Africa-Press – Namibia. IN less than a week, about 228 defaulters have reported to the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) to repay their debts as the fund says it has the option to obtain court orders to go after defaulters’ assets.
Following the NSFAF’s notice late last week, announcing it would publish the names of loan repayment defaulters in local newspapers, some beneficiaries contacted the fund to make arrangements to repay their study loans.
The fund’s acting chief executive officer, Kennedy Kandume, yesterday told The Namibian some beneficiaries have already paid an unspecified amount. “There are many debtors who came to make arrangements to repay – either through our debit order system or through salary deductions,” Kandume said.
The NSFAF has for years been struggling to collect the funds they have lent to over 52 000 former students, which is why it has now opted to expose defaulters in the media.
The fund is owed N$5,2 billion by former students. The NSFAF has funded 131 000 Namibians from 1997 to 2019, and has spent N$7,5 billion on loans and grants. COURT ORDER
Kandume yesterday said the fund is targeting those who have completed their studies and are employed, or are earning an income, yet have not repaid a single cent.
“Professionals who have been assisted by the fund to be where they are today … that is lawyers, doctors, accountants, nurses, teachers, school principals, civil servants, managers, etc,” he said.
Kandume said the fund has obtained a court order to publish the debtors’ names in newspapers, and would obtain judgements against those refusing to pay. Some lawyers disapprove of the NSFAF’s decision to publish defaulters’ names.
Windhoek-based lawyer Nafimane Halweendo says the NSFAF is authorised to contact those who owe the fund money through the media, but only if it cannot trace the loan holder.
“If the NSFAF says they are using the media to contact the defaulters after trying to employ all reasonable means to contact you and they could not, they can then use the media,” he says.
However, other legal practitioners have on social media said the NSFAF is not allowed by law to name and shame defaulters. Kandume said the fund’s mission is not to embarrass those who are in debt with them, but rather to make them aware of their debt.
The aim is not to put people in the newspaper, but to alert those who owe the fund to make their payments. There are those who have not made any arrangement or effort to make their payments,” he said.
He said the fund recovers between N$4 million and N$5 million on an annual basis, “which is not even 1% of the loans extended”. In the event the defaulters’ names are published with no success, the fund plans to obtain court orders to attach their assets.
“We will take the debtors who are refusing to pay to court to attach assets or belongings to repay what belongs to the fund,” Kandume said.
He said the fund is guided by the NSFAF Act, which also provides for circumstances in which defaulters are deceased. “If someone is deceased and he or she was paying, the law has made a provision that we must not go for their assets.
“However, if that deceased person was not paying, there is also a provision which empowers the institution to go for their estate after following certain procedures,” he said.
Kandume said the fund is acting lawfully. “We are not moved by those saying they are going to challenge us in a court of law. They must go ahead,” he said.
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