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Johnathan Paoli
THE National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Higher Education expressed its disappointment at the lack of comprehensive information provided by NSFAS’s four direct payment service providers in addressing the non-payment of students and other problems associated with investigations into the financial aid scheme.
The meeting with NSFAS and the four direct payment service providers on Wednesday 4 October was to establish steps to deal with NSFAS’s information and communication technologies challenges, gather further information on the accreditation and cost associated with accommodation service providers, the efficiency, capacity, fee structure and non-payment of allowances by direct payment service providers, and to establish the progress of the Werksman investigation regarding alleged tender irregularities committed by NSFAS CEO Andile Nongogo, who is on leave of absence while the probe continues.
Last month, NSFAS briefed Parliament on its new direct payment system and other issues and faced sharp criticism from the committee for its continued failures.
NSFAS was given a two-week deadline to present a plan to fix itself, but NSFAS and Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande cancelled their appearance at the next meeting.
NSFAS chief financial officer and acting CEO Masile Ramorwesi said that, following the last portfolio committee meeting, the executive board met with the student leadership to discuss how challenges with direct payments could be addressed and devised a seven-step approach, of which the first two steps had already been completed.
Ramorwesi said that two teams will report directly to him about students’ challenges, after having visited 10 universities and 29 TVET colleges over 10 days to observe challenges on the ground. The teams are expected to report to the acting CEO in writing, after which Ramorwesi will draft a response strategy.
Thami Mazibuko, project manager at Coinvest, said the company is responsible for disbursing funds to over 268,000 students at 13 TVET colleges and seven universities and confirmed that all outstanding amounts have been paid.
Saud Ally, the group CEO for eZaga, said the company is responsible for disbursing funds to over 143,000 students at six universities and 11 TVET colleges.
Neal MacIntyre, of Norraco, said the company disbursed funds to over 131,000 students at 13 TVET colleges and seven universities. It has paid out R1.3 billion in the past year.
Ryan Passmore, project executive at Tenet Technology, which is responsible for allocating allowances to 225,000 NSFAS beneficiaries at 13 TVET colleges and six universities, said they had already disbursed R1.4 billion to NSFAS students.
The committee chair, Nompendulo Mkhatshwa of the ANC, said NSFAS and the service providers’ presentations lacked critical information.
“You’re telling us how many students you’re supposed to be disbursing to, how many have been KYC’d (Know Your Customer), and how many have cards, but we want to know how many you have paid each month,” said Mkhatshwa.
The DA’s Karabo Khakhau said there was a lack of clarity on how NSFAS was going to capacitate its call centres and by when.
Tensions were evident during the meeting when EFF committee member Mandla Shikwambana insisted that Nzimande should release a previous report into corruption at NSFAS before he could make a new presentation.
“The turnaround strategies of NSFAS — where does it come from because it should be guided by the report which is in the hands of the minister and the minister does not want to release that report,” Shikwambana said.
In response, Nzimande told the committee he was not hiding the report into NSFAS investigations.
Mkhatshwa concluded the meeting by saying that most of the committee’s concerns were data-related and gave the service providers seven working days in which to submit the additional information required.
INSIDE EDUCATION