Free education in SA was not a viable option and the government should try to implement a graduate tax as a funding model, statistician-general Pali Lehohla said on Tuesday. South African universities are in turmoil, with student protests calling for free education. President Jacob Zuma has set up a commission to look into the issue of university funding, which is expected to report back to him some time in 2017. The Cabinet last week announced a "gap-funding grant" for the 2017 academic year, through which the government would subsidise students from poor and "missing middle" households so that they would not have to pay any fee increase. Releasing data on the financing of the country’s 20 traditional universities and six universities of technology, Lehohla said the graduate tax option was more viable. "About 92% of people who graduate get jobs … and that is where education is to be paid for. There cannot be a free education because nothing is free," said Lehohla. According to find...
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