Category: Government Opinion Pieces

National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) Chairperson, Ernest Khosa, says the scheme expects to make upfront payments of approximately R3.5 billion to universities and R2.7 billion to Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges.

Briefing media on the NSFAS state of readiness for the 2023 academic year on Tuesday, Khosa said government, through the Department of Higher and Education and Training, has allocated R47.6 billion for student funding, and this includes R38.6 billion for universities and R8.9 billion for TVETs.

“The respective funding is received in four tranche payments in the months of April, June, August and October annually.  This means that all qualifying students, who have been enrolled at a higher education institution, will be funded.

“Furthermore, NSFAS is in a position to provide upfront payments to institutions, to allow for the payment of allowances and minimise the financial impact on institutions due to the fact that NSFAS beneficiaries are not required to pay registration… This will assist institutions, in particular HDIs (Historically Disadvantaged Institutions) and TVET colleges,” Khosa said.

NSFAS has received 1 587 968 applications from prospective beneficiaries, and of this, 613 909 applications have been provisionally funded, 338 320 are continuing students and 275 589 are new applicants.

Highlighting the status of the applications received, Khosa said 210 679 applications are on assessment of financial eligibility, a process where funding is verified against the government R350 000 threshold.

“About 149 202 are on awaiting academic eligibility. According to the NSFAS Eligibility Criteria and Conditions for Financial Aid, students must attain the prescribed academic success in order to continue to receive financial aid from NSFAS.

“A total of 273 746 applications are awaiting evaluation. NSFAS received more than 1.6 million applications, [which] is the highest number received in the history of NSFAS,” Khosa said.

He said 98 805 applications have been withdrawn. These include applications withdrawn by students; 161 139 applications have been rejected due to not meeting funding criteria, while 1 261 appeals have already been submitted.

While immediate funding decisions have been made for qualifying South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) students, Khosa emphasised that non-SASSA students must provide documentation to prove their household income.

“NSFAS must verify and confirm each of these applications based on the information provided, and confirm using the South African Revenue Service (SARS) data,” said Khosa.

Improved systems to make real time funding decisions

Meanwhile, Khosa announced that NSFAS has improved its systems to enable it to make real time funding decisions.

He said at this stage, NSFAS is able to make real-time funding decisions for SASSA beneficiaries, while it continues to engage with SARS to enable the same for all other applicants.

“We are reviewing the design and implementation of a stable Information Communication Technology (ICT) system, leveraging modern technologies and capabilities in order to deliver the NSFAS mandate seamlessly. We are reviewing all processes [and] operating and disbursement models.

“We are also reviewing our overall governance and management design to ensure the full execution of our mandate. We have also introduced a new performance management and accountability framework in a bid to establish a high-performance culture within the organisation,” Khosa said.

Police Minister, General Bheki Cele and the National Police Commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, will today lead a delegation of various experts within the organisation to the crime scene of a mass shooting in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape.

It is alleged that on Sunday, two unknown gunmen entered a home in Makhanda Street in Kwazakele and randomly shot at guests who were attending a birthday party.

Eight people died while three others are still fighting for their lives in hospital.  The home owner is among the deceased.

Provincial Commissioner, Lt Gen Nomthetheleli Mene, has strongly condemned the killing of the eight people and the injury of the other three people.

Preliminary investigations at this stage has revealed that between 17:15 and 17:30, the owner of the house was celebrating his birthday when two unknown gunmen entered the yard and started shooting at the guests.

Seven people (three females and four males) were fatally injured on the scene, while another four people (two females and two males) sustained gunshot wounds and were taken to hospital for treatment.

One of the victims succumbed to their injuries in hospital, bringing the total number of the deceased to eight. The owner of the house was among the deceased.

Police have launched a manhunt for the suspects while an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the attack is underway. No arrests have been made at this stage.

The identity of the deceased and the injured are still to be established.

The Provincial Organised Crime Investigation unit is investigating a case of murder and three cases of attempted murder.

