/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) raised a number of pertinent socio-economic issues relating to early childhood development (ECD), post-school education, land reform and the wider economy during its briefing on the 2018 Appropriations Bill.

Dr Vijay Reddy, HSRC Executive Director of the Education and Skills Development Research Programme said that the 2018/19 budget does not address Grades R and RR. The committee was told that Grade R is currently not compulsory, that resources and conditions for Grade R teachers are not consistent with other teachers in the schooling sector and that a key challenge is programming for the first 1 000 days of school, which should address not only the needs of high-risk families, but also maternal mental health and its effect on child development.

Post-school education remains a highly unequal area in South Africa. Professor Heidi Van Rooyen, Executive Director of the HSRC’s Human and Social Development Programme said that fee-free education will fix the inequity in enrolment rates, but will not address the 55% failure rate among students or the fact that white students’ completion rate is 50% higher than that of black students. Some of the recommendations made by the HSRC include investment in university-bound school learners, student-teacher dialogues, mentoring and accountability strategies, and easily accessible psycho-social and writing/computing services.

Political pressure to fast-track land transfers have increased over the past 24 months and striking a balance between the demand for equitable land reform, as entrenched in the Constitution, and the need for macroeconomic stability has been difficult, said Professor Ivan Turok, Executive Director in the HSRC’s Economic Performance and Development Unit. The HSRC believes that “policy revisions must be combined with a clear strategy of satisfying rural land needs that will sharply reduce asset (wealth) inequalities. Well-planned asset redistribution is critical to boost rural prosperity and standards of living,” said Prof Turok.

Committee Chairperson Ms Yvonne Phosa said: “The HSRC is an important and valued partner to the Appropriations Committees as we work together to ensure that we maximise the socio-economic benefits of the scarce resources available to our people.” The HSRC’s inputs on early childhood development, the interface between municipalities and traditional authorities, streamlining and deepening public participation in development projects, ensuring effectiveness in healthcare, and improving completion rates in higher education and NSFAS monitoring systems will form an important part of the committee’s oversight over the budget allocation and department’s service delivery performance, said Ms Phosa.
 
Meanwhile, the committee rejected the proposed amendments to the Appropriations Bill [B3-2018] submitted by a member of the committee, Mr Alan Mcloughlin. It was proposed that 170 amendments amounting to R5.36 billion be made to provide for an increase in the child-support grant. The committee deliberated on the proposed amendments and the trade-offs between the various critical policy programmes within the 14 affected votes and resolved to reject the proposed amendments. The committee emphasised the importance of extensive public participation in the budget process and the value of consulting widely and broadly on all issues pertaining to the 2018 Appropriations Bill.
 

Issued by Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Appropriations, Yvonne Phosa