Nsfas says its in process of defunding undeserving students who got R5 billion

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) has revealed that it is in the process of defunding students who were not eligible for funding. It added that it was also trying to recover some of the money it already paid out.

This follows the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) investigation which revealed that R5 billion was spent between 2018 to 2021 on students who did not qualify for the funding.

The SIU launched its Nsfas investigation into alleged corruption, maladministration, and the allocation of loans, bursaries and any other funding payable to students in September last year.

This investigation revealed that funds were wrongfully awarded to 40 000 students who did not qualify.

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False information

“This is information that Nsfas shared with the SIU and covers earlier academic years up to 2019. This is based on cases where applicants falsified their application information to unduly benefit from the scheme.

“It was prevalent at the time when the scheme could not verify the information through third party source data, such as the Department of Home Affairs and the South African Revenue Services,” said Nsfas in a statement.

Investigation welcomed

The funding scheme also said that it has welcomed the investigation.

According to Nsfas, the damning revelations will serve as a lesson and to those who want to “unlawfully benefit to the detriment of poor and deserving students”.

The scheme also said it would continue to improve controls to prevent this happening in the future.

“This issue has been highlighted by the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Dr Blade Nzimande in various press briefings, where the minister reaffirmed his support of Nsfas’s efforts to hold those who defraud the scheme accountable.”

Nsfas added that it continues to cooperate with the SIU’s investigating team and will provide all the information and support that is necessary.

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