2023 has seen the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) at the centre of recurring controversy. The accommodation crisis was an earlier crisis, which saw accredited accommodation providers overcharging rent for funded students, and the introduction of a much-contested R45 000 accommodation cap by NSFAS.
Beyond this, NSFAS has also been accused of paying ‘ghost recipients,’ and making erroneous charges to students’ accounts.
NSFAS Ongoing Crises
Now, adding to the list of controversies plaguing the scheme is a recent report, yet to be made public, which resulted in the dismissal of NSFAS CEO, Andile Nongogo. Nongogo was fired after the report concluded that he had an active hand in picking the companies in charge of disbursing NSFAS funds, indicating a conflict of interest.
Overall maladministration within the scheme was also reported as the cause of about 80 000 students not being able to receive their allowances on time. Sean Muller, Senior Research Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Johannesburg, said:
These problems precede the current CEO, they precede the administrator who was appointed before the current CEO. So, although they’re not identical, NSFAS has had problems over a number of years, under different kinds of structures.
He notes further that, despite the increase in funds dedicated to education-based financial aid, students who are eligible for NSFAS still either are not receiving funds at all, or are not receiving them when they need them. He says that this “effectively sabotages [students’] attempts at getting an education and undermines the purpose of the system.”
Public Calls For Action
Muller finally notes that, though deciding the eligibility of students can be a complicated process given the complex family dynamics that would need to be considered in the family income category, the way forward is relatively simple:
What needs to happen is, in some sense, straightforward. You need to appoint competent and principled people into the top positions, they need to stabilise the organisation, make sure that similarly competent and principled people are working within it…and then make sure the proper procedures are followed and that the outcomes are achieved.
The Economic Freedom Fighters Students Command (EFFSC) Leader, Sihle Lonzi, also shares the sentiment that the recent crisis has to do with ongoing issues in NSFAS.
He asserts that the reason why students have been protesting year-round, has been to challenge the legitimacy of the appointment of funding providers, whether they have banking licences, and if they have the necessary certification to be eligible for their provider status.
As a result, the report has left the EFFSC feeling vindicated. They now demand that if anyone has evidence that could link any individual or organisational body to the corruption being exposed, they should take it to the police.
Lonzi says, “Whoever was involved in this, must be arrested. We want to see people behind bars.”
He further adds, on behalf of the EFFSC,
We are not convinced that one person would have been involved in this. So, all of those people must come and account. That’s why we’re opening a case.
The EFFSC calls for action and are therefore lodging a case against NSFAS for Fraud and Corruption, with Lonzi saying, "There’s a systemic problem in NSFAS…but if we don’t deal with it and if people don’t see that action is taken, real action … we are never going to be able to resolve the problem of NSFAS".
