Divided education equals divided society

Since the introduction of the Norms and Standards for School Funding in 1998, the post-Apartheid government has made remarkable progress in its pro-poor funding of education at the basic level. Education in poor socioeconomic areas, such as rural areas, has been made accessible to children. According to the Norms and Standards (1998) there are certain categories of parents that are exempt from paying school fees based on their income levels.

From 2007, after the introduction of the Amended Norms and Standards for School Funding, the government introduced a policy of “no fee” schools.  Initially the “no fee” school policy referred to the poorest 40 percent (i.e. quintile 1 and 2) of public primary and secondary schools in South Africa. In 2009 this “no fee” school definition expanded to include the poorest 60 percent (i.e. quintile 1, 2 and 3) of public schools. These pro-poor funding policies have to a great extent managed to broaden school access to the majority of poor children, especially at the basic level of education. However, at the further education and training band (i.e. Grade 10, 11 and 12) a significant number of children do not access education due to the opportunity cost of education. Most of the parents in rural areas are not aware of the existence of the school fee exemption policies (Nelson Mandela Foundation, 2005). 

Local economics of e-tolling

Without being too unionised, or bringing politics into economics, one needs to reflect on the national strike by labour unions that was led by Cosatu in protest against the tollgates.

Firstly, many would not understand what the fuss was that strike all about, as this only affected certain parts of Gauteng. The reality is that many of these things start in one area, before they become a national problem, and that is the stance of Cosatu.

Let us try and bring this matter close to home, for ordinary people like you and me.

For argument’s sake, let us say the tollgates were put as one enters King William’s Town. Obviously we would be having three tollgates. One would have been charging all cars in the N2 coming from East London. 

The ideal place would of course be near the bridge just after the golf course. Politicians would do their best not to have a tollgate before the turn to Bhisho / Zwelitsha, which is near Breidbach, claiming that the government would obviously be paying for them, thereby using tax-payers money.

The second one would be near the Engen garage at the N2 national road from Port Elizabeth as one enters King William’s Town. The third one would be charging all the N6 traffic from the Queenstown direction.

The likelihood and temptation would be to put a fourth one on the route from Qumrha.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has dropped charges and is currently charging R0.30 per kilometre. And, this is bound to increase drastically within a very short space of time. But, let us stick to the R0.30 charge for now.

Distance from East London to King William’s Town is about 60km, and from Mdantsane it’s around 30km. People using this route would obviously be paying R18 and R9 a day respectively, within a maximum capping of R500 a month (for now). 

On average, it is clear that in all these routes, drivers would be paying between R10 and R30 per day, and an average of R200 and R600 per month. This is assuming a single trip with no return and weekends are excluded.