Staff Reporter

THE Graduate Institute of Financial Sciences (GIFS) is leading the charge to save South Africa’s financial services sector from state capture, and possible long-term collapse. GIFS is challenging the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (INSETA), which appears to be ignoring its mandate to ‘grow the pool and quality of critical and scarce skills within the insurance sector.’

The work of thousands of professionals is now under threat, with the INSETA holding back 192 GIFS students’ full completion certificates, and those of 555 others who have completed skills programmes or achieved part-qualifications, some dating back to 2020. Hundreds more learners from other institutions are similarly affected.

Despite numerous requests, the training authority has failed to produce the certification, putting peoples’ jobs at risk. Worse still, it often unfairly blames the institutions when students complain.

A wider concern within the financial services sector is that the Skills Development Levy (which companies pay towards upskilling their staff) is growing annually, yet learnership funding has been reduced year-on-year. Employers who raise questions around the reduced funding and INSETA’s poor service delivery are seemingly victimised by having their funding further cut.

On 17 October 2023, GIFS wrote to the Public Protector to intervene, expressing concern that the INSETA was riddled with corruption. Despite it being framed as a neutral regulatory body, GIFS had also uncovered evidence that the INSETA was deliberately streaming prospective learners to one favoured learning institution whose educational practices have been called into question.

GIFS’ decision to tackle these issues head-on, has resulted in the INSETA launching a brazen public campaign to discredit GIFS, and drive it out of business, despite the educational institution’s crucial role in training the majority of South Africa’s insurance professionals. After the institute had closed its offices for the end-of-year holiday on 14 December 2023, the INSETA sent GIFS a letter at 5:38pm,
informing it of its immediate de-accreditation as a Skills Development Provider.

The move came as a shock to the respected, international award-winning educational institution, which has trained thousands of students from corporate South Africa in the last 18-years. GIFS programmes form part of the National Qualifications Framework and are approved by the South African Qualifications Authority.

In addition, the INSETA itself had awarded GIFS Full Accreditation status up to June 2024 in line with its practice of awarding certification annually.

But GIFS has risen to the INSETA’s challenge, turning to the courts to restore its accreditation. In an urgent High Court interdict on Thursday, 4 January 2024, GIFS’ legal counsel accused the INSETA of corporate bullying and victimisation. They argued that the INSETA’s withdrawal of GIFS’ accreditation was based on a GIFS fraud investigation report it compiled just over 2-years-ago, now under review in the courts. GIFS maintains the report is fraught with trumped-up allegations, overt bias, glaring irregularities and multiple procedural flaws, and has only held off on its legal review as the INSETA had renewed its accreditation after the report was finalised in 2021.

In view of this, the court ordered the INSETA:
To reinstate GIFS’ full accreditation within 24-hours;
To immediately withdraw all unlawful notifications the INSETA had distributed to industry stakeholders informing them of GIFS’s de-accreditation;
To reassure the public on its INSETA website and via e-mail of the full restoration of GIFS’
accreditation, and;
To pay the costs of GIFS’ legal counsel.

Unfortunately, the INSETA has ignored the court order.GIFS lists this as an example of the INSETA’s bad faith and says it cannot rule out that its December 14th de-accreditation stems from having reported the INSETA to the Public Protector, and to oversight body, the Quality Council for Trade and Occupations (QCTO), for incompetence over the certification delays. By December, the Public Protector had already confirmed to GIFS that it had asked INSETA for its response to the GIFS corruption allegations.

Still, GIFS CEO, Kershen Pillay, says the court’s finding is not just a victory for GIFS, but the entire financial services sector. “The impact of the INSETA’s conduct extends well beyond the effects on one educational institution and its learners. Thousands of accredited students have been left without proof of their qualifications and risk losing their livelihoods, while the unqualified, in possession of their fraudulent certificates, are allowed to dole out dodgy financial advice.”

Pillay goes on to say, “This represents the hollowing out of the country’s financial services industry, as has already occurred in many other South African sectors due to corruption and incompetence.”

There will be serious repercussions for those buying homes, motor vehicles, life- and short-term insurance, for pensioners and many others who will be forced to deal with individuals wholly unqualified to be advising clients on critical matters of personal finance. We, at GIFS, are therefore committed to playing our role in ensuring that ethical standards are respected and upheld in the financial services industry and that members of the public are protected.” Pillay is concerned that the QCTO has remained alarmingly silent in the face of the INSETA’s questionable conduct. “We again appeal to the QCTO to please exercise its oversight duty and intervene to help us save the
industry,” Pillay said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

Johnathan Paoli

THE Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Blade Nzimande has responded to the recent startling report on allegations of bribery made by Outa saying they were “concerning”. 

Nzimande said he rejected the allegations and wanted to reassure the public that he never used any money from any of the department’s entities for the purpose of funding the SACP.

