SOUTH AFRICA BECOMING A ‘UNIVERSITY FOR THE WORLD’: MAKASHULE GANA BLASTS HIGHER EDUCATION OVER BRAIN DRAIN CRISIS
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CAPE TOWN — South Africa is bleeding its top academic and professional talent because a dysfunctional higher education system is failing to protect the country's multi-billion-rand human capital investments.
This was the stinging assessment delivered in Parliament by Makashule Gana MP during a heated National Assembly mini-plenary debate on Budget Vote 17: Higher Education. Gana warned that the country has effectively become a free "university for the world"—subsidizing the education of brilliant young minds who are immediately forced to take their knowledge overseas due to a lack of local opportunities and institutional decay.
Gana directed the blame squarely at the leadership of the Department of Higher Education, stating that systemic operational failures, crumbling infrastructure, and rampant corruption have turned South Africa’s tertiary institutions into zones of extreme uncertainty.
The Annual Cycle of Institutional Decay
In his address, Gana highlighted that instead of fostering innovation, the department has become synonymous with recurring crises. High-profile entities like the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and various Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) continue to dominate headlines for financial mismanagement rather than student support.
Gana pointed to the annual eruption of student protests over delayed funding allocations and singled out the University of the Western Cape (UWC) as a prime example of the deplorable living and learning conditions currently plaguing public campuses.
"Given these conditions and uncertainty, we certainly cannot blame our young people for leaving our institutions, but also the country," Gana stated, arguing that the department itself is actively driving the youth exodus.
An Academic Retirement Time-Bomb
Beyond graduate unemployment, Gana exposed a quiet crisis stalling the engine of South African research: a critical lack of succession planning within university faculties.
As senior academic staff rapidly approach retirement age, there is no sustainable pipeline of new talent willing to step into their shoes.
While postgraduate numbers are technically increasing, Gana noted that structural obstacles prevent them from remaining within local academia:
Uncertain Tenures: Newly qualified researchers face volatile, short-term contracts instead of stable academic career paths.
Severe Funding Gaps: Chronic shortfalls in research grants starve advanced innovation projects.
Poor Governance: Ongoing administrative instability and political interference at institutional levels discourage top-tier talent.
The most aggressive policy critique was aimed at the state's flagship skills development infrastructure. Despite billions of rands allocated to the country's SETAs annually to bridge the gap between academic training and employment, South Africa's youth unemployment crisis continues to worsen.
Gana stripped away diplomatic niceties, labeling the current iteration of the SETAs as nothing more than institutional vehicles for looting.
Entity System targeted Expressed
Parliamentary Critique Proposed Reform Pathway
NSFAS Chronic payment delays, administrative paralysis, and poor funding distribution. Full operational and technological overhaul.
SETAs (Skills Development) Serving as financial funnels to siphon off billions of rands meant for youth investment. Complete rethink of mandate, governance, and existence.
University Sector Deplorable living conditions (e.g., UWC) and an aging academic staff with zero replacement pipelines. Stabilization of postgrad tenures and infrastructure revitalization.
"It has long been time that we face facts: the only purpose that SETAs now serve is for individuals to siphon off billions of rands meant to be invested in our people," Gana declared to the house. "SETAs have failed, and we must rethink their mandate, governance, and frankly, their existence."
Closing his remarks with a traditional Xitsonga expression of gratitude, "Ndza khensa, Mutshami wa Xitulu," Gana called on Parliament to abandon broken funding models and rebuild an economy that values its intellectual assets.
He urged the state to pivot from a system that exports its brightest minds to one that builds a fertile "country of opportunities," giving South Africa's youth a genuine reason to return the national investment.
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