By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s (NSFAS) board has fired CEO, Andile Nongogo, following a payment scandal amounting to R47 billion.
This was revealed by board chairperson Ernest Khosa in Parliament on Tuesday morning as the NSFAS briefed Parliament’s public accounts committee on investigations currently underway at the aid scheme.
Nongogo, who is the former CEO of the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SSETA), is implicated in tender irregularities involving R37 million of taxpayers’ money.
He had been placed on special leave since August, following an Outa investigation that implicated him in wrongdoing in the appointment of service providers that are meant to distribute funded students’ allowances for essentials such as food, hygiene products and transport.
In August, the NSFAS board appointed Werksman’s Attorneys and Advocate, Thembeka Ngcukaitobi, to investigate alleged irregularities in the awarding of contracts for the direct payment system.
Students, supported by civic organisations and political parties, have criticised the system, which they say led to 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.
Khoza said the decision is part of consequence management.
“We are satisfied that the process was thorough, run by a judge, run by legally identified experts, unlike any process that is run internally where you might suggest there could be bias or lack of objectivity in the process.
“We feel that it’s the first time that in any government, consequence management has been taken thus far- it is because we understand how important this is to South Africa.
“We insist that we are going to air on the side of being thorough and ensure that whatever evidence emanates from this process feeds into the criminal investigations that will emerge out of the report from the Hawks, which means that even if one is exonerated from this process, it is not the end.
“The focus of the independent panel is only in relation to management-related issues,” he told MPs.
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.
Staff implicated in any wrongdoing are also set to be subjected to disciplinary processes.
At the weekend, Nongogo told City Press that his suspension was linked to lucrative offtake agreements between companies that he claimed were handpicked, allegedly by a senior government official and the aid scheme’s board chair, Khosa.
Khosa dismissed the allegations via an NSFAS statement said: “If it is indeed true that it comes from him, I am utterly disappointed. The bottom line is that there are serious findings and recommendations against him which cannot be wished away by involving distant distractions,” said Khosa.