The Non-SASSA Declaration Form is a document that enables the applicant to provide some form of assurance from either a social worker or ex-school principal that they were aware that the applicant was indeed an orphan. Forms are attached to the message sent to the applicant.
The student would then need to complete this form and submit it to NSFAS to move on to the next step of their NSFAS funding application.
According to NSFAS spokesperson, Kagiso Mamabolo, the bursary scheme has noted that many students go to great lengths to hide details relating to their parents by not declaring the required information.
In a bid to prevent this from happening any further, NSFAS has stated that they need some kind of declaration from the applicant that they never received a Sassa grant or any other form of income.
This would mean that the student is an orphan but Sassa has no indication of them being an orphan. However, according to NSFAS, this is likely to be false in South Africa as Sassa does do this part of the job well.
While briefing the media on the state of readiness of the Post School Education and Training sector for 2022, last month, Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande stated that an analysis conducted on a group of 2021 students revealed that more than 38 000 continuing students in Universities and TVET colleges continue to receive NSFAS funding despite having seen improvements in household income throughout the funding period.
