By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
A damning forensic report has implicated National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) chief executive Andile Nongogo in corruption, fraud, and illegal tender dealing.
In August, NSFAS board appointed Werksman’s Attorneys and Advocate Thembeka Ngcukaitobi to investigate a irregularities in the awarding of contracts for the direct payment system.
Students, supported by civic organisations and political parties, have criticised the system, which has been marred by delays in the payment of student allowances.
The fund runs a budget of nearly R50 billion, servicing over one million students across the country’s universities and colleges.
Nongogo was placed on special leave after students from various universities protested against the new direct banking system.
The scheme’s board chairperson, Ernest Khosa, briefed the media in Tshwane on Wednesday, where he said the board had accepted the recommendations in the interim report and resolved to implement them.
Khosa said the investigators found that Nongogo participated in the presentation of proposals by service providers to the Bid Evaluation Committee in violation of the public procurement processes of Nsfas.
Furthermore, the report revealed a possible conflict of interest in the appointment of the four financial technology companies.
“The report also states that the CEO appointed Dr Chirwa to assist them as a technical advisor. This appointment was inherently incorrect, as the 2021 Supply Chain Management (SCM) Policy does not provide for the appointment of an expert to the BEC.
“The report noted that the SCM policy and position was altered in the 2023 SCM Policy to cure the defect of appointing Dr Chirwa in the BEC when the 2021 SCM Policy did not provide for such,” Khosa reported.
Investigators also found that Chirwa is associated with companies that were appointed as service providers both at the Service SETA and at Nsfas.
“The companies in reference are eZAGA Holdings, in which eZAGA Remit is a subsidiary, Africawide Consulting (Pty) Ltd, and Africawide Foundation. According to the Report, there is a possible relationship between Mr Nongogo and Coinvest and eZaga Holdings.”
The board has now made decisions on how to implement the recommendations.
“The first [decision] being to write to Andile Nongogo and grant an opportunity to advise on why, in the light of the findings, his contract should not be terminated. We did that yesterday already,” said Khoza.
He said the board had engaged the four companies and informed them of the report and the decision to terminate their contracts.
However, the companies had not been handed their copies of the report, which was also submitted to the Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande.
“The board will ensure that this termination does not affect the students negatively. In this regard, the Board is mindful of the universities they have made, and expectations they had over the next step will take into account both the law and the implications to service delivery,” he added.
Staff implicated in any wrongdoing are also set to be subjected to disciplinary processes.
Despite these damning allegations, Khosa said NSFAS is still committed to its student-centric model of direct payment.