Nzimande says Holomisa speaking ‘utter crap’ over corruption allegations

Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Blade Nzimande used his announcement on the return of students to campuses to take a swipe at Bantu Holomisa, challenging the UDM leader to come clean on his own interests in departmental procurement matters.

On Wednesday, while outlining that all tender procurement details would be made public, Nzimande warned those casting aspersions of corruption to come forward and come clean on their own interests on matters of the department.

He took particular exception to Holomisa, who Nzimande said should to come forward to clarify his interest on government matters.

“Where is he looking for business?” asked Nzimande, accusing detractors to be transparent before shouting corruption.

“We will not be distracted,” he said, arguing that corruption would be fought in all spheres.

“People who shout the loudest like him must come out and publicly declare their business interests.

“I’m challenging him. All that I’m saying is [Holomisa] is speaking utter crap,” referring to corruption allegations in the department.

Holomisa’s allegations

On Sunday Holomisa had called for Nzimande’s suspension.

In a statement on the UDM website, he said he had “received a number of documents from an unknown source which exposes what appears to be direct interference of the political head of the department of higher education and training (DHET) i.e. the minister of higher education, science and technology, Dr Blade Nzimande, in departmental processes and administration, as well as the active side-lining and/or undermining of the senior departmental accounting officers”.

He accused Nzimande of irregularly extending the contract of an NSFAS administrator, despite the man facing allegations of nepotism, victimisation and purging of staff, racism, corruption, general maladministration, and mismanagement.

He also accused him of interfering in the allocation of several contracts, notably a laptop tender for students, to the value of more than R800 million.

Students to return

Announcing the phased return of students to campuses, Nzimande said he lauded the institutions which have adhered to various safety measures in maintaining a healthy space for both learners and teachers to work.

Institutions have been implementing their own students return strategies in line with their teaching, learning and campus readiness plans. Under Level 3, up to 33% of students have been returning to campus.

Institutions have all taken a different approach to the risk-adjusted return in line with their own detailed institutional plans and strategies.

A tally of reported cases of Covid-19 positive cases by institutions stood at 1,552. Of those, 975 were staff with 577 being students.

All institutions are set to complete the 2020 academic year by February 2021.

Nzimande outlined that:

• All universities have plans in place for remote multimodal teaching and learning and the controlled return of students to campus-based tuition in line with the criteria published in the Government Gazette (Vol 660, No 43414 on 8 June 2020).
• It will be possible for government to allow for up to a maximum of 66% of students to return to university campuses.
• All groups that had been prioritised to return in Level 3, but couldn’t be accommodated due to the maximum campus carrying capacity having been reached, meaning students in all years of study who required laboratory and technical equipment could return.

Nzimande said the highest number of student positive Covid-19 cases were reported in the Northern Cape, Western Cape, with Free State (62), Gauteng (54), and KwaZulu-Natal (31) respectively. The highest number of deaths were reported in the Free State (5), Gauteng (4), and Eastern Cape (2) respectively.

Nzimande moved to highlight that some 5,000 NSFAS beneficiaries would not be funded by NSFAS any more as they were found to have provided incorrect information.

Sars revealed that there were discrepancies which showed that these students came from families that exceeded the maximum threshold for funding.

If students lie in NSFAS corruption they must be held accountable, he said. Should students commit corruption, they must be held accountable.

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