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THE EMBATTLED National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was still “concluding” the process of clearing the 20,000 outstanding 2023 allowance disbursements on Monday despite its self-imposed deadline of January 15.
“NSFAS will issue an update tomorrow (Tuesday) as we are concluding the process,” NSFAS spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said.
The scheme had said that by January 15 all of the students it failed to pay allowances to would have received payment to ensure that the 2023 bursary allowances do not affect students returning for the 2024 academic year.
These allowances, according to the entity, were not concluded due to changes in registration data that required further input and consultation with institutions.
The delays in allowances saw thousands of students write their final exams on empty stomachs, without toiletries and struggling to go back home for the end-of-year break.
Student bodies on Monday demanded that the payments be made.
The bodies also had mixed reactions to the appointment of Professor Lourens van Staden as the new acting NSFAS chairperson and called for the NSFAS board to be dissolved and Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande to be fired following allegations that kickbacks were paid by service providers to Nzimande and NSFAS chairperson Ernest Khosa.
Khosa has since taken a leave of absence.
South African Students Congress (Sasco) president Vezinhlanhla Simelane said that the current pressing issue was that some 2023 students had still not received their NSFAS funding for last year.
“The communication that we received is that they would be doing the payment today (Monday) and we are waiting for them to honour their word. Failure to do that means we will resort to other measures so that funds are paid as this is last year’s amount.”
Simelane added that they welcomed the decision regarding Khosa’s leave of absence.
“We want to see an investigation into these allegations and if found guilty they must be removed by the board. We welcome the new acting chair to allow the process of NSFAS registration to be smooth. We are against anything that will disturb the process of registration.
“However, we are saying allow the process of investigation to unfold and allow the acting chair to do the work.
“We are also calling for NSFAS to respond to students who have applied for NSFAS as matric results are out this week and students need to register at tertiary institutions.”
Sanele Zondo, IFP Youth Brigade national chairperson, said that there is no quick fix to the problems at NSFAS.
“We can fire whoever we want to but it won’t make a difference until Blade Nzimande resigns or is fired. The issue is that NSFAS is still under the leadership of Nzimande and it will still continue to have issues. NSFAS has not made any progress under Nzimande’s leadership and it’s just more problems.”
Zondo said that he wasn’t happy with the media briefing by Nzimande on Sunday. “There is no clear plan on how they will address challenges at NSFAS; it’s just the same thing over and over. As the IFP we have been calling and calling for the resignation of Nzimande and we are grateful that other political parties have also joined the call.”
Nzimande said he had raised his concerns with the board over the allowance matter.
“I have met with the board and emphasised that if Sassa is administering grants to millions of South Africans, why then should NSFAS have a problem in properly disbursing funds to about a one million students,” he said.
Chantel King, DA spokesperson on higher education, said that during an engagement with NSFAS, it was unable to provide an update on Monday’s deadline for the distribution of all outstanding 2023 funding.
“NSFAS officials could also not provide the number of students who have successfully applied for 2024 funding.”
Mandla Shikwambana, EFF MP and higher education portfolio committee member, speaking on behalf of the party’s Student Command, said that they maintained their position that the NSFAS board must be dissolved.
“The entire board must be investigated for criminal activities and removed. We are concerned that not all funds have been paid to returning NSFAS students and call for this to be addressed.”