My matric year in 1976 was not easy. Due to the youth uprising, we were out of school for a long time. There were no online facilities. However, after numerous extra classes over weekends and in the evenings, and thanks to matric exemption, I could realise my dream to qualify as a teacher at the University of the Working Class (UWC). Here I would reach political maturity and get involved with the student protest against apartheid. As one of six children of parents from the working class, my studies would not have been possible without a government bursary.

It is 40 years later. It is said that history repeats itself every 40 years. True or not, last week I had to teach my students (via online classes) that the world is a set of related systems in which problems cannot be solved in isolation. In good times, governments embrace a bureaucratic management style, just as in 2017 when Jacob Zuma, without consultation, announced free higher education. In bad times we discover the value of participative management like in 2020 when the country was managed by a “command council”.

Zuma has left the country with a prickly problem. His Cabinet accepted his wilful decree without saying a single word. The matrics of 2020 — like the class of 1976 — had to overcome huge challenges. Those who persevered and passed with university exemption would qualify for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). After an exhausting year, they have dreams for the future. But once again the government has failed us.

NSFAS failed to communicate timeously with students who were to receive bursaries. This disrupted the registration process at most universities. Frustrated students rebelled. They believe Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande and his department have been aware of the problem for months and did nothing about it. In the process, an innocent father, Mthokozisi Edwin Ntumba, died in the crossfire in Braamfontein near the Wits campus.

This forced President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Cabinet to act. A day later, additional financing of R6-billion was approved. But there is a twist in the tail of this story. The government coffers are empty. Nzimande thus had to adapt his own budget to find the funding. In the meantime students organised a total countrywide shutdown while universities scrambled over the weekend to get Covid-ready for the return to campus on 15 March.

Due to South Africa’s high unemployment figures, little tax has been collected. As a result, free higher education is unaffordable, as Nzimande discovered last week. Yet, no needy student who qualified for a bursary should be excluded from further education. A degree is only relevant and a bursary only justified if graduates contribute to the economy.

It is time that higher education is restructured. Universities cannot be the only source of further education. With the opening of a career training college in 2021 and a course offering that includes training for various artisans and career-oriented training, Sol-Tech has already shown the way.

The NSFAS crisis shows that revision of the system is urgently required. One possibility is a performance-driven repayment of some bursaries. The better the performance, the less the repayment required. Because in its current form, the scheme is not sustainable.

Hard work awaits Nzimande. DM