Isilo saMabandla, His Majesty the King, Hlanga lomhlabathi

The Minister of Correctional Services and Chancellor of UNIZULU, Dr Sbu Ndebele,

Vice-Chancellor Professor Fikile Mazibuko,

The Minister of Higher Education, Dr Blade Nzimande,

MECs,

Members of the University Council,

Traditional and Religious Leaders present

SRC leadership and all students,

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

 
I greet you all this afternoon.

It is an honour for me to be granted this opportunity of addressing such an august gathering.

We meet during an important month in the history of our country, a month in which we celebrate 20 years of freedom and democracy.

We are celebrating 20 years of freedom that came about through the blood, sweat and tears of our people.

It is easy to forget where we come from if we focus more on the hustle and bustle of everyday life. But the freedom we achieved and the sacrifices that were made are too precious not to celebrate.

Living in a free and democratic South Africa is priceless. We have had 20 years of equality, human rights, justice, freedom of association, freedom expression and many other rights enshrined in the Constitution of our country, especially the unique socio-economic rights.

We are also celebrating 20 years of worker rights.

These include trade union workplace organising, collective bargaining, equal pay for equal work, health and safety, affirmative action, skills development, minimum wages for workers in vulnerable sectors, the right to strike, and the right to peaceful protest.

It is also 20 years of the advancement of the rights of women in all spheres. We have advanced as a society on women’s rights. The violation of these rights is frowned upon by a society that is continuously being conscientised about gender equality.

The year 2014 also marks a celebration of the enshrinement of the rights of the child. The Constitution and legislation such as the progressive Children’s Act and others outline all the rights that a child born in a free and democratic South Africa must enjoy.

Most importantly Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, the year 2014 is significant for the people of this province of KwaZulu-Natal.

They are celebrating 20 years of peace and stability and the freedom to select political parties of their choice to support. It is 20 years of free political activity.

Only a few years ago, this province was engulfed by a wave of internecine violence that was fomented by the apartheid state security apparatus in order to prolong their reign.

We kept on stating many a time that the state was behind the violence, that there was a third force and this was ridiculed and denied.

It took incidents such as the successful prosecution of the Trustfeed Massacre case to prove for the world to see, that the police and other security structures had a programme of destabilising black communities in this province and also in what is now Gauteng.

We still recall the pain suffered by the people of KwaZulu-Natal, who had to live through horrific episodes of hit squads that attacked townships and villages willy nilly.

It took a lot of determination and political will for the political parties in this province to agree to end the violence and bring about peace and stability in this beautiful province.

We congratulate the political parties for that foresight and for putting the people first.

When we say South Africa is a much better place to live in now than it was before 1994, the people of Pietermaritzburg, Hammarsdale, Ngwelezane, Shobashobane, Trustfeed, kwaMakhutha and many other areas know what we are talking about.

This very campus, if it could talk, would tell stories of some incidents of violence that were perpetrated here before 1994.

Thus the achievement of peace and stability in KZN under difficult conditions is one of the major achievements of the Republic of South Africa. Without solving the KZN security crisis, the rest of the country would have in the end been plunged into a crisis.

The entire transition was under threat. The people of KwaZulu-Natal must never take this achievement for granted.

Compatriots

As we prepare for the elections next month therefore, we urge the people of KwaZulu-Natal not to allow themselves to be provoked towards senseless violence.

We urge the political parties to work together and cooperate with the Independent Electoral Commission, to ensure peaceful elections in the province.

I am stating this because of the incidents of violence and loss of life that have taken place recently in the province. We should ensure that no more lives are lost. Everyone has a right to support a party of their choice. That is the freedom we fought for.

Hon Chancellor

We are celebrating 20 years of extending basic services to all our people, millions of whom had never had these services before.

Many villages and townships now boast electricity, water, sanitation, clinics and better schools. Broader than this, we are in essence celebrating our unique Constitution which enshrines socio-economic rights.

Indeed, we have achieved a lot in 20 years. South Africa is a much better place to live in than it was 20 years ago. That is why we say that we have a good story to tell.

Almost all of you in this room have good stories to tell, stories of how lives have changed and continue to change in the country since 1994.

While we have a good story to tell, we know too, that our work is not completed.

We still have to work harder than before to break the back of poverty, inequality and unemployment.

Institutions of higher learning such as UNIZULU have a critical role to play in moving this country forward through education and skills development.

It is for this reason that the ANC government declared education as an apex priority in 2009.

During apartheid, education was used as an instrument of subjugation.

We have a duty to undo the legacy of the past, and use education to build a new prosperous society.

We are investing in education because good quality education and training will allow more rapid economic, social and cultural development for society as a whole.