Nzimande said that he viewed the allegations as reckless and largely based on gossip and are intended to undermine a smooth start to the 2024 academic year.

The minister said that due to the potential damage of the allegation, he reserved his right to take possible legal action in response to the report.

Nzimande said that he wished to reaffirm his and the department’s commitment to clean governance within the department and its entities, and focused on preparations for the start of the 2024 academic year.

Nsfas responded to the report by defending both Nzimande and the chair of the Board Ernest Khosa and said that both Khosa as well as the board strongly dismissed with contempt the voice recording and insinuation of possible corruption between him, the minister, the SACP and other third parties.

The Board similarly called into question the motives of OUTA and said that it was now apparent that the NGO was gradually drifting away from its claimed high moral values and as an impartial organisation by perpetually venturing into politics, informed by the quest to influence the South African political landscape.

Nsfas defended the implementation of the Werksmans report and said that the Board remained committed to transformation and assisting the students of the country.

The Board said that it would work in conjunction with law enforcement agencies to further probe and investigate the recordings released by the organisation.

“The Nsfas Board Chairperson will at an appropriate time take the public into confidence on the recordings in circulation and attempted threats on his life, by some unscrupulous individual following the implementation of the Werksmans Attorneys report and the fight against corruption within Nsfas,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, the PAC has cautiously approved the recent OUTA allegations against Nzimande and the SACP, and said that allegations against the minister using the higher education sector as a way to channel money for himself and the communist party was not new.

In a statement on Friday the party referred to the incident as an example of the negative impact of the Fanonian concept of “national petty bourgeois class” which arose after 1994 and enriched themselves at the expense of the people.

The PAC said that the latest recording proved once more the important need to remove Nzimande from cabinet and called on the SIU to thoroughly investigate the corruption at Nsfas and the department of higher education.

However, whilst agreeing with the findings of the report, the party said that it remains concerned of the possible agenda behind certain NGO actions, and that it was no coincidence that OUTA started being interested in corruption at the funding scheme, after white capital was denied the tender to manage direct payments to students.

“While we must vigorously call out the petty bourgeois parasitic class, we must not lose site of the invisible hand of white power in trying to take back power and control of the country back into their hands,” the party said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

Johnathan Paoli

THE Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has called for the resignation of Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande and chairperson of the Nsfas board Ernest Khosa.

This follows the release by OUTA of voice recordings of two meetings between Khosa and a representative of a service provider which revealed how service providers allegedly paid millions of rand in kickbacks to Nzimande and Khosa, as well as at least R1 million to the SACP, in return for tenders and protection for service providers.

Nsfas has been dogged by controversies and last year its CEO Andile Nongogo was fired after allegations of corruption had surfaced involving four service providers who were awarded tenders irregularly. The service providers often failed to meet their obligations resulting in missed payments for student fees, accommodation and allowances among others.

The four service providers awarded the tender for facilitating direct payments to students in July 2023, included Coinvest Africa (Pty) Ltd, Tenet Technology (Pty) Ltd, Ezaga Holdings (Pty) Ltd and Norraco Corporation (Pty) Ltd.

Earlier this week, Nesfas admitted that at least 20 000 students countrywide were still waiting for 2023 allowances to be paid.

OUTA’s Investigations Manager Rudie Heyneke said the voice recordings have already been shared with the SIU, which has been investigating corruption at NSFAS since 2022 and that there needed to be a thorough investigation into the vast web of corruption in the higher education sector, which OUTA’s various reports and these recordings have revealed.

Heyneke said it was unethical, highly irregular and against all the principles of good governance for the chairperson of the board to meet with service providers and request input on board decisions and that it was unnecessary for Khosa to meet these people and to update them on internal matters and request their input for the way forward.

“It is clear that the students are the last thing on the minds of the minister, the chairperson, NSFAS management and the service providers who were appointed to serve the students. With elections around the corner, we remind students that they should not allow self-serving leaders with questionable integrity to remain in powerful positions, or for similarly tainted leaders to be elected to those positions,” Heyneke said.

Heyneke said that the findings of the Werksmans’ report vindicated OUTA’s findings on Nongogo’s involvement with the awarding of tenders to Coinvest, Ezaga, Norraco and Tenet Technology (also known as Tenetech) and that the NGO was satisfied with the outcome of the investigation.

In addition, Heyneke said that the NGO was expected to open a criminal complaint against Nzimande, Khosa and Ntumba and hoped that the SAPS would thoroughly investigate the corruption charges that have been submitted.

Lastly, OUTA called on Nedbank to thoroughly investigate their client Coinvest and reconsider their sponsorship.

Whilst the allegations OUTA has made against the Higher Education Minister have not been independently verified, Nzimande has yet to respond to questions sent to his spokesperson.

