Student protests: Nkandla = 1,996 3yr degrees. Corruption a good start.

The student fees protest, which has spread across South Africa, is considered a blip in the ocean of what’s to come according to Professor Malegapuru William Makgoba, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kwazulu-Natal. And while Government contributes 20 cents of every R1 in tax money generated to education, Rhodes tax professor Matthew Lester wonders where this money is going. Questions are raised but it seems the only way for people to stand up and listen is for the citizens of the country to protest. The problem with protests, especially in South Africa, is that they generally turn violent in some way or another. So what’s the solution?

The state will happily discuss the possibility of a trillion-rand nuclear deal but students demand no increase and the choke holds come out.

— Tom Eaton (@TomEatonSA) October 21, 2015

An institution cannot run on empty, while government says it’s already allocating the tax money needed. An interesting email came across the Biznews news desk earlier, again it’s not a solution but may offer a starting point. It was a short compilation of projects (some of which are corrupt) and government departments annual results. These losses are then compared to the cost of a Bachelor of Science undergraduate degree at the University of the Witwatersrand, basic fees R41,080 annually (2015 fees below). Remember stats and numbers can always be used to manipulate a situation but they’re still eye-opening. To start, Nkandla cost around R246 million, that’s 1,996 three year BSC degrees. – Stuart Lowman

University of the Witwatersrand 2015 fees