Lt Gen Mene has condemned the killings as cowardice and a blatant disregard for human life and has ordered the team of investigators to track and trace the perpetrators in the quickest time possible.

She also appealed to the community to come forward with any information and not to harbour the criminals.

“These victims were killed by criminals and we will not rest until we find out what happened and who was responsible for these callous and cold blooded attack on these unsuspecting victims,” she said.

Anyone who can assist in identifying the victims or tracing their next of kin or with any information relating to the suspects is asked to contact the Provincial OCI, D/Capt Sitole on  082 457 2812 or Crime Stop on 086 00 10111.

Government has urged South Africans to take extra caution as the heatwave persists in certain parts of the country.

In a statement on Tuesday, GCIS Acting Director-General, Michael Currin, said: “We are concerned about the impact of the hot weather, parts of South Africa has been experiencing.”

He said residents must drink water and wear light clothing.

“If you are working in direct sunlight, take regular breaks to avoid exhaustion. In particular, residents of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng are urged to take precautions against heat-related health complications as temperatures are expected to soar today, as per weather warnings.”

He said government was extremely sad to hear about the passing of eight people of heat stroke in the Northern Cape after a heatwave hit the province.

“Government sends its deepest condolences to the bereaved families,” said Currin.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, has encouraged learners to consider Technical Vocational Education and Training Colleges (TVET) as their alternative to university education.

Speaking during the announcement of KwaZulu-Natal’s matric results held in Durban on Friday, Premier Dube-Ncube noted that one of the reasons why government adopted the three-stream model in the education system was to accommodate some leaners who have skills but may find it hard to be accepted in universities.

“We are therefore encouraging leaners to also make use of the opportunity provided by TVET colleges. We have seen in the past few years a trend where industry and business is absorbing more graduates from TVETS as opposed to universities,” Dube-Ncube said.

Dube-Ncube commended the province’s Matric Class of 2022 for surpassing all expectations by achieving an 83% pass rate, exceeding the 80% pass rate benchmark set by the province.

“Last year, the floods pummelled KwaZulu-Natal causing damage to infrastructure and disrupted education. This resulted in 824 learners in eThekwini being placed among the displaced in 135 mass care centres, and later being moved into Temporary Residential Units (TRUs).

“Out of this number, at least 36 were in matric in 2022, and four had special needs. Despite these challenges, our resilience showed up. We ensured that these learners were given a fair chance and were not prejudiced by the impact of the flood disaster,” Dube-Ncube said.

The Premier said the 2022 results reflect an improvement in all the districts with Umkhanyakude being the most improved district and no school received a 0% pass rate in the province.

This follows the rollout of the Ten-Point Improvement Plan championed by provincial Education Department.

“These objectives were meant to guide all the interventions for the improvement of the performance of the matric class of 2022. The province undertook to improve performance in Mathematics and Physical Science and sought improvement in the total number of distinction passes in 2022 [and] progress was achieved in all these areas.

“Attention to special schools has also resulted in significant achievement overall. The province has worked hard to improve education of learners with learning barriers,” the Premier said.

She said the Department of Education will come up with a decisive intervention strategy to deal with the situation in the 11 schools that performed below 30%.

“We note that they were 22 in 2021 and now have reduced to 11. The Education Department must conduct an evaluation and introduce an academic improvement plan with immediate effect.

“The Executive Council will receive the report with school by school analysis and will assist with relevant interventions,” Dube-Ncube said.

The Premier also expressed her excitement about the increase in the number of Bachelor passes, as well as an improvement in the pass rate of township and rural schools that achieved 100% pass rate from 145 in 2021 to 212 in 2022.

“We are excited about the increase in the number of Bachelor passes from 37% in 2021 to 42.5% in 2022, which marks a 5.4% improvement. The province is also pleased that girl learners performed well.

