Parliament’s portfolio committee on higher education and training has requested that all 26 institutions of higher learning submit updated statistics on employment of foreign national academics.

This follows outrage over the Central University of Technology (CUT) revealing that it employs more foreign academics than South Africans during their meeting with the committee in April.

In a letter dated May 2, 2025, addressed to Minister of Higher Education and Training Nobuhle Nkabane, the committee requested that all universities make submissions on the matter by May 21.

The committee wants institutions to provide “detailed background about how many foreign nationals are employed at each university; when were they appointed in their current jobs; breakdown by faculty, department, and administration; country of origin of the foreign academics, including their qualifications”.

Last month the CUT came under fire after it disclosed 15% of its workforce consists of foreign nationals while only 1% of faculty positions are occupied by South Africans from Asian, coloured and white communities. The information prompted public discourse and led to debates about employment equity at institutions of higher learning.

The committee believes that new data is required because the last report was released in 2019.

The Report of the Ministerial Task Team on the Recruitment, Retention and Progression of Black South African Academics, released by the higher education department says the national average for international academic staff across the 26 universities was 11.2% in 2017.

While the overall percentage of international permanent instructional/research staff at universities is 11.5%, varying across ranks, with the highest percentages occurring at senior lecturer (13.3%), associate professor (18.5%) and professor (17.4%) levels.

At the time, CUT was just above the average with 11.8% international academic staff. Wits University employed the most foreign nationals at 25.1%, with UCT and University of Fort Hare (UFH) placed second and third respectively.

The study, however, stresses that further steps should be taken if the reliance on international recruits is a result of inability or reluctance to recruit and retain South African academics.

At least 34% of the international academic staff in South African universities were from Zimbabwe and Nigeria, with Zimbabweans accounting for 25%.

“For UFH and University of Venda, large numbers of the international academics are from Zimbabwe and Nigeria, while UCT and Wits appear to be able to attract academic staff from a much wider range of countries,” the report reads.

The report acknowledges that international staff representation adds immense value, but representation needs to be truly broad rather than predominantly from a few countries.

“When the main reason for international staff recruitment is not a purposeful and reasonable internationalisation agenda, but rather a result of an inability to attract, recruit or develop local academics, then the challenges need to be fully understood and addressed,” it reads.

It then raises concerns about recruitment practices that result in disproportionate representation of international staff from one country in specific departments at some universities.

Rather than transform the sector, these companies began bleeding it. Generation capacity hovered between 4,000 and 5,000 megawatts, quite laughable for a country of over 200 million people. Transmission and distribution remained abysmal. Yet, consumers were slammed with arbitrary bills, especially those still caught in the dragnet of estimated billing. Most communities had to contribute money to buy transformers, electric poles, and cables, items that should rightfully be provided by ‘privatised’ DisCos in exchange for their tariffs.

In essence, Nigerians were paying for their own power infrastructure, maintaining it, and still getting blackouts as a reward. The so-called DisCos became nothing more than rent-collecting entities with zero accountability.
A proper metering system is the backbone of a transparent and fair electricity market. But in Nigeria, it has become a game of perpetual pilot schemes and moving goalposts. The Meter Asset Provider, MAP, programme was supposed to address the metering gap, which stands at over 50% nationwide. Yet, years later, millions of consumers still rely on estimated billing, the euphemism for legalised extortion.
Consumers are charged thousands of naira monthly for power they never consumed. Complaints to DisCos are often met with disdain or silence. Even when meters are procured, they are riddled with software issues, mysterious “debt” accumulation on prepaid meters, high tariffs, and unexplained units disappearing like ghosts in the night.

In 2024, the government introduced a new electricity pricing regime, classifying consumers into bands, A through E, with A representing those who supposedly enjoy 20+ hours of power daily and E representing those with four hours or less. On paper, this looked like a clever mechanism to subsidise low-income areas and ensure targeted development. In practice, it has become another bare-faced racket.
Many consumers placed in Band A zones do not enjoy 20 hours of electricity, yet they are required to pay through their noses the heavy unconscionable tariffs for phantom power. With tariffs reaching as high as 225 per kilowatt-hour, comparable to or exceeding some parts of Europe, the irony couldn’t be thicker:
Citizens in darkness paying world-class prices for a stone-age service.
The social contract is broken, and the people have adapted but at a steep cost to health, economy, and dignity.
The rot in Nigeria’s electricity sector is systemic, and cosmetic tweaks like the band system cannot fix it. What’s needed is a surgical overhaul that prioritises transparency, accountability, and consumer justice.
First, the fraudulent privatisation process must be reviewed. Where necessary, licences should be revoked, and new firms with technical competence and performance-based contracts should be allowed entry.

