Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s president, said that free college education in South Africa could become a possibility in the future.

In a recent interview for Bloomberg Business, President Zuma said, “It’s possible, but it’s not a question you can do overnight. You’ve got to be able to have the resources.”

President Zuma spoke out about the possibility for free college education in South Africa after the recent Fees Must Fall protest over South African universities’ increase in tuition and student costs. Students protested near Zuma’s offices in Pretoria by throwing stones at buildings and starting fires on the lawn outside the buildings.

Student enrollment in South Africa’s universities has doubled to nearly 1 million since the end of the apartheid, and the government wants that number to grow to 1.6 million by 2030. However, only about 5 percent of South African families can afford to comfortably pay their children’s university fees.

The South African Institute of Race Relations has analyzed whether it would be possible to provide free college education in South Africa. The Institute suggests that it is possible if the government can adjust its spending priorities.

Right now the spending level on universities in South Africa is around 0.8 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, which comes to around 25 billion rands.

In order to make tertiary education free, an additional 71 billion rands is required. The South African Institute of Race Relations believes that such levels of funding are possible if government spending is adjusted.

The Institute found that if the state’s wage bill were to be cut by just 5 percent, it would give 22 billion rands toward universities. If military and defense were cut by 25 percent, this would send another 10 billion rands to universities. Finally, cutting off all subsidies to parastatals and other entities would deliver around 45 billion rands per year. These cuts total 77 billion rands.

According to The South African Institute of Race Relations, “our figures and estimates are deeply conservative and yet they suggest that fully subsidized undergraduate education is affordable for all students currently attending universities.”

Prioritizing government spending could make a free college education in South Africa a strong possibility, but it will take time and support from the South African government.

– Jordan Connell

Sources: Bloomberg Business, Daily Maverick, IB Times
Photo: Wikimedia