Threat to close varsities
THE salaries of vice-chancellors, ministers, mayors, the president and MPs should be reduced to assist in making funds available or free education.
So said Sthembiso Ndlovu, secretary-general of the South African Union of Students. He was speaking at the commission of inquiry into fees for higher education and training at its first public hearing at the Tshwane Council Chamber yesterday.
Also presenting their submissions were the University of Witwatersrand and members of the public Ntokozo Mahlangu and Zenzele Phahla, and the Department of Higher Education and Training.
The union made its first presentation and was adamant that free higher education was feasible. Its representatives said most black students came from poor backgrounds and because of that did not have access to higher learning.
Union president Avela Mjajubane said the increase of “black debt” at universities was also the cause of a high percentage of drop-outs in higher education.
“The majority of students who manage to enrol for first year of study in universities end up being indebted to the university and most of the time dropping out,” he said.
Mjajubane said free education must be made available to the poor and the working class whose parents could not afford to pay for their children’s fees as a short term-goal. However, free education should be available to all students in the long run.
He said free education would help reduce criminal activities as the majority would then have acquired skills and become employable. Free education would also increase research output and would help to better the country economically and socially.
The union proposed that salaries of vice-chancellors, ministers, mayors, the president and MPs be reduced to assist in making funds available for free education.
Ndlovu said free education was not negotiable and a demand that must be met by the beginning of 2017. The union representatives said if push came to shove they would close down all universities.
Associate professor Hlonipho Mokoena said the goal was not only to put 10 000 students into universities but to not disadvantage those already at universities who could not afford to pay to further their studies.
Member of the public Ntokozo Mahlangu proposed the formation of accredited online universities. He said these would reduce many costs students faced such as accommodation, transport, food, as the university would be accessible everywhere at any time. “Online universities would eliminate a lot of things including the cost of learning materials.”
Gwebinkundla Qonde, Director-General of Higher Education and Training, said any decision to abolish fees as demanded must be located within the context of funding of universities adequately to provide quality higher education and research.
The commission was established by President Jacob Zuma in January to look into the feasibility of free higher education. This was after students protested demanding free education. The hearing was chaired by Judge Jonathan Arthur Heher .
It will continue today. Alan Jones
LONDON: The level of sexual harassment in the workplace is “shameful”, with women being subjected to unwelcome jokes, verbal advances, suggestive remarks and even demands for sexual favours, says a report.
The study, published by the Trades Union Congress, showed that the problem was far worse for younger women, with almost two thirds of 18-to24-year-olds saying they had suffered sexual harassment at work.
A survey of 1 500 women found that a third had been subjected to unwelcome jokes, while one in four received sex-related comments about her body or clothes. One in four had been touched in some manner and one in eight said someone had tried to kiss them.
The TUC said sexual harassment at work took many forms, from suggestive remarks, jokes about a colleague’s sex life and circulating pornography, to inappropriate touching, hugging or kissing, or demands for sexual favours.
In most cases, the perpetrator was male, with nearly one in five women saying it was their line manager or someone with direct authority over them.
Four out of five women who said they experienced sexual harassment at work did not tell their employer, fearing it would affect their relationships at work and hurt their career prospects, or they were too embarrassed to talk about it.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “How many times do we still hear that sexual harassment in the workplace is just a bit of ‘banter’? Sexual harassment is undermining, humiliating and can have a huge effect on mental health.
“Victims are often left feeling ashamed and frightened. It has no place in a modern workplace, or in wider society.” She added: “Employers must be clear they have a zero-tolerance attitude to sexual harassment and treat any complaint seriously.” – The Independent