421 students requested to pay back Nsfas money as SIU recovers R112 million

The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) is recovering R112 million from unqualified National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) beneficiaries. 

421 students from across five universities and four TVET colleges who did not qualify to be funded by Nsfas have signed acknowledgement of debt agreements (AoD) to pay back what was irregularly paid to them.

According to the SIU, the total value of the AoDs amounts to R112 174 825, 97.

The irregular payments are due to Nsfas’ inability to plan and execute controls that would guarantee an annual reconciliation between the amount of money given to the institutions and the amount given to the students.

Overpayments and underpayments from 2017 to date

This resulted in overpayments and underpayments to the different institutions from 2017 to date.

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“The SIU is pleased with the cooperative attitude of parents and unqualified NSFAS beneficiaries who have signed AoDs agreeing to repay the money over some time. The SIU is urging unqualified NSFAS beneficiaries who have not been in contact with the unit to come forward and arrange for repayment,” SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said.

Kganyago added that in addition to the AoDs, it has made progress to recover unallocated funds, with the University of Fort Hare being the latest university to pay back unallocated funds of R277 million. This brings the total of recoveries to R1 165 887 062.

Funds recovered so far

The SIU has so far recovered the following funds from institutions of higher learning:

• West Coast College: R5 057 679.00
• NorthLink College: R33 369 404.97
• Walter Sisulu University: R19 900 174.00
• Nkangala TVET: R342 672.50
• University of Mpumalanga: R33 668 138.19
• University of Zululand: R58 088 144.65
• University of Fort Hare: R277 666 450.00
• University of Pretoria: R400 000 000.00
• Majuba TVET College: R25 902 309.31
• University of Johannesburg: R311 892 088.94

“Nsfas has appointed a service provider to assist them in performing this reconciliation via a ‘close-out reporting’ process. The reconciliation process is still ongoing,” Kganyago said.

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‘Every rand spent on undeserving beneficiary robs a deserving one’

The Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, welcomed the recovery of R112 million in irregular payments from the student funding system.

“The R112 million paid out to undeserving recipients potentially robbed 1 700 deserving students who could have been funded for at least one academic year,” Gondwe said.

“In a sense, there are many victims who may have dropped out or deferred their studies because they could not afford to pay the requisite academic fees.”

The deputy minister added that every rand that is spent on an undeserving beneficiary robs a deserving one.