AKA wants to establish ‘the new NSFAS’

A simple observation made by rapper AKA at the height of the media storm surrounding the KFC proposal has evolved into what the rapper hopes will be the new alternative to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

NSFAS is a South African government student bursary and loan scheme which provides loans for undergraduate students to help pay for the cost of their tertiary education after finishing high school.

However, the scheme has been under immense pressure in recent years as the demand for financial assistance at tertiary far outweighs the capabilities of what the organisation can supply.

AKA (real name Kiernan Forbes), who has been a keen observer of the fees must fall movement, has taken note of this and has undertaken to use his social standing and access to capital in order to do what he can to help alleviate the problem.

He started out by donating R100,000 to the student representative council at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and followed that up with donating his cut from the Comedy Central Roast of AKA to students in need.

But that was only a drop in the ocean.

As more and more brands jumped on the KFC engagement hype by offering up donations and prizes to the couple, AKA tweeted: “If only brands could come together like this to pay student debt. Seems like they suddenly have money.

“You know, I went through KFC’s timeline and every brand you could think of was falling over themselves.

“Well, you know we all believe in true love but one thing that stuck with me was like how can all these brands be falling over themselves to donate to this couple. You know social media is this culture of hype… What if all those brands paid attention to actual issues?”

Although he was chastised for this as he was perceived to be “hating” on the couple’s good fortune, he decided to put his money where his mouth was and organise a fund-raising concert in order to raise the same amounts of money with the aim of using it to alleviate student debt.

And so the Fees For All Mega Concert was born.

Speaking at a press conference in Bryanston on Friday, AKA unpacked the details of his mega plan, which involve raising R10 – R15 million in donations and corporate pledges in 2020 and registering a corporation and foundation that will ensure that these funds are properly managed and distributed.

The concert will take place next February and tickets will go on sale on December 5 2019.

No word on the lineup yet, but given AKA’s star power, strong network, and determination to put on a good show, one can only hope it will be one of the biggest and best parties of the year.

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