Zuma, Blade have their heads buried in the sand

Just under two weeks ago, we witnessed an important victory for young South Africans over a government that has forgotten them.

This victory wasn't the 0% fees increase for 2016. Without a firm commitment from the government on extra university funding, a 0% fee increase was not a win.

And the government has merely delayed dealing with the problem at hand. The real win was the fact that opportunities for young South Africans have now been placed at the very top of our national agenda. The question that must now be posed is whether opportunities for youth is at the top of our government's agenda.

There is extensive debate and discussion to be had on how to open up opportunities for young South Africans. But for me the critical question right now relates to the leadership that we urgently need to make this happen.

Surely, this should be a topic that preoccupies the mind of President Jacob Zuma and his executive every day?

Certainly, if my colleagues and I were in the Union Buildings, this would be our primary focus.

Blade Nzimande has been Minister of Higher Education and Training since the start of Zuma's first cabinet in 2009. He has now had more than six years to effect critical changes to the funding of higher education.

But, as recent events have shown, he has virtually nothing to show for all his time in office. And what has Zuma done to hold him to account?

During those six years, Nzimande received countless warnings of the impending university funding crisis. These warnings included not only communications from the DA around shortfalls in the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), but also three different reports commissioned by his own government on the issue.

Read together, these reports offer a comprehensive diagnosis of the extent of the crisis along with several suggested interventions.

Unlike many new supporters of the #FeesMustFall movement, the DA can't be accused of expediently aligning itself with a popular cause. We have been fighting for increased government funding and an expansion of the NSFAS for the entire time that Nzimande has held his position.

We have driven the issue in portfolio committee meetings and through countless media statements and opinion editorials. Our student arm, Daso, has fought for better funding on campuses and in 2014 DA Youth held an overnight sit-in outside Nzimande's office in solidarity with thousands of students locked out of higher learning. No one has been more active in flagging the issue of insufficient university funding than the DA.

But it is the government reports that truly put Nzimande's inaction into crystal clear perspective. The fact that he chose to ignore the findings of three sets of non-partisan experts speaks volumes for the minister's lack of commitment to the students he represents.

Instead, the minister and the president chose to bury the reports in a bottom drawer and their heads in the sand. And this is not new for the ANC. It is ignoring SA Democratic Teachers Union's debilitating effects on the quality of basic education. It is ignoring the desperate need for a budget and policy framework that provides hope for the millions of South Africans currently unemployed.

It is ignoring the need to create apprenticeships and internships that produce skills to meet the demands of our economy.

It ignores the urgent calls to make it easier to start small businesses that create jobs. What they can't ignore will be the voice of voters at the polls.

What the South African electorate needs to ask is this: Do Zuma and his cabinet wake up every day with the intention of fighting for opportunities for young South Africans? And if the answer is no, then why are they the ones deciding the fates of these young people?

SA needs a government that will prioritise the creation of opportunities for youth. It is possible as we speak to reallocate R3.8-billion immediately to fund the shortfall that exists; my party has already identified this. This is what we are fighting for in parliament in the standing committee on appropriations.

Implementing a real youth wage subsidy to boost youth employment and skills is a matter of high importance. Incentivising the creation of a nationwide apprenticeship programme by the private sector and creating a "youth-only" section of the government's Expanded Public Works Programme to complement these apprenticeships is vital.

If we are to build on the momentum of the #FeesMustFall movement, then it is crucial that we expand this conversation to include the prospects of all young South Africans. But first, we need the requisite leadership. And it is quite clear that this leadership does not reside in the ANC.

l Maimane is leader of the DA