By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The newly appointed National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) administrator Freeman Nomvalo has confirmed that he received the report into allegations of mismanagement and political meddling at the financial aid scheme.
The report was prepared by Tshisevhe Attorneys Incorporated.
The report found no evidence to support the claims of corruption against the former board chair Ernest Khosa.
In January, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) published leaked audios, purportedly between Khosa and services providers linked to the problematic student fees disbursement tender, in which alleged kickbacks related to the multi-million-rand fees disbursement project were discussed.
Outa said a whistleblower has shared two recordings allegedly of talks between Khosa, Thula Ntumba and an unnamed third party, in which they discuss kickbacks, mismanagement and political meddling in NSFAS, which have brought the scheme to its knees.
The organisation reported that Khosa and the services providers were discussing payment to be pocketed the former board chair, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande and the political organisation he leads – the South African Communist Party.
Khosa resigned from his position in April, citing threats on his life.
Nzimande subsequently dissolved the entire board and appointed Nomvalo as the administrator.
The report recommended some of the following:
- The Board should be guided by legal opinions from experts in administrative law in order to minimise NSFAS exposure to potential damaging claims;
- The Board should expedite the implementation of the remaining recommendations of the Werksmans report and
- Take a decision on how it would implement the termination of the contracts of service providers without prejudice the beneficiaries of the student’s allowances.
Meanwhile, OUTA’s Wayne Duvenhage said, “There is such a conflict of interest in his conduct and to suggest that he should have just told the board about it is not acceptable to us. He is the chairperson of the board and he should not be entertaining any discussions of the nature that he did with the service providers.
“If these recordings had not been leaked nothing would have happened.”
Duvenhage added that they maintain that Khosa was let off the hook when he was allowed to resign without accounting for the alleged corruption.
“We believe he is in transgression of the Public Funds Management Act, and he should have been fired by the minister and charged by the minister. So, he is being let off the hook very lightly.”
He also lamented the delay in implementing the Werksman report that fingered former CEO Andile Nongogo in alleged underhanded dealings with the fees disbursement tender service providers.
Duvenhage said Nzimande also needs to be investigated, but added they would study the report before deciding on their next step.
Nzimande served as Minister of Higher Education from 11 May 2009 to 17 October 2017 and as Minister of Transport from February 2018 until he was reappointed to the higher education ministry in May 2019.
Khosa became a non-executive member of the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) board on 1 April 2018. That same year, Nzimande, then the Minister of Transport, appointed him as chairperson of SACAA’s board. In December 2020 Nzimande, then Minister of Higher Education, installed Khosa as chairperson of the NSFAS board.
This despite Khosa’s resignation in 2005 as CEO of the Mpumalanga Economic Empowerment Commission (MEEC) – now known as the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency – just before a forensic audit report into widespread systematic fraud, corruption and mismanagement was scheduled to be released by PwC detailing his role in irregular multimillion-rand loans to MEEC board members and contracts to companies linked to senior managers at the commission.