“Girl learners obtained an overall pass percentage of 83.6% while the boy learners obtained 82.3%. We will continue to intervene to ensure that female learners have equal opportunities of success like male learners,” Dube-Ncube said.

Embracing the future and 4IR

The Premier also encouraged learners to take advantage of digitisation, robotics and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

She said the provincial government is paying attention to subjects including Coding, Mathematics and Physical Science.

“The province also recently launched the Mobile Digital Analytics Skills Laboratory to ensure that young people are exposed to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We have taken a decision as the Provincial Government that we must assess the viability of schools with a low enrolment rate.

“Our view is that some of them could be converted into Vocational Skills Centers to address among others the shortage of technical skills for the country. These include among others Artisan, Plumbers, Electricians, Construction and Carpentry,” the Premier said.

Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has congratulated social grant beneficiaries who wrote their final Grade 12 examinations, amid difficult circumstances, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement on Monday, the department said the results on the performance of the 2022 Social Grant Beneficiaries (SGB) who wrote the 2022 NSC examination show an impressive increase in performance between the years, 2020/2021 and 2021/2022, in all provinces.

The overall increase now sits at 8.7 percentage points from 0.2 % in 2020/2021.

Minister Zulu has further extended a word of appreciation to parents, caregivers, social service practitioners, teachers, school governing bodies, and community structures who played an important role in guiding the class of 2022 to realise and achieve their dreams.

Minister Zulu called for caregivers and parents to equally support those matriculants who may not have done well or did not make it by providing them with a second chance.

“We want to take this opportunity to encourage the learners who did not pass to remain hopeful and not panic or give up on their dreams. It is during this period that families and friends should show support.

“For those whose results were not as good as expected, not to give up as many opportunities are still available for them to succeed. Information, advice, and guidance on what to do next is available and I would urge the learners to use these opportunities fully to improve their results.

“I also want to encourage the parents to be supportive to their children as parental involvement has long been identified as having a clear and positive relationship to the success of young people regarding educational performance as well as protection from alcohol and drug abuse,” Minister Zulu said.

Performance by Province

The ranking of the social grant beneficiaries performance by province sees Gauteng Province as the best performing province at 81.59%, followed by the Free State (76.19%), KwaZulu-Natal (75.73%), North West (74.19%), and Northern Cape (71.23%).

The three provinces with similar levels of performance are the Eastern Cape (68.66%), Mpumalanga (68.49%) and Western Cape (68.49%). Limpopo is the province with performance below the 60% threshold at 59.65%.

The department said that the previous year saw more female social grant beneficiary learners sitting for their NSC examination at 256 902, as compared to 191 490 males. A trend that has been observed in previous years.

The overall male pass rate was reportedly higher at 72.5% compared to the female, which is at 70.39%. This is observed in all provinces except in Gauteng, where 81.86% of females performed slightly better than their male counterparts who obtained 81.21%.

“These results prove that programmes that promote gender parity in performance, such as the Sanitary Dignity Programme, are interventions which encourage the retention of girls in school as well as their attendance and performance,” the minister said.

Minister Zulu has called on all Provinces to strengthen these interventions especially in rural and township areas.

She said that the academic performance highlights the critical role that social protection and pro-poor interventions play in addressing intergenerational poverty and child wellbeing.

“When comparing learners who were still receiving their grant (active recipients) in their matric year and those who whose grant had stopped (inactive recipients) due to their age, active social grant beneficiaries were found to have a substantially higher pass rate as compared to inactive social grant beneficiaries, with an overall pass rate of 87.20% and 75.22%, respectively,” the department highlighted.

This is observed in all provinces and is a trend that has been consistent in previous years, showing some evidence of the effects of social grants on children’s educational outcomes.

“The findings may be demonstrating that the impact of social grants is likely to be greater the longer the transfer duration, especially, if child-specific grants are kept active until the learner completes their Grade 12 education. Nonetheless, while the inactive pass rates are lower, it is essential to note that just about 75% of inactive social grant beneficiaries managed to pass their NSC examinations,” the department said.

