Lessons to be learnt
How fees report emboldened Zuma
The Heher commission’s report is under fire for having fudged the issue of the poor and because of fears that a completely fee-free TVET system could be swamped, among other concerns
The Heher Commission report on the feasibility of free higher education has missed its mark in not suggesting a special dispensation to help the poor obtain funding, thus opening the door for President Zuma to push through a more populist solution. Established in January 2016 with the job of determining within eight months the feasibility of making higher education and training fee-free, the commission requested a year-long extension and finally submitted a 752-page report to Zuma two months ago. Its core finding is that those who can afford to pay must do so. "There is insufficient financial capacity in the state to provide totally free higher education and training to all who are unable to finance their own education," it says. In the two years it’s taken the commission to reach this conclusion, the search for solutions has continued.Zuma recently seized on a report done by Morris Masutha (28), who is romantically linked to Zuma’s daughter. It proposes that for an extra R50bn/year...
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