Africa-Press – South-Africa. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has met with student bodies to resolve the issues of defunded students and direct payments.
Last week News24 reported on students who said they were approved by the scheme and had been receiving their monthly allowances since the beginning of the year, but payments stopped in May.
Some students said they had lost spaces at their residences due to their funding being cancelled.
The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education warned NSFAS to get its house in order in May. This followed student protests over unpaid allowances, accommodation, registration, and safety and security concerns.
Students from various universities marched to the Cape Town head office of NSFAS over funding grievances and new student allowance payment methods.
In a joint statement, student representative council (SRC) leaders from universities in the Western Cape and the Free State said some students had still not received funding roughly three months into the academic year, and others were “wrongfully defunded”.
On Monday, NSFAS spokesperson Slumezi Skosana said that acting upon the findings of the Auditor-General, their internal compliance processes and the observations of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), NSFAS had initiated a remedial process where students found to have been funded based on incorrect information were defunded instantly.
Skosana said:
Three months ago, an SIU investigation revealed NSFAS had paid more than R5 billion, from 2018 to 2021, to students who did not qualify for bursaries.
The SIU presented a draft presentation to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) regarding NSFAS’ proclamation.
The lead investigator told the committee that 76 institutions, with 40 044 students, did not qualify for bursaries from 2018 to 2021.
Gauteng had 16 institutions with 17 788 students, followed by the Western Cape with 10 institutions and 5 481 students, KwaZulu-Natal with 13 institutions and 4 409 students, Eastern Cape with 12 institutions and 3 842 students, Free State with six institutions and 2 688 students, North West with four institutions and 2 575 students, Limpopo with nine institutions and 2 291 students, Mpumalanga with four institutions and 666 students, and the Northern Cape with three institutions with 304 students.
Skosana said they had received complaints that some students were defunded incorrectly.
“If such cases are true, this is regrettable, and a process of verifying these complaints will immediately be initiated, and if proven otherwise, remedial action will be taken,” Skosana said.
On the issue of direct payments, Skosana said the scheme would not allow a system that was established in good faith to be muddled with activities that defeat the purpose of direct payment.
Skosana said:
Meanwhile, the South African Student Congress (Sasco) said it was becoming clear that the scheme was losing its ability to deliver its duty to aid access to higher education for the poor and working class.
Sasco president Vezinhlanhla Simelane said the organisation had noted a myriad of critical challenges that threaten to plunge the sector into a crisis.
“We are not happy about the direct payment as it is clear that not only do these service providers lack the requisite capacity to disperse allowances, they are [also] all gravely incompetent, and some are corrupt and are charging students exorbitant fees which deplete already insufficient allowances,” Simelane said.
He said the congress had also learnt that thousands of students had been defunded by NSFAS.
“Our position pertains to these challenges is that we reject an allowance payment system that will not deliver allowances efficiently and on time. We reject an allowance system that is not friendly or easily accessible to students. All students who have been defunded must immediately be reinstated,” Simelane said.
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