ActionSA President Herman Mashaba has stressed the importance of education in influencing the future of South African youth.
This was during a round-table discussion led by key ActionSA members, Dr Tutu Faleni, Hluphi Gafane and Thabo Malosi, centred on crucial issues within higher education at the GIBS Business School in Joburg, on April 9.
Mashaba highlighted the enduring impact of accessible education in combating societal inequalities and emphasised ActionSA’s steadfast dedication to broadening educational horizons for all citizens.
Mashaba said that despite facing obstacles, including the closure of universities due to apartheid-era emergencies, he remained dedicated to pursuing higher education.
“On behalf of ActionSA, on a topic that is very dear to me: ensuring that South African youth are empowered, through education, to pursue the life they dream of.
“Growing up in the poor area of GaRamotse in Hammanskraal, about 50km north of Pretoria, during the 1960s, it was my grandfather who showed me the importance and power of education as the route to self-reliance. He saw how tough life was and told me, ‘God gave us brains to face and beat these hard times'.
“Back then, my mom was the only one earning an income for our family. She worked as a domestic worker, living in the back room of a white family in Johannesburg, while I was raised with the help of my three sisters.”
Mashaba said that it was his grandfather’s advice that compelled him to get out of poverty and pursue a higher education degree.
“I passed my matric in 1988 and enrolled for a BAdmin degree at the University of the North in 1989, which is today called the University of Limpopo.
“However, my studies were cut short when the apartheid government suddenly shut down the university during the national state of emergency, during my second year, in 1980.”
Mashaba added that he never stopped believing in the power of education.
“I always told my kids to look for chances to learn and study, and now I help support scholarship programmes for students across South Africa.
“I believe that access to quality education should not be a luxury accessible only to a few but a tool available to the masses to provide a pathway out of the cycle of poverty and unemployment that entraps so many South Africans.
“Education is the key to upward mobility and overcoming the legacy of apartheid, where access to quality education was a function of the colour of our skin.
“Apartheid may have fallen, but the barriers to higher education have not. It is a great injustice that 30 years after the end of apartheid, millions of South Africans face insurmountable challenges to pursuing post-matriculation studies.
“ActionSA wants to table our plans to right this wrong. ActionSA wants to share our vision of expanding higher education opportunities to as many people as possible in South Africa.”
Quality education has been a core value of ActionSA from the start; Mashaba stated that maintaining quality education is one of the best tools for people to empower themselves and improve not only their lives but the lives of their families.
“That is why we have committed that under an ActionSA government, no academically qualifying student will be excluded from further education because they lack the funds to study,” he said.
Mashaba added that, in the same way that they believe that schools in township communities should be of the same standard as those found in suburban areas, they believe that everyone in the country should have the opportunity to pursue higher education as long as they meet the academic requirements to do so.
“Education and the possibility of upward mobility should not be a luxury; they should be a basic right,” but Mashaba stated that the ruling party has failed to open the doors of learning by failing to dismantle the barriers to access for many South Africans.
“There is no doubt that many of South Africa’s higher education centres are in crisis, while too many students are prohibited from accessing tertiary education due to financial exclusion.
“Despite repeated promises and investigations into higher education funding, South Africa has made little progress in expanding access to higher education.”
During the media briefing, Mashaba stated that seven years after the issuance of the Commission of Inquiry Report on the Feasibility of Making Higher Education and Training Fee-Free in South Africa, financial challenges for the so-called “missing middle” students persist. These are students who do not qualify for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) support but also do not meet the requirements for commercial credit. They are left with no alternative and no hope for a brighter future.
“It is simply unacceptable that, 30 years after democracy, students are excluded from obtaining a tertiary education because they lack the funds. Not while our government wastes billions on propping up failing State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and allows limited public funds to be stolen by self-interested cadres.
“Many of the matriculants who have joined us today face an uncertain future, not sure if they will be able to attain tertiary education opportunities or skills to enter the workplace,” said Mashaba.
According to Mashaba, the party’s bold plan includes:
- increasing financial support to academically qualifying students, including tuition, accommodation and living expenses;
- expanding their network of quality institutions of higher education to alleviate capacity constraints;
- investing in new public-sector student accommodation opportunities to address the shortage we currently face;
- increasing the opportunities for technical and vocational training by investing in new TVET colleges, re-introducing specialised training colleges such as teaching, policing, nursing, agriculture and artisanal skills, like plumbing and electrical work; and
- expanding the lifelong skills development programmes to ensure our people always have opportunities to gain additional skills, throughout their careers.
The Star