The troubled National Student Financial Aid Scheme is in Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s firing line. Delivering last week’s Mid-term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), the minister said government would increase spending to R2.9 trillion on public services and benefits.
However, he also said there is one government institution he would like to see the end of. Namely, the ‘dysfunctional’ National Student Financial Aid Scheme. It is currently funded by the Department of Higher Education and Training. But is beset with financial mismanagement, corruption and other governance issues.
NATIONAL STUDENT FINANCIAL AID SCHEME SHUTDOWN
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme is nearly thirty years old, established back in 1996, and is meant to provide financial support to undergraduate students. However, a recent investigation by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) revealed that the NSFAS has incurred R60 billion in irregular expenditure in that time.
In 2023 alone, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) found R5 billion in taxpayer money allocated to students who did not qualify. As a result of this maladministration, most students wait for months to receive bursary funds, putting them in precarious financial positions. All of which plays into the growing youth unemployment crisis in South Africa, argues OUTA.
VESTED INTERESTS PROTECT IT
Although it’s not up to him, Finance Minister Godongwana insists he would shut the NSFAS without delay. He says, despite its many problems, there are ‘vested interests’ protecting the institution. “If I had the option to close the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, I would do it with my eyes closed. It would be gone tomorrow,” he insisted.
“We created this strange thing, when all you need do is transfer money directly to the universities, and they do what’s necessary. You don’t need this conduit. Worse still, the NSFAS has employed four service providers to do what they were created to do,” said Godongwana.
NATIONAL STUDENT FINANCIAL AID SCHEME PROTESTS
Furthermore, OUTA says these tenders suffered from multiple irregularities. Including service providers having no banking licences and weak supply chains for the task at hand. Moreover, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme has bred a system of dependence.
Even though it isn’t serving them, students and other stakeholders have been co-opted into defending it. “If we try to close it tomorrow, you will see violent protests at all universities,” concluded the minister.
But what do you think? Is the NSFAS worth saving? Or can the Department of Higher Education and Training simply deliver financial aid directly the universities? Let us know in the comments section below …
