Honourable Speaker
Cabinet Colleagues
Honourable Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
Honourable Members
Honourable members, the success of building an integrated, responsive, differentiated, but highly articulated post-school education and training system depends largely, though not exclusively, on effective and good governance across all its institutions.
To this end good and clean governance is a critical component of a healthy higher education sector. At the heart of this is also the necessity to fight corruption wherever it occurs, and create a system where corrupt activities are prevented or detected before they occur.
Experience has shown that where good and effective governance is lacking; learning and teaching at our universities often suffers. I have heard of many cases where allegations have been made about some university council members, managers, unions and student representative council leaders gaining, through somewhat questionable and corrupt practises, access to public higher education resources.
Government provides significant funding towards higher education and we must demand that these funds are well invested for the benefit of the academic enterprise,
Poor families sacrifice greatly to ensure that their children obtain the best quality education, and we therefore should not allow corruption to fail them. Managers must manage, lecturers must teach and research and our students must be given the best opportunity to learn.
Another related matter, not incorporated into this bill, is that in some universities student representatives have demanded and secured representation onto university tender committees. This is unacceptable, as it has the potential to corrupt student politics and student leaders.
Students go to university to study and not to be involved in decisions about tenders. I intend introducing the necessary legislative amendments next year, and in the meantime I call upon all student formations to, in the meantime, actively dissuade their Students' Representative Council (SRC) leaders from being part of tender committees.
This Bill therefore seeks to implement some of the resolutions adopted by higher education participants at the Stakeholder Summit on Higher Education in April 2010, committing the sector to the principles of good governance and public accountability.
The Bill aims to:
- Regulate the conduct of members of the council, staff and students at universities in relation to their supply chain management processes.
- Adjust the period within which an independent assessor appointed by the Minister must finalise an investigation.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme:
The Higher Education Laws Amendment Bill also deals with improving the governance, management and functionality of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). It aims to, amongst others,
- Amend the National Financial Aid Scheme Act (Act 56 of 1999) so as to as to empower the Minister to intervene in the case of poor or non-performance or maladministration by the board, as well as the procedure for such dissolution;
- Provide for the appointment of an administrator to temporarily take over the management, governance and administration of the board; and
- Repeal the provisions placing an obligation on the employer of a borrower to make deductions from the remuneration of the borrower
These amendments have been spurred by the recommendations made in the Report of the Ministerial Committee on the review of the NSFAS. Key amongst these recommendations was that Section 23 of the NSFAS Act should be excised from the NSFAS Act as it forces employers to collect student loan repayments from employees’ salaries and pay these directly to NSFAS without the permission of the employee.
Second part (closing)
The department has already started work to introduce a constitutionally compliant section of the NSFAS Act to enable NSFAS to recover loan repayments directly through the taxation system.
I therefore fully support the recommendation by the portfolio on higher education that Section 23 of the NSFAS Act should be repealed. In the absence of Section 23, NSFAS will be guided by provisions of the National Credit Act.
Let me take this opportunity to thank the Chairperson of Portfolio Committee, Advocate Malale, and all members of the Portfolio Committee for the work they have put into piloting this piece of legislation and the public hearings they held. Let me also thank our Director-General, Mr Qonde, and his team in the department for all the work they have put into drafting this legislation and assisting the Portfolio Committee where necessary.
