The chairperson of the university fees commission rhetorically asked why the government was not tapping into large sources of stash such as the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to pay for government programmes.
Judge Jonathan Heher told Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan‚ who was making his submission in Pretoria on Friday‚ that in the next 10 years the UIF would have accumulated a surplus of R296-billion.
By last year June‚ it had a surplus of R126-billion which Heher said could be used to higher education instead of lying dormant.
“In our minds‚ that is government money wasted‚ simply allowed to lie on the hands of one group of people to do what they like with it‚” he said.
Gordhan said the ministry was not aware of this evidence and asked the commission to provide it to the Treasury so that it could be evaluate and assessed on what was viable and what was not.
Asked to elaborate on his response after his submission‚ Gordhan said some of these types of funds were contributions by employees and employers and were not public sector funds.
“They are not government funds so there might be sets of rules that apply to them. But‚ ideally‚ it is poor workers who left their jobs or retired and cannot be traced at the moment who must be found so that they can get the money‚” he said.
Although there was this notion of available money‚ this had to be approached carefully and in a balance way to manage all the different factors.
In his submission‚ Gordhan said there were many demands on government from all sections of society. He said the question was how to meet all these demands and which ones to prioritise.
“If you emphasise one‚ who are you excluding and what will that give rise to?” he asked. “What you want ideally is a sustainable environment where we meet as many requirements as possible‚ including a better focus on higher education and training.”
He said government was part of the process to get maximum engagement on the higher education funding crisis‚ stressing the importance of a roadmap to understand what the end objective was in terms of supporting those who require financial assistance.
The minister said free higher education was possible if the public was prepared to pay for it.
Michael Sachs‚ Treasury’s deputy director-general‚ said that in 2015 the total operating budget for universities was R60-billion‚ some of which already comes from government subsidies.
“The question is not about how much it will cost today but how will the system of universities evolve over time if we institute the system of fee free education; what is the financing stream that will be able to manage those expenditures and how will the system evolve.” he said.
Tap into dormant cash stashes like UIF‚ university fees commission advises
The chairperson of the university fees commission rhetorically asked why the government was not tapping into large sources of stash such as the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) to pay for government programmes.
Judge Jonathan Heher told Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan‚ who was making his submission in Pretoria on Friday‚ that in the next 10 years the UIF would have accumulated a surplus of R296-billion.
By last year June‚ it had a surplus of R126-billion which Heher said could be used to higher education instead of lying dormant.
“In our minds‚ that is government money wasted‚ simply allowed to lie on the hands of one group of people to do what they like with it‚” he said.
Gordhan said the ministry was not aware of this evidence and asked the commission to provide it to the Treasury so that it could be evaluate and assessed on what was viable and what was not.
Asked to elaborate on his response after his submission‚ Gordhan said some of these types of funds were contributions by employees and employers and were not public sector funds.
“They are not government funds so there might be sets of rules that apply to them. But‚ ideally‚ it is poor workers who left their jobs or retired and cannot be traced at the moment who must be found so that they can get the money‚” he said.
Although there was this notion of available money‚ this had to be approached carefully and in a balance way to manage all the different factors.
In his submission‚ Gordhan said there were many demands on government from all sections of society. He said the question was how to meet all these demands and which ones to prioritise.
“If you emphasise one‚ who are you excluding and what will that give rise to?” he asked. “What you want ideally is a sustainable environment where we meet as many requirements as possible‚ including a better focus on higher education and training.”
He said government was part of the process to get maximum engagement on the higher education funding crisis‚ stressing the importance of a roadmap to understand what the end objective was in terms of supporting those who require financial assistance.
The minister said free higher education was possible if the public was prepared to pay for it.
Michael Sachs‚ Treasury’s deputy director-general‚ said that in 2015 the total operating budget for universities was R60-billion‚ some of which already comes from government subsidies.
“The question is not about how much it will cost today but how will the system of universities evolve over time if we institute the system of fee free education; what is the financing stream that will be able to manage those expenditures and how will the system evolve.” he said.
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