INSIDE POLITICS

Johnathan Paoli

THE national Department of Basic Education (DBE) is expected to release the results of the 2023 final matric exams later in the month.

DBE spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga, said the department will announce the exam outcomes a day before the provisional release.

“We are on schedule. The minister will announce the pass rate for the class of 2023 on 18 January,” Mhlanga said.

The DBE noted that the 2023 exam period went off with only a few glitches, including 45 pupils who were found with crib notes in Gauteng and an impostor was caught in KwaZulu-Natal.

Mhlanga said that the department is set to meet with quality assurance body Umalusi on Friday, with preliminary meetings being held on the previous two days.

Meanwhile, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has blamed a R790 million budget cut for its inability to build 21 new schools in the province.

WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond, said about 18,000 new learners from outside the province would need to be placed at the start of the school year.

Hammond said that the department was only able to build nine schools following the budget cuts from the national government in 2023.

“It’s nine new schools and then additional classrooms that we are placing onto existing schools and that equates to 608 additional classrooms,” Hammond said.

The department urged parents to be patient when trying to get their children placed in schools this year, as the budget cuts of June last year were heavily affecting the placement process.

Hammond said that the conditional grant for infrastructure was cut by R179 million, while a further R243 million was cut from the infrastructure budget.

INSIDE EDUCATION

Lucas Ledwaba

In early 2022, Magdeline Makoša Ratsatsi applied to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for herself and
on behalf of her two younger siblings.

To her amazement, all three applications were approved. Magdeline, 30, is now a student at the University of South Africa where she’s studying for a diploma in research and archiving.

Her sister is studying at a FET College in Limpopo. Both their tuition fees and related expenses are covered by the NSFAS. The third sibling is repeating matric but has already applied for next year’s funding rollout.

“I was happy that I was a beneficiary among more than one million other students countrywide,” said Magdeline from Mentz village near Polokwane in Limpopo.

last month, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, announced at the opening of the 2024 funding rollout that in this current financial year, NSFAS is funding 1,6 million students. Applications opened officially on 21 November and will close on 31 January 2024.

Among the new measures introduced, Nzimande said students don’t have to wait for their matric results to apply for NSFAS and that for this application period, there will be no supporting documents required at the time of applying.

He further revealed that in 2023, NSFAS continued to fund SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) beneficiaries in real-time.

“This year, SASSA beneficiaries account for 35% (526,970) of the funded students,” Nzimande revealed. In March, the SASSA revealed that 18,829,716 people were receiving various types of social grants in South Africa. Like many NSFAS applicants, Magdeline and her siblings come from a single-parent family that depends on the state’s welfare.

“I experienced financial problems since matriculating in 2011,” she said.

In 2013 she received an NSFAS grant to study human resources management at the Capricorn TVET College in Polokwane and graduated two years later. But a string of unfortunate incidents plunged her and siblings into deeper financial trouble.

She has, however, worked in various roles as a community liaison officer in government projects and last year she decided to apply to NSFAS and pursue her studies.

NSFAS covers her book allowance to the tune of R5,046. She also receives R304 for transport plus 30 gigabytes of data monthly.

Her sister, who studies at the Letaba TVET College in Tzaneen, was covered for R6,000 for transportation and rent in her first semester. She received a further R10,000 to cover registration, transport and rental for the second semester.

“I think how they (NSFAS) are supporting us with data and transport is enough. I appreciate the way they implement it. The money they gave us is enough. I felt blessed to have that R5,000. It was the first time that I received such money,” Magdeline reflected on the NSFAS support.

Nzimande said NSFAS has grown from disbursing R21.4 million in funding to almost R48 billion “to fund children of the working class and the poor seeking to further their studies in public universities and TVET colleges”.

In February, a meeting of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation heard that the NSFAS received 978,402 first-time applications this year, which was a 14% growth compared to 2022. It was also revealed that NSFAS has funded over 657,000 new applicants, representing 66% of those who applied, 81% of whom were SASSA beneficiaries.

One such student is Tshepo Masike, 19, from Soshanguve in Tshwane.

The first-year BCom student at the University of Pretoria applied in November 2022 but experienced delays in getting approved.

“My application was stuck in one stage for a long time until around April/May this year when I was provisionally selected,” he said.

Tshepo was raised by his unemployed mother and grandmother, who is a pensioner.

“It’s tough for them to pay my fees. I didn’t get a bursary so I applied for NSFAS funding,” he said.

Tshepo who resides on campus in Pretoria receives R200 from his mother every month which he spends on toiletries and other basic needs.

NSFAS pays R14,400 for his meals on campus for one academic year and a further R3,000 for personal care which
translates into a R301 monthly stipend.

