Commission of inquiry to look into higher education funding

Last year, South Africa was rocked by often violent protests by university students against the high cost of higher education.

The #FeesMustFall campaign, which led to the shutdown of a number of university campuses around the country and even saw the storming of Parliament in Cape Town, eventually prompted Zuma to announce there would be no increases in student fees for the 2016 academic year.

While this has left a shortfall of several billion rand which government and universities have agreed to cover, students have continued with protests at the start of this year, demanding free admission to institutions of higher learning.

In a statement on Thursday, the Presidency said that on October 23, President Jacob Zuma met with vice-chancellors, chairpersons of university councils, presidents of student representative councils and the representatives of student organisations “to discuss concerns with regard to fee increases and funding of higher education”.

The President announced thereafter that government would lead a process that would look at broader issues affecting the funding of higher education.

“The President has now appointed a Commission of Inquiry in terms of Section 84(2)(f) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

“The Commission will be chaired by Honourable Justice Jonathan Arthur Heher, a former judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal. Judge Heher was appointed as a Judge of the High Court in 1993 and as a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2003. He retired from the bench in 2013. Judge Heher will be assisted by. Adv Gregory Ally and Ms Leah Thabisile Khumalo as Commissioners.”

The Presidency said Ally was admitted to the bar in 1990 while Khumalo is a practicing attorney and a founder and director of Mngoma–Mlaba Khuloa Inc.

According to the Presidency, the Commission would enquire into, make findings, report on, and make recommendations on “the feasibility of making higher education and training (higher education) fee-free in South Africa”.

It said the commission would have to work within the framework of the Constitution and relevant legislation and take into account the work and findings of various Presidential and Ministerial Task Teams.

The commission would be required to submit interim reports and recommendations to the president who had given the commission eight months to complete its work, and a further two months to submit its final report. - ANA

(File photo: Gallo Images)