Thursday, 11 September 2025

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) welcomes the withdrawal of the draft National Credit Act amendment regulations by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Mr. Parks Tau. These regulations, published on 13 August 2025, sought to designate educational institutions as providers of credit information and would have effectively subjected students to blacklisting for falling to pay outstanding fees.

This retreat by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition is not an act of goodwill by the ANC-DA led government, but the direct result of sustained pressure led by the EFF, members of society, professionals, and the youth of South Africa. From the beginning, the EFF rejected these regulations as an attack on the youth and the poor, and demanded that they be abandoned in their entirety. We formally called for a joint sitting of the Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition and the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education to deal with this matter, and we placed it firmly on the national agenda.

The withdrawal further comes after the EFF Youth Command declared its intention to march to the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition in protest against these regulations, mobilising students across the country to prepare for action against the exclusion and punishment of the poor. The Minister’s decision also follows the heroic and noble efforts of activists, professionals, and ordinary citizens who submitted more than 20,000 objections to the department before the closing date of public comment on 12 September 2025. The people have spoken clearly, and the attempt to blacklist students has been defeated.

However, it must be understood that the very fact that the ANC government, in collaboration with the DA, even attempted to sneak through these amendments is proof of their contempt for the youth of South Africa. Their agenda is to condemn young people into a permanent cycle of debt and exclusion, ensuring that financial institutions profit while students are criminalised for pursuing education.

Students are already trapped in a cruel system where universities withhold certificates and qualifications from graduates who owe fees, denying them the ability to find jobs and repay the very debts that imprison them. Instead of resolving this crisis, the ANC and DA sought to escalate it by handing over student debts to credit bureaus, to be sold for profit in the debt markets. This is how white monopoly capital is enriched, while the dreams of black youth are suffocated. These regulations were designed to guarantee that young people in this country do not stand a chance to prosper in any way.

As we argued in Parliament yesterday, the link is clear: when young people are denied access to education, when they are trapped in debt, and when they are threatened with blacklisting, they are left vulnerable to human trafficking, drugs, and alcohol abuse. This is how the system destroys the dreams of a generation and reproduces cycles of poverty and hopelessness.

The EFF has consistently maintained that education is a right, not a privilege. Students must never be treated as criminals or debtors simply because they seek to learn. This government would rather protect the profits of educational institutions and credit bureaus than protect the future of its youth. That is why the EFF has tabled the Student Debt Cancellation Bill, which remains the most progressive, just, and nation-building solution to the crisis of student indebtedness.

We call upon all young people to rally behind the EFF’s Student Debt Cancellation Bill and to unite in struggle for a future free from financial chains. Debt cancellation is the only way to restore the dignity of students, expand opportunities for the youth, and ensure that education is a tool for liberation rather than oppression.

The withdrawal of these regulations is a victory for the people, for the youth, and for the revolutionary movement led by the EFF. It shows that unity can defeat even the most regressive attempts by a corrupt and uncaring government.

ISSUED BY ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Sinawo Thambo (National Spokesperson) 072 629 7422

Thembi Msane (National Spokesperson) 061 467 8169

Andiswa Madikazi (Parliament Media Liason) 069 516 4924

Thato Lebyane (Media Inquiries) 078 563 1581