The Spark

Ishumi Leminyaka – Consolidating the ground towards socialist power Progress in human development has always been achieved through a struggle against nature or against the tyranny of man. It falls upon each generation to develop the struggle in order to respond to the prevailing material conditions which are a major determinant of the motive forces.  In the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Founding Manifesto one of the stated goals of this generation is to raise the political consciousness of the masses in order to get to a critical mass which will play a decisive role in crushing neo-colonialism which currently underpins our economic, social and cultural structure. The challenge faced by the EFF is that the dawn of democracy in South Africa brought about a false consciousness of an illusion of freedom whereas we had only achieved limited political freedom. The result of this has been the high levels of apathy in society which has disengaged itself from active participation in the p...

  Revolutionary Greetings We scribe to  your office with the clarity of thought and mind when it comes to the direct payment system. Before we dwell on this matter, we would like to unequivocally reject this system and reject the companies that come with it. Why do we reject this? We reject this system because it is patently corrupt and seeks to benefit the four unknown companies, namely, Norraco, eZaga (Access Bank Nigeria), Coinvest Africa and Tenet Technology. Another reason why we reject this system is due to the reality that NSFAS has not developed the capacity to directly pay students. In a nutshell, this so-called direct payment is not direct payment but indirect payment not fundamentally different to the previous decentralized system. Another  fundamental reason why we reject this system is due to the fact that consultation was not done. In fact, NSFAS and you Minister Nzimande imposed this system when it was clear that SAUS was operating outside of the mandate ...

The direct payment policy has been a thorny issue in the sector of Higher Education due to many factors. The main factor has been the process of outsourcing this system and appointing unknown service providers who are not even recognized by the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA). Through countless inquiries on the origins of the companies and how they got the contract, it finally dawned on us that NSFAS would never approve such a scandalous method without cooperation from SAUS. The South African Union of Students (SAUS) is a key cog in the machinery that continues to exploit the children of the Working Class and the Peasantry. At the beginning of the year, NSFAS published the NSFAS Financial and Academic Eligibility Criteria for 2023. In the over 50-page document, NSFAS imposed the Direct Payment method and the Straight-to-Landlord policy. The SRCs from across the country rightfully rejected this due to NSFAS imposing a policy without maximum consultation. It was in one of the...

 At the beginning of 2023, we were ambushed with a decision that was adopted in the dingy corners of the sector of Higher Education by SAUS (South African Union of Students) and NSFAS. This decision was sanctified and blessed by the Godfather of the sector, Dr. Bonginkosi Emmanuel 'Blade' Nzimande. The decision is an opportunistic decision given the fact that the mechanism of direct payment is more expensive than the previous mechanism. The reason why this decision can be categorized as opportunistic is due to the timing and the implementation of the decision.  In student spaces, the question of direct payment has been one which has gripped the space after the #FeesMustFall was neutralized by the 'free education' announcement of the former President, Monsieur Jacob Zuma. This announcement created an opening for the neoliberal wing of government to implement policies that would increasingly centralize the disbursement process. This was also accompanied by reports of a ge...