Statement by Wits School of Governance
South Africa&#8217;s Former Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan has been appointed as a Visiting Professor in the Wits School of Governance as from 1 December 2017.
“It gives us great pleasure to welcome Pravin Gordhan to Wits. He has played an integral role in South Africa’s history and we believe that his strong experience, sound public financial management and principled stand on good governance and transformation of the economy will add substantial value to the academic programme,” says Professor David Everatt, Head of the Wits School of Governance. “Gordhan’s strong views on corruption and financial mismanagement are well known – these are the vales [SIC] that we want to impress upon our students, many of whom serve in the public sector.”
Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Professor Imraan Valodia concurs: “This is a substantial appointment that will bode well for the Faculty. Mr Gordhan will join the likes of Nhlanhla Nene (Interim Director of the Wits Business School), Max Sisulu and Tito Mboweni, all whom have held leadership positions in government. This is another step forward in strengthening the Faculty’s cohort of stalwarts whose knowledge, energy and experience will no doubt inspire the next generation of leaders.”
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Through his long and distinguished career, Gordhan has obtained first hand practical knowledge of sound corporate governance and public sector management.
Professor Adam Habib, Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal says: “Pravin Gordhan has a very successful track record in management of the public service. The skill sets that he has acquired through his years of managerial experience will be the basis of rich learning for the University and its students”.
Gordhan embodies the values of Wits University and the School, Faculty and administration look forward to engaging with him in the near future. 
 
Short Biography of Pravin Gordhan 
Mr Pravin Gordhan has been instrumental in building and leading key institutions in South African and is highly respected by man in the public and private sectors. 
He has served South Africa in many capacities over a long and distinguished career starting in his youth.
He was actively involved in student politics whilst studying for his degree in pharmacy at the University of Durban-Westville. He was appointed as an executive member of the Natal Indian Congress in 1974 and was subsequently involved in building civic organisations and promoting non-racialism through campaigns on civic and political issues. He is a stalwart of the anti-apartheid struggle through the ANC 
and SACP underground and the UDF through the 1970s and 1980s.
When negotiations for a democratic South Africa commenced, Mr Gordhan was appointed to the Steering Committee charged with steering CODESA. He also serves as the Co-Chair of the Negotiating Process for the Interim Constitution and as Co-Chair of the Transitional Executive Council set up in late 1993 to prepare the country for democratic elections in April 1994.
He was elected a Member of Parliament for the ANC in 1994 and chaired committees of the Constituent Assembly and the National Assembly, where he played a critical role in setting up the foundations for legislation and policy, including drafting the White Paper on local government.
Mr Gordhan was appointed Deputy Commissioner of the South African Revenue Services (SARS) in 1998 and then Commissioner in 1999. Internationally, he served as Chairperson of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and was also the Chairperson of the Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) from 2008.
On 10 May 2009, President Jacob Zuma appointed Mr Gordhan as Minister of Finance. He was replaced as Finance Minister in 2014, becoming Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs. He was reappointed to the Finance Ministry in December 2015 and was again controversially replaced in March 2017.
He remains a member of parliament and has become a vocal critic of all entities who have fallen short of the high standards of performance, governance and integrity expected of them.

First Former SA Finance Minister Nene joins WBS, now Gordhan joins Wits

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Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane will not oppose a court challenge against her binding proposal calling for a change to the mandate of the South African Reserve Bank.

Mkhwebane won’t oppose SARB’s review application

A protest against prohibitive fees threatens to derail South Africa&#8217;s university calendar but impoverished students like Mmakatleho Sefatsa, who already face expulsion over unpaid bills, say they have nothing to lose.
The African National Congress (ANC) came to power in 1994 with promises to provide better housing, health and education for millions of blacks shut out during decades of repressive white minority rule.
But two decades later, 19-year-old Sefatsa&#8217;s dream of becoming her family&#8217;s first graduate hangs in the balance due to overdue payments, prompting her to take part in sometimes violent protests demanding free tertiary education.
&#8220;I owe the university close to 70,000 rand ($5,000) in tuition as it stands,&#8221; said the second-year education student at Johannesburg&#8217;s University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).
&#8220;Even if you don&#8217;t protest, at the end of the year the university is still going to send you a letter to say: &#8216;look you haven&#8217;t paid for two years, you have to leave&#8217;.&#8221;
Universities suspended classes this week after clashes in which police fired stun grenades, rubber bullets and tear gas at stone-throwing students.
The protests came after President Jacob Zuma&#8217;s government said it would continue subsidising university costs for the poorest students but could not afford free education for all.
The family income cut-off for financial aid means Sefatso is not poor enough to qualify &#8211; but her grandfather&#8217;s pension cannot cover her schooling bills of 70,000 rand a year, forcing her to sleep in the library some nights and rely on handouts from friends to buy food.
Because her two older siblings combined earn 240,000 rand a year &#8211; considered part of her household income &#8211; Sefatso was told she does not qualify for the financial aid given to those from households earning 160,000 rand or less.
&#8220;I explained to them that they don’t live with me and they are not my parents. But they have been giving me a run around,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I don’t have any hope.&#8221;
The trap Sefatso is caught in is commonplace &#8211; students not poor enough for free education but not wealthy enough to pay, in a group labeled the &#8216;missing middle&#8217;.
Undergraduate tuition fees at Wits, one of South Africa&#8217;s most expensive universities, range from 29,620-58,580 rand a year, beyond the means of many black students.
 