The Minister also reminds the grant beneficiaries who applied and were accepted at tertiary institutions that they will not be means tested when applying for financial assistance with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

Defence and Military Veterans Minister, Thandi Modise, says she is confident that the multinational maritime exercise between South Africa, Russia and China that will take place over a 10-day period will benefit all three participating nations.

“The envisaged exercise will benefit all countries involved through interoperability of the naval systems, joint disaster systems management enhancement, maritime cooperation and anti-piracy exercises.”

In addition, she said the event known as Exercise Mosi II, will serve as a platform for the three nations to share operational skills, expertise and experience.

This comes after the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) announced last week that it will host the People’s Liberation Army Navy from China and the Russian Federal Navy during the multilateral maritime exercise scheduled to take place from 17 to 27 February 2023.

The maritime exercise will be held in Durban and Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal.

According to the department, this will be the second time such an exercise will be taking place involving the three naval forces with the first one held in November 2019 in Cape Town.

This year’s Exercise Mosi II will see over 350 SANDF personnel from various Arms of Services and Divisions participating alongside their Russian and Chinese counterparts.

South Africa, according to the department, enjoys diplomatic relations with all member states of BRICS (Brazil, Russia and China) at a bilateral level, in addition to the multilateral levels.

“We also enjoy defence diplomatic relations with several countries across all the continents of the world since we have become an integral part of the community of nations and no longer a pariah State.”

In recent months, the department said it had engagements with counterparts in the United Kingdom, China, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.

“There was no hype about any of these countries, especially about the USA wherein we held an even longer exercise, known as Exercise Shared Accord in KwaZulu-Natal last year regarding our military health capabilities,” the department added.

In addition, the department said the SANDF plans and budgets for military exercises with other nations across the globe, both at bilateral and multilateral levels.

Exercise Mosi II, according to the department is no exception, including the Exercise Shared Accord held with the United States armed forces counterparts.

Meanwhile, the biennial maritime Exercise Oxide between South Africa and France also took place in November last year at the Simon’s Town Naval Base.

“We wish to state categorically that South Africa, like any independent and sovereign state, has a right to conduct its foreign relations in line with its diplomatic relations and national interests. South Africa sees Exercise Mosi II as an opportunity to contribute towards further strengthening the strong bonds that exist between South Africa, Russia and China,” the department said.

“Contrary to the assertions by our critics, South Africa is not abandoning its neutral position on the Russian-Ukraine conflict. We remain firm in our view that multilateralism and dialogue are keys to unlocking sustainable international peace. We continue to urge both parties to engage in dialogue as a solution to the current conflict.”

KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, has welcomed the smooth start to the 2023 academic year as over 2.8 million learners across the province went back to school on Wednesday.

Dube-Ncube accompanied Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga and Education MEC Mbali Frazer on visits to schools in Umlazi, Parlock and La Mercy to monitor the first day of school for coastal areas.

Speaking during the school monitoring visits, Dube-Ncube emphasised that quality education is an apex priority for the provincial government and expressed her satisfaction that learning and teaching started in earnest on the first day of the school calendar.

“The minor challenges experienced in some schools are being urgently addressed by the Department of Education. We were very encouraged by the active citizenry demonstrated by the community and members of the governing bodies in the schools we have visited.

“We also commend the dedication shown by educators. As the provincial government, we are fully committed to ensuring access to quality education therefore it is critical that teaching and learning begins from the first day of the school year,” Dube-Ncube said.

The Premier announced that the province will pilot online registration for schools in the province from this year.

This is in a bid to reduce the number of parents waiting in queues to enrol their children and so that all learners are enrolled within the stipulated timeframe.

“The process for admissions for the 2023 academic year started early in 2022 when admissions opened on 1 March 2022 and closed on 30 September 2022. A total of 209 665 learners have been admitted in Grade 1 and 237 987 learners have been admitted in Grade 8,” the department said.