Second, the metering gap must be closed within a defined, enforceable timeline. The must be immediate rollout of free prepaid meters for all households. No Nigerian should be subjected to estimated billing after 2025. Technology exists to achieve this if political will is present.
Third, the transmission grid still under government control must be expanded and modernised. Without this, even increased generation will mean little.
Fourth, the regulatory bodies, NERC, REA, etc., must be made independent of political and business influence. Their primary allegiance should be to the consumer, not the cartel.

South Africa encourages permanent residency if you are serious about staying in South Africa on a long terms permanent basis there are many categories you can apply under.
Hold a Critical Skills Visa and have 5 years relevant work experience.
Be in a proven life relationship relationship for five years
Be married to an SA relationship for at least five years.
Have held Refugee Asylum Status for five years.

How can we help you?
Please email us to info@samigration.com
Whatsapp message us on: +27 82 373 8415

Where are you now?
Check our website : www.samigration.com

Please rate us by clinking on this links :
Sa Migration Visas
https://g.page/SAMigration?gm


Get More Info By Following Our Page: https://www.youtube.com/@samigration

Stay informed on Immigration , Visa options , Thinking of coming to South Africa?
Subscribe to our free monthly SAMI NEWSLETTER!

Sign up to our free SAMI Newsletter to receive:

Latest Immigration News
Visas for South Africa
News about Home Affairs
Exciting Tours in SA

How can we help you?
Please email us to info@samigration.com
Whatsapp message us on: +27 82 373 8415

Where are you now?
Check our website : www.samigration.com

Please rate us by clinking on this links :
Sa Migration Visas
https://g.page/SAMigration?gm


Get More Info By Following Our Page: https://www.youtube.com/@samigration

South Africans respond to Donald Trump's claims about Afrikaner refugees.

Forty-nine Afrikaners departed South Africa for the United States on Sunday, May 11.

US president Donald Trump repeatedly said that this group was fleeing racial persecution in the country and would welcome them into the US with open arms.

This unprecedented process, however, has seen some South Africans in disbelief over Trump's 'folly'.

Activist Pieter Kriel told IOL that the 49 people who left the country are escaping equality not violence. "You are not refugees; you are just a case study of white flight dressed up as martyrdom," he said. "South Africa didn't send you away, you ran...Violence affects all communities, not just white farmers."

Kriel attributed the nation's violence to a breakdown in safety and rubbished claims of white genocide. "You are part of a 7% minority but somehow still manage to control over 70% of the country's wealth. That is not persecution, that is privilege on a guilt trip.

"If we tried to relocate just half of the Afrikaans population, it would take decades and billions in logistics and you'd still culturally homeless in a country that doesn't want your apartheid baggage. You're not brave. You're not victims. You're scared of a world where you don't get to be in charge."

*David, a man from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal told IOL that Trump speaks without thinking of consequences nor investigating whether claims are true.

"I don't think much of what he says can be taken seriously. He just says things to get a rise out of people, without thinking it through properly. I'm hoping that the people here in South Africa don't take him seriously."

The founder of Amerikaners, an informational platform for those who want to resettle in the US, Sam Busa, disputed the numbers of those who are planning to 'flee'.

"Just Amerikaners has a database of 42,000 who will be going, and that does not include the people who have expressed interest outside of our network. We expect many more to follow. Our feedback is that the vast majority of South Africans have taken a wait-and-see approach, saying they will apply when the information about the programme becomes clearer," said Busa.

However, a woman from Durban called Trump is both a purveyor and a victim of disinformation.

"He has sown a lot of disinformation in the country. Farmers are not attacked on such a big scale as he is implying. He is stirring up unnecessary trouble for the country. The grass is not greener on the other side. They will find out when they get there," she said.

The Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation stated that the resettlement of South Africans in the United States under the pretext of "refugees" is completely political in nature and is intended to bring South Africa's constitutional democracy into question.

"We reiterate that allegations of discrimination are unfounded. The South African Police Service statistics on farm-related crimes do not support allegations of violent crime targeted at farmers generally or any particular race.

"There are sufficient structures available within South Africa to address concerns of discrimination. Moreover, even if there are allegations of discrimination, it is our view that these do not meet the threshold of persecution required under domestic and international refugee law," the ministry said in a statement.