While the scheme has helped millions of students access higher education, it hasn’t been without challenges. These include being late in paying out allowances, fees and accommodation resulting in some students missing classes or being evicted from their lodgings.
The NSFAS acknowledged its shortcomings in a blogpost saying “students had to wait for their allowance to be provided
before they could register for the academic year, which meant they missed valuable learning time”.

Tshepo also experienced a delay in receiving his allowance in June. “I never had a problem except that it once came late. I think this was at the time when they introduced a new system. I only got my June allowance at the end of July,” he said.

Chantel King, the DA spokesperson on higher education, science and innovation said after Nzimande’s announcement last month that the party wants him to clarify among other issues how the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) budget cuts for both NSFAS and universities will affect students and institutions.

The DA also wants Nzimande to explain where the funding shortfall for the 2024 academic year and additional funding will be sourced from, to explain the status of the contracts of the NSFAS direct payment service providers and how students will receive their 2024 funds, and the progress on accrediting student accommodation service providers.

In his budget vote speech in May, Nzimande announced that NSFAS was funding 1.1 million students with a budget allocation of R47,6 billion in the 2023 academic year. He said of this amount, universities had been allocated R38.6 billion and TVET Colleges R8,9 billion.

However in his MTBPS in early November, the Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana announced that in the current financial year government spending has been revised down by R21 billion and that further reductions of R64 billion in 2024/25 and R69 billion in 2025/26 are proposed.

Trade union federation Cosatu has added its voice to Godongwana’s announcement of budget cuts saying it is “pained by reckless cuts in the MTBPS to NSFAS [of R3 billion).

But Nzimande has expressed optimism, saying for NSFAS to successfully implement the funding of 2024, there needs to be closure of the 2023 funding cycle.

“This includes the finalisation of all the appeals and payment of all outstanding allowances for the academic year 2023. NSFAS committed that all appeals and the payment of outstanding allowance will be finalised this year,” he said.

How to Apply for NSFAS Online 2024-2025
Application for the 2024-2025 academic cycle opened on 28 September 2023 and close on 31 January 2024. Please, be reminded that
there will be no late application for any reason. Students are encouraged to apply within the period given by the National Student
Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) www.nsfas.org.za
Are you from a family with a household income of R350,000 or less and want to attend a Public University or TVET College? Then carefully
read the following: You are eligible for a government grant by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

The NSFAS covers the following; Registration fees, tuition fees, and allowances for learning materials, food, personal care,
transportation, and accommodation.

NSFAS Application General Instructions for 2024: Below are the NSFAS Application instructions for applying for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Before filling out the application form, please read the following notes carefully. Make sure that you read all of the sections and that the information you give is correct.

All applicants should write their identity (ID) number in the top right-hand corner of all the pages of the application form and on every
page of all supporting documents

If you submit application forms without ALL the required supporting documents, your application will not be processed by NSFAS.

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will process only the first application that will be received. No one is allowed to
submit more than one application unless NSFAS requests you to do so.

Your cellphone number or email address will be required by NSFAS in order to reach you during the application process. If you don’t
have an email address, it is necessary to create a free email account on Google at www.gmail.com, on Yahoo at www.yahoo.co.za,
or any other free email service.

NSFAS will use the cellphone number you provided on the application form to make payment for some of your student allowances
by cellphone voucher in case your application is successful.

If you don’t have a bank account, you need to open one at any nearby bank such as Postbank, ABSA, Capitec, FNB, Standard
Bank, Nedbank, or others. Some student allowances will be paid into your bank account.
The closing date for submitting all applications and other completed supporting documents for students who are already studying at a
university or FET college, but who are applying for NSFAS financial aid for the first time, is 15 December for the following academic year.
NSFAS Required Supporting Documents for 2024 Application if you want your application to be processed by NSFAS, please make sure you complete all sections of the application form and attach all the required supporting documents. Below are the needed documents:

Certified copy of your Identity Document.

Certified copy of your birth certificate.

Certified copy of Identity Document of each household member including parents or legal guardian.

If your parents are divorced, please provide a certified copy of the divorce decree.

If you are a SASSA grant recipient, no proof of income will be required.

Applicants with a disability must submit a completed and signed Disability Annexure A Form.

An applicant who is recognized as a Vulnerable Child by the Department of Social Development must provide a completed and
signed Vulnerable Child Declaration and Consent Form.
NSFAS Online Application for 2024 is very simple, easy, and accurate. To apply online, follow the steps below:

Go to www.nsfas.org.za online and apply for 2024.

Then, click on the ‘myNSFAS’ tab.

Create a myNSFAS account.

After that, click on the ‘APPLY’ tab.

Complete the sections on the screen.

Upload the needed supporting documents where applicable

Click on the “Submit” button to finish the application.

Apply Online: https://applynsfas.com

– Mukurukuru Media