At the start of the 2023 academic year, Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Makhotso Sotyu has encouraged learners to commit to their studies, perform well and be upright students.

“Education is the cornerstone of securing a successful future. To the educators, it’s wonderful to see the commitment on your side; ensuring that children remain in school, providing support to help them succeed in these primary years,” the Deputy Minister said on Wednesday.

She made these remarks when she was addressing more than 150 learners at the Boaramelo Combined School in Jagersfontein, Free State, as part of government’s Back-to-School oversight campaign.

The Back-to-School campaign is an opportunity for the Deputy Minister to conduct oversight duties – assessing the state of school readiness for the 2023 academic year. In addition, Deputy Minister Sotyu used the visit to provide learners with school supplies that will aid learners and teachers to fulfil their educational goals.

The Deputy Minister used the opportunity to encourage the students to be environmental warriors and green champions.

She reminded them of their responsibility towards protecting the environment.

This includes recycling and reusing household waste, ensuring the community is clear of illegal dumpsites by refraining from littering as well planting trees and vegetable gardens at the school and in their homes.

During this year’s Back-to-School campaign, the Deputy Minister donated 70 eco desks, 700 LED lights, 800 school shoes, 800 bottles, 800 school bags, sanitary packs and gardening tools. The event ended with the planting of trees.

The Department of Small Business Development is working on an energy relief package for the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) with stakeholders to alleviate the devastating impact of load shedding on small businesses.

SMMEs are particularly hit hard by continued power outages as many cannot afford alternative power sources such as generators. They are forced to pause trading during load shedding. As a result, some small businesses resort to selling perishable goods such as meat and vegetables at low prices, to avoid them rotting away, which affects their much-needed income.

This has prompted Minister of Small Business Development Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, working together with her team to find solutions that could lessen the impact of load shedding on small businesses.

The Minister has instructed the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) as well as the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (sefa) to work in consultation with different stakeholders within and outside government on an energy relief package.

“Our aim is to find immediate solutions that can be urgently effected to avoid disastrous consequences, such as closure of small businesses and job losses in the SMME sector. This sector is still recovering from the ruinous effects of COVID-19. We cannot afford losing more businesses and jobs,” Ndabeni-Abrahams said on Tuesday.

SEFA conducted a research study on the impact of load shedding on its funded clients, and the following were key findings:

• Most respondents indicated that they are highly reliant on electricity for their operations;
• About 71% of respondents indicated that they are negatively impacted by load shedding; and
• The majority of the respondents will require an alternative power source to continue with their operations.

The details of the package, the criteria and avenues for the application for the relief will be announced soon.

Government has acknowledged the frustration of South Africans, due to a combination of factors, which have led to sporadic protests that occurred on Monday.

Government has urged for calm amid a series of sporadic protests reported in parts of the country on Monday.

In a statement, Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, said government acknowledges the frustration of South Africans, due to a combination of factors.

“Government is alive to the issues related to the delivery of basic services, and calls for concerns to be raised in a peaceful and legitimate platform. During this difficult period, citizens, business, organised labour, wider social formations and government need to pull together to overcome the current challenges. We are a resilient nation and will overcome these difficulties that afflict us.”

Government said the Constitution guarantees the rights of citizens to embark on protests.

“However, it must be done responsibly and within the confines of the law. The destruction of property and the infringement of the rights of others cannot be tolerated. Such acts of destruction similarly add to our woes as at times they destroy the very infrastructure which is needed to allow the economy to grow,” the Minister said.

“The South African Police Services and law enforcement agencies will act against those who violate the law. Communities must allow the police to do their job, without any interference,” said Gungubele.

Government noted videos and commentary on social media that presents South Africa out of context and paints an erroneous image of the country. These videos are deceptive and have the potential to adversely harm the country.

“We all have a role to play to improve our country, and these harmful social media posts serve individual interests and not that of improving our beautiful country. Let us play our part in building our country by exercising our democratic rights responsibly,” said the Minister.