We can already prove our seriousness about higher education. Education gets the biggest slice of the national budget.

Our government has spent over 115 billion rand on higher education and training alone over the past five years. This has included 18.6 billion rand on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

NSFAS is the primary tool to ensure access for poor students to post-school education which has since its inception assisted over 1.4 million students.

The budget of NSFAS has increased substantially and has almost tripled from 3.1 billion rand in 2009 to just over 9.6 billion rand in 2014 in order to keep pace with the increasing number of students who need assistance to attend public universities and FET colleges.

The University of Zululand allocation from NSFAS has also increased from 144.4 million rand in 2012 to 196 million rand in 2014.

Our primary goal is to ensure that our youth are not denied education due to poverty.

We may not have the resources to cover every student yet, but we remain committed to assist as many as possible to obtain quality education and skills.

That is why in addition to NSFAS we also have complementary schemes such as the Jacob Zuma RDP Education Trust Fund and the newly-launched Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund.

We want to use every possible means to assist our youth to obtain a brighter future and participate in building the country.

Ladies and gentlemen

Improving access to education is to be accompanied by the improvement of the infrastructure in higher education institutions that were historically built to serve black students only.

From 2012 to 2014, six billion rand was allocated to universities for infrastructure. This includes 1.6 billion rand for student housing.

Institutions are to use the money to renovate old buildings of new teaching facilities, storm water, water storage, sewerage facilities, in some cases fencing and back-up generators.

This amount of 6 billion rand excludes the funding allocated towards the establishment of the new University of Mpumalanga and Sol Plaatje University in the Northern Cape.  The establishment of the two universities is one of the key achievements of our administration.

We now proudly declare that there is no province in our country that does not have its own university!

The infrastructure funding allocation to UniZulu, between 2010 and 2014 amounts to 480 million rand. The university is reported to have also added 50.8 million rand directly from its own resources towards the approved infrastructure projects.

We congratulate the University on this intervention. It makes me proud to have been a Chancellor of such a forward-looking institution.

Another good story of the current administration is the expansion of Further Education and Training colleges.

A total of 2.5 billion rand has been allocated to build 12 new Further Education and Training (FET) colleges and to refurbish 2 existing FET campuses.

Compatriots

Government and society in general wants to see value for money out of our higher education institutions. Students that emerge from the institutions should not only be armed with degrees and diplomas.

The education system must also inculcate values of democracy, social justice, equality, non-racialism and non-sexism, Ubuntu, human dignity, an open society, accountability, the rule of law, respect and reconciliation.

Graduates should also emerge from tertiary institutions with a better understanding of what it means to be South African and what they should do to contribute to building a better South Africa.

To be able to produce such a well-rounded student, universities must be transformed to become positive and progressive institutions.

Government has established an Oversight Committee on Transformation in South African Public Universities through the Minister of Higher Education and Training.

The committee will advise on;

- policies pertaining to racism, sexism and other forms of unfair discrimination;

- policies aimed at promoting social cohesion and an institutional environment where every student and staff member can live, study, work and flourish free of any constraints resulting from unfair discrimination; and

- the role played by universities in promoting the development of a free, fair and non-discriminatory society beyond the world of academia.

This intervention will contribute immensely towards building the non-racial, non-sexist democratic society that we envisage.

Compatriots,

Let me restate the well-known quote from our former President Mr Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela who said;

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”.

We are determined to use this weapon to change the lives of our children and the youth, to prepare them for a brighter future for themselves and the country.

We will spend the next five years taking forward the gains scored in the current administration and also in the past 15 years.

We will focus on some basics.

Every child must have access to free good quality basic education.

Every child must access education from the very basic level, which is why we are planning to make Grade R compulsory.

No child must drop out of school because of hunger. To date, 9 million children in 20 000 schools currently receive lunch free of charge from government’s nutrition programme.

All adult South Africans must be literate.

To achieve this we are building on our current successful adult literacy record.

The Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign has reached 3.7 million adults within five years, exceeding the Millennium Development Goal of halving illiteracy rates by 2015.

We must produce more qualified teachers each year to meet the growing numbers of children in schools.

The number of new teacher graduates had doubled from 6,000 in 2009 to 13,000 in 2012.

We say that no child must be denied schooling because parents or guardians are too poor to pay school fees.

Already, over 8 million learners are in our no fee schools.

We will also continue to ensure that all academically deserving students who come from poor families are financially assisted through NSFAS and bursaries and scholarships from private sector.

We trust that you will all work with us to achieve these goals in education.

An educated nation is a successful nation.

Educating our youth means a brighter future for South Africa and a more prosperous society.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen

Let us work together to move South Africa forward.

I thank you.