By Rafieka Williams
The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Minister, Buti Manamela, said Wednesday that stabilising student funding remains a top priority in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of tertiary education.
Manamela delivered a keynote address at the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education’s Strategic Planning Workshop, held in Cape Town, Western Cape, from 2 to 4 September 2025.
He told participants at the workshop that the department was adopting a long-term approach to managing challenges in the sector, with a particular focus on funding.
“There has to be urgent reforms with regard to the national skills fund, there are ministerial recommendations on the table which I think we need to accelerate in their implementation and some of that work would require us to come to committee in terms of legislative changes as it relates to the national skills fund,” Manamela said.
“(These are) discussions that would require us to consider bold decisions if we are to have sustainable student funding model. ”
He told participants that the DHET has engaged with National Treasury to address funding stability in the higher education sector, suggesting the reprioritisation of resources to plug the shortfall in the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
Manamela added that the department is also working to position Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges, community colleges, and government departments as central to skills development for school leavers.
However, he cautioned that governance inconsistencies remain a major obstacle to progress.
“There are urgent issues around governance challenges, filling up vacancies with the University of South Africa forum and the college council, TVET’s and the guidance principals of the university and colleges,” Manamela said.
“We are prioritizing stabilizing governance of councils and TVET colleges, finalising the process for the accounting authorities of sector education training authorities and the process for the chairperson of SETA’s.”
Manamela said that by stabilising governing councils, the department could help restore stability to institutions, noting that governance failures and financial misconduct have hampered its ability to deliver.
Referring to the ongoing challenges with Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), he asserted that investigations by the Auditor-General (AG) and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) have uncovered serious concerns.
“We have had engagements with both the AG and the SIU and, of course, we are concerned with the volume of the work they are doing within our universities and TVET colleges, and the investigations happening there,” he said.
Manamela also urged the sector to reconnect with the original purpose of TVET colleges, established two decades ago.
“I said to the team at the department, we are supposed to be the factory of the brains and thoughts and thinking and skills in the country, we have to show that, that is what we are. Building capacity of our department,” he said.
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