Many South Africans feel that they woke from a nightmare and that the morning is near.
Hearing that Mr. Ramaphosa wants to put South Africa first and that he wants to get people employed is viewed with cautious optimism. Many South Africans still feel the sting of a hostile and selfish national leadership and it will take time to regain the people’s trust.
Mr. Ramaphosa is a businessperson and he understands how the economy is supposed to work. He also understands that populism is not the way to gain investor confidence. It is also common knowledge that Mr. Ramaphosa inherits a mess left behind by those who thought it best to put themselves ahead of the country.
It is very clear that Mr. Ramaphosa intends to right the ship and that he wants no stone left unturned to undo the rot that has set in over the last number of years.
One of the big headaches that the new President will have to deal with is how to handle the thousands of near-graduates who cannot get a qualification because they owe monies to the tertiary sector.
Near-graduates are defined as students who are in their final year of studies and who need three or less subjects to get a qualification. They are also defined as those who have completed their studies but who cannot graduate because of outstanding study fees. It will make sense to place an emphasis on the plight of these near-graduates who cannot enter the workplace because of their status.
In the greater scheme of things, the near graduate has a better chance to contribute to the economy than a first year who has high odds of failure stacked against him/her. It is widely known that 75% or more of first years do not make it into the second year. Many who do not progress into second year do not have sufficient marks to start the second year. And many first years will not return to campus after the first semester for a variety of reasons.
Granted, some first years cannot progress into a second year due to a lack of funding. They would need all the help they could get to graduate one day, and it makes sense that the State invests in their capability to make a contribution to the GDP after they graduated.
It would also make sense that the near graduates receive State funding so that they can get their qualifications and become valuable assets to the country’s growth.
The economy is a collection of theories of constraints. Given the challenges we face to kick-start the country’s growth again, one must state that the near graduate can no longer be forgotten.
It is a gross social injustice to leave the near-graduates on their own.
Peter van Nieuwenhuizen | CFO | peter@growthinstitute.co.za | Growth Institute |
