‚ which might see the academic year being suspended or repeated next year.
“We have written to the president to request a meeting with him‚ to curb the current crisis. Instead the president opted to go to a state visit in Kenya‚” Mjajubana said.
He also went on to bemoan the establishment of the task team of ministers‚ recently set-up by the president to try and deal with the protest.
“The task team is full of security cluster ministers. We do not know whether the government is not prepared to engage with us or rather want to militarize our institutions and arrest and brutalise our fellow students. We are very angry as a student body‚” he said.
— TMG Digital/The Times
Student union appeals to Gordhan for lasting solution to fees crisis
The South African Union of Students (SAUS) has challenged embattled finance minister Pravin Gordhan to provide a lasting solution to the ongoing student protests on free education‚ during his mid-term budget.
Gordhan is due to present the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on 26 October against the backdrop of a stagnant economy.
The call by the student body comes amidst controversy and uncertainty on Gordhan’s future as the finance minister‚ after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) issued him with summons.
Most student arrests 'arbitrary': Lawyers for Human Rights
Last week‚ NPA head Shaun Abrahams announced the decision to charge Gordhan with fraud relating to his approval of the early retirement of his former deputy‚ Ivan Pillay‚ when he was commissioner of South African Revenue Service.
The NPA alleges that this was a contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.
SAUS is a union of student representative bodies and student formations across the country. The union mostly represents students on national issues.
Speaking with The Times‚ SAUS president Avela Mjajubana said that in his mid-term budget the finance minister should table a concrete plan to address the fees must fall funding‚ so to avoid the same situation happening next year.
“The minister of finance on his mid term budget he must also propose to parliament on how the private sector is going to be taxed to fund free higher education. We are committed towards free education but we need commitments from government.
“We are not saying that there must be free education next year; we say that there must be a clear deadline. Next year we do not want to be in a discussion of fees‚” Mjajubana said.
In August Mjajubana made a submission at the Fees Commission on behalf of student formations. He submitted that free higher education in South Africa was feasible.
Mjajula lambasted President Zuma for the “lack of interest” in engaging with students in order to end the protracted protest‚ which might see the academic year being suspended or repeated next year.
“We have written to the president to request a meeting with him‚ to curb the current crisis. Instead the president opted to go to a state visit in Kenya‚” Mjajubana said.
He also went on to bemoan the establishment of the task team of ministers‚ recently set-up by the president to try and deal with the protest.
“The task team is full of security cluster ministers. We do not know whether the government is not prepared to engage with us or rather want to militarize our institutions and arrest and brutalise our fellow students. We are very angry as a student body‚” he said.
— TMG Digital/The Times
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