national 14.10.2016 06:00 am
Virginia Keppler
Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande during his statement on fee increments on 19 September 2017 in Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles
The minister said free education for everybody would result in the poor subsiding the rich.
While South African universities remain shut and students fight for fee-free quality education, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande yesterday said there was free higher education, which had not reached everyone.
Nzimande was addressing the Fees Commission in Centurion, Pretoria, which had posed questions to him.
He said government had been phasing in fee-free education for the poor over some time, and that it was not just an overnight decision. The minister said free education for everybody would result in the poor subsiding the rich.
"The wealthy must pay," said Nzimande.
About private institutions, Nzimande said "they fill an important gap". But he said having many private universities would raise the cost of higher education.
The minister warned that academics would be poached from the public sector and the public higher education sector would lose the financial contribution from rich children.
"We need the wealthy students in the public higher education sector for them to pay fees," said Nzimande.
http://www.citizen.co.za/1314232/no-free-education-for-the-rich-says-blade/