FEES FROZEN
Statistics South Africa data shows that university fees have soared by 80 percent since 2008, leading to the initial batch of protests last year that forced Zuma to scrap proposed increases for 2016.
But universities whose main source of income is fees say another price freeze next year would hurt their efforts to maintain high quality academic standards.
The government, grappling with a budget deficit of nearly 4 percent of GDP, has capped 2017 fee increases for next year at 8 percent, but says education subsidies should not come at the expense of other sectors such as health and housing.
The Treasury allocated nearly 300 billion rand to education this year, 20 percent of the budget and almost double spending on health.
To try to ease the pressure on university numbers, the government is trying to push students into cheaper vocational colleges where they can train to be plumbers, car mechanics and carpenters, among other trades.
But for many, this just perpetuates the racial inequalities of apartheid, where universities were the preserve of whites and blacks could aspire only to blue-collar jobs.
&#8220;The government has let us down. We have the will, we have the brains but we don&#8217;t have the money to study,&#8221; said Sihle Booi, a 22-year-old law student who fears getting kicked out of university over 50,000 rand of unpaid fees.
 
HARD GRAFT
The funding crisis is also damaging the ANC politically with many students linking it to the spread of corruption under Zuma.
The Constitutional Court ruled this year that Zuma flouted the law by ignoring an order to repay some of the 250 million rand in state funds spent on improvements to his private home.
Voters angry about corruption, unemployment and shoddy basic services then gave the ANC a bloody nose in August local elections, turning to opposition parties such as the Democratic Alliance, seen as a largely &#8220;white&#8221; party, and the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters.
&#8220;The demand for free education is just the tip of a deeper iceberg of frustration and anger among young people over broken promises, delivery failures, corruption, arrogance,&#8221; NKC African Economics political analyst Gary van Staden said.
&#8220;What you are dealing with here is enormous frustration that goes way beyond the fees. There is a general disappointment with the political system.&#8221;
($1 = 13.90 rand)﻿

Caught in fee trap, South African university students rebel

The University of the Witwatersrand believes that the voices of the majority of students and staff need to be heard. The University has received <a href="http://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/general-news/2016/feesmustfall2016/statements/letters-from-concerned-students-staff-and-parents.html">hundreds of emails</a> calling for the academic programme to resume and has <a href="http://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/general-news/2016/feesmustfall2016/statements/letters-from-concerned-students-staff-and-parents.html">responded</a> to these concerns.
In order to facilitate as wide a response as possible to the current crisis, the University will run a poll later this week to gauge the thoughts of staff and students on the resumption of the academic programme on Monday, the 3rd of October 2016, if the appropriate security measures are in place. All responses will remain anonymous. We are requesting the Independent Electoral Commission to oversee this process and to verify the results independently.
If the majority of students and staff support the reopening on Monday, the University will call upon government and the police to meet their obligations to protect the University’s property and to safeguard the lives of all students and staff.
The University is also extremely concerned about the unfolding and growing crisis in the higher education sector and is calling for an urgent meeting between vice-chancellors, the Minister of Higher Education and Training, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Police in order to engage further on this matter.
All University activities remain suspended until further notice. Senior management will continue to reach out to students in an attempt to engage on these critical issues.
Wits’ stability is important in the context of the broader higher education system. We cannot lose the academic year and we appeal to the University community and wider society to make your voices heard on this key issue of national importance that impacts on our collective futures.
Staff, students and the public can share their views via <a href="mailto:vco.news@wits.ac.za">vco.news@wits.ac.za</a> anonymously. Details of the poll will be announced later this week.

Wits poll: Do students and staff want to go back to class?

South African police fired stun grenades and arrested 31 students in clashes at Johannesburg&#8217;s University of the Witwatersrand on Tuesday, as countrywide protests for free tertiary education entered a third week.
The demonstrations over the cost of university education &#8212; prohibitive for many black students &#8212; have highlighted frustration at the inequalities that persist more than two decades after the end of white-minority rule in 1994.
The clashes, began when students marched to protest against a government recommendation that 2017 university tuition fee increases be capped at 8 percent. The cap is higher than South Africa&#8217;s current inflation rate of 6 percent.
 
(Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Catherine Evans)﻿
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First Former SA Finance Minister Nene joins WBS, now Gordhan joins Wits

Mkhwebane won’t oppose SARB’s review application

Caught in fee trap, South African university students rebel

Wits poll: Do students and staff want to go back to class?

Students & police clash at S.A's Wits University

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First Former SA Finance Minister Nene joins WBS, now Gordhan joins Wits

Mkhwebane won’t oppose SARB’s review application

Caught in fee trap, South African university students rebel

Wits poll: Do students and staff want to go back to class?

Students & police clash at S.A's Wits University

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Advertise With Us

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