By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Higher Education and Training Minister, Blade Nzimande says there is no crisis at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
Nzimande addressed the media in Pretoria on Tuesday on the status of the funding scheme.
“I must upfront indicate that Nsfas, insofar as it successfully services the needs to the vast majority of poor students, is not in a crisis as many of our detractors would want the public to believe.
“In fact, it is for this reason that our detractors want to project Nsfas as being in a crisis because they want to discredit one of the most successful schemes of this ANC-led government, we may be having glitches here and there, but he said the scheme is not in a crisis,” he said.
Nzimande said the scheme has made strides with the new direct payment system, which has led to student protests at several universities.
The introduction of the system has been mired in controversy, with students complaining excessive fee charges, inaccessibility of service providers and lack of clarity on how to access funds.
The grievances also led to protests at several tertiary institutions.
Nzimande said the system is meant to reduce the amount of time it takes for students to receive payments.
He added that Nsfas has received over 1.1 million applications through the online application, and 156 700 are from SASSA beneficiaries.
The department is working with Home Affairs and South African Revenue Services to verify all Nsfas applications for funding to ensure the correct processing of students applications.
Nzimade says the scheme received a total of 178 426 appeals from disqualified students.
“Out of those appeals 63 331 were approved and 8528 appeals were rejected. Out of these 178 426 appeals received, 30 712 were invalid appeals, meaning students either withdrew, or their appeals were duplicated,” he said.
The minister also said the scheme is investigating CEO Andile Nongogo for allegedly signing off on dodgy payments.
Nogongo was placed on special leave amid uproar over the scheme’s direct payment contract.
Nzimande said he was awaiting a final report on Nsfas’ investigation.
“I am currently waiting on the final report of the Nsfas investigation in the process of the appointment of the direct payment partners. We are not hiding anything,” said the minister.
Nsfas appointed two lawyers to investigate the allegations against Nongogo and review the entity’s procurement systems and processes.
“As a result of these allegations, and the alleged involvement of the CEO, I have noted the decision by the board to place him on leave of absence while investigations are ongoing.
“We did not say he is guilty or anything. The board just said he must step aside while it investigates,” said Nzimande.
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) laid a criminal complaint against the former CEO of the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SSETA) after its investigation into the authority revealed R37 million was allegedly wasted due to highly overinflated prices.
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