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Over 300 000 students stand to be financially excluded thanks to tertiary education funding being cut by approximately R13.7 billion. DASO unequivocally condemns and rejects this.

DASO notes that these budget cuts are happening across various departments but also notes how spending on frivolous line items such as VIP security has not decreased. It is clear that the governing party is governing without any modicum of conscience. It is clear that the government of the day has forsaken the very same human rights it played a role in fighting for.

The Department of Higher Education and the National Treasury are placing the dreams of students across South Africa on hold and they are thus placing the future of South Africa on hold. Many students across South Africa are often the first members of their families to attend tertiary education and thus carry the hopes of their families and communities on their backs.

With the upcoming budget cuts, more and more of these young South Africans will be systemically forced out of higher education by the governing party. This cannot be the case.

Thanks to a Minister who is as effective as an underwater toaster and policy that is as relevant as a typewriter in 2023, higher education in South Africa is undeniably collapsing. It cannot be that higher education is treated as a spaza shop for dodgy tenders and dubious administration and rental costs.

Students across South Africa deserve a new higher education system with a funding model that speaks to the contemporary needs of ordinary South Africans. The DA presents that alternative and continues to advocate for this alternative.

The Department of Higher Education and NSFAS are more than welcome to copy, paste, and apply our policy to ensure that the future of students is safeguarded.

Should this not be realised, DASO will continue to take the fight to DHET and NSFAS in the name of ensuring a just higher education sector in the Republic of South Africa.“

Issued by the Democratic Alliance