Sasco demands Nsfas reform, criticises mismanagement

The South African Students Congress (Sasco) is still as relevant today as it was when it was formed in 1991 for “championing the interests of students in higher learning institutions”, according to Sasco national spokesperson Mangaliso Nompula.

He said that was why they are dedicated to putting pressure on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas), which has been described as a failing organisation.

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Sasco says Nsfas is bungling

He said funding was an important requirement for students to access higher education and get qualifications and employment.

This week, the online applications for Nsfas funding had a dry run which Higher Education and Training Minister Dr Nobuhle Nkabane said was to allow critical system changes to be made.

Nompula said the online system has had many problems in the past.

These included students’ appeals regarding declined applications, that take too long to be reviewed and resolved.

“Then it’s too late in the year to get a positive response on an appeal that would grant you allowances that help you to excel academically,” said Nompula.

Nsfas allowances were initially distributed as vouchers. Then the cash went directly into students’ bank accounts.

That later changed to universities dispersing the allowances. However, the latter system led to lot of corruption, he said.

“They would take that money, delay the payments and invest that money for their own selfish interests,” he said.

“It became a problem because they delayed giving recipients the allowances and then it did not serve its purpose.”

“We at Sasco said it must change to a direct payment from Nsfas to students. “

Then the institutions got middlemen who would make distributions to students. These included companies such as eZaga, Coinvest Africa, Norraco and Tenet Technology.

In May this year, Nsfas announced it had filed court papers to terminate these contracts.

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Service providers ‘saw it as a money-making scheme’

Nompula said this was because the service providers “saw an opportunity and increased their charges, adding exorbitant costs to the minimal amount that is given to students as allowances”.

“They saw it as a money-making scheme as opposed to a tool to assist students,” Nompula said.

He said he hoped the new minister would speedily resolve these issues.

Sasco suggested that the digital system should be accompanied by the old system of hard copies so that there are no delays that cost students a whole year of study.

“Last year we had more than 20 000 students who did not receive responses from Nsfas, thus they did not receive allowances.”

This year there were two mass marches led by Sasco.

“Those marches were held because these middle fintech companies were exploiting taxpayers’ monies for their own profit,” Nompula said.

“The purpose of these allowances is to aid students to excel academically.”

The minister has reportedly said she would appoint a board for Nