It’s that time of the year again. The time when students are met with the same hurdles in the higher education sector that their peers did last year … and the year before that.
From a lack of space at institutions and funding, to accommodation and disbursement of allowances. In that order.
Matric students are told the best they can do is obtain a bachelor’s degree pass. Suddenly, there is hope and expectation for a university admission. What is not fully emphasised is the quality of their pass and the impact it has on their gaining admission to a university.
The minimum requirements for obtaining a bachelor’s pass are getting at least 40% for your home language. You also need at least 50% in four designated subjects, excluding Life Orientation. Additionally, you must get at least 30% in two other subjects. All this happens while passing at least six out of seven subjects.
Although this is classified as a bachelor’s pass, it puts a lot of students at the bottom of the barrel. This especially happens when universities have their pick of the crop.
Hence, every year after the release of the matric results, we are always met with the same crisis of applications exceeding capacity.
In a briefing held in January, the Higher Education Minister, Buti Manamela, indicated, “this gap between success and capacity is real, it’s also structural, but it’s also long-standing. But we must also accept that the last two years or so have created this shock to the system, which also means that our responses need to be much more bold and much firmer.”
A structural problem is identified, yet no plan of action is taken to tackle it. Now that the damage cannot be swept under the rug, it gets blamed on the past two years.
In reality, this issue has stood for over five years.
Why is there still no solution to it to this day? Admitting there is a problem under your leadership does not equal fixing the problem. Solutions are what we want to hear.
“It is not that we are failing. We now need to reorganise ourselves to meet new demand. Yes, space has been a challenge, but it has never been to this proportion,” Manamela argued.
But the department is failing because the last time there was enough space for the number of students who passed matric was seven years ago.
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Falling through the cracks
The number of students that fall through the cracks each year due to space or financial constraints worsens the matter for the year to follow. That continuous cycle is what put us where we are today.
The government never fails to visit institutions, making it seem as if issues are being addressed when they are barely scratching the surface.
Deputy Minister of the Department of Higher Education and Training, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, was the epitome of this at an oversight visit to the Vaal University of Technology. During what they call “the 2026 Academic year State of Readiness monitoring programme”, she committed to providing funding support for 50 underprivileged learners through her office.
This number is a drop in the ocean that cannot be the Department’s commitment to strengthening access, improving the student experience, and fostering clearer communication between institutions, students, and communities.
‘This time of the year is not always smooth’
As the sham of a programme concluded in the North-West, the deputy minister went to the Free State Province. This is where she boldly uttered the words, “This time of the year is not always smooth – that’s why we are here.”
But where exactly is “here”?
As a minister, she is standing at a university that is plagued by so many students with back-a-buddy campaigns, trying to get funds just to register. Never mind the fight for their whole fees, accommodation, or meals.
“We are here”, says a minister ticking that same institution ready for the academic year on her list.
Just this week alone, close to 4 000 students at the University of Western Cape were stranded without accommodation. A protest ensued. Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University started its academic year over a month ago. However, students had to disrupt classes this week over unpaid allowances.
But I guess it is just ‘this time of the year”. A time to turn a blind eye to all of your responsibilities.
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