Higher Education, Science, and Innovation Minister Professor Blade Nzimande has fired the board of the National Student Financial Scheme (NSAS) over delayed fund payments to students.
In a terse statement late Thursday, the Department of Higher Education said Professor Nzimande had earlier in the day met with the NSFAS board.
“The purpose of the meeting was to communicate the minister’s decision to dissolve the FSAS board with immediate effect and place the institution under administration,” the statement said.
“The legal effect of the decision will be communicated tomorrow through the government gazette.”
Before the meeting, the Department said Professor Nzimande was “aware of, and deeply disturbed by the recurring problem of non-payment of student allowances by NSFAS”.
The removal of the board came hours after NSFAS board chairperson Ernest Khoza resigned.
Minister Nzimande accepted Khoza’s resignation.
In January this year, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) accused Professor Nzimande and Khoza of accepting kickbacks from service providers.
OUTA called for their resignation saying they had recordings of Khoza discussing the kickbacks.
Both Professor Nzimande and Khoza denied any wrongdoing.
In a statement, the Department said: “Given the magnitude of this problem and its negative impact on the well-being of students and the continued functioning of our post-school education and training system, in the next few days, the Minister will be taking a series of additional and decisive steps, all of which are intended to have the problem of non-payment of allowances resolved as a matter of priority”.
The Department said the decisive steps include:
1. The Minister has instructed NSFAS, supported by the Department, to immediately establish a dedicated Task Team that will visit all the TVET Colleges and Universities, where students are experiencing serious NSFAS related problems. This Task Team has already started working.
2. In respect of the 2024 academic cycle, against valid registration records received on the 15th of March 2024, NSFAS has paid the disbursements for University and TVET College students.
3. For the latest payment cycle, NSFAS has paid TVET College student allowances and tuition to the value of R511,106,120 in total, which is divided as follows:
- Tuition to colleges – R147,115,846
- Allowances via TVET colleges – R34,831,311 NSFAS
- Card Allowances- R298,971,220
- Student Accommodation via solution providers – R30,187,743 4.
For Universities, NSFAS has paid allowances and tuition to the value of R2, 306,583,222,00 in total, which is divided as follows:
- Tuition to universities – R1,258,865,972,00
- Allowances via universities – R653,954,716,00
- Direct payment to students – R393,762,534,00
5. Regrettably, not all TVET Colleges and Universities have complied with the NSFAS deadline of 15 March 2024, for the submission of student registration data to facilitate the payment of allowances. The failure to comply by some TVET Colleges and Universities has contributed to the latest sporadic student protests.
6. To address this, the Minister dispatched the Director-General to have an urgent meeting with the NSFAS management. This meeting happened Thursday morning and it was intended to ensure that working with institutions, all outstanding allowances are paid as soon as it is practicable.
7. In addition, NSFAS has sent its servicing administrators to work with the non-compliant TVET Colleges and Universities to finalise the submission of student registration data and ensure that the outstanding student allowances and tuition is paid in the next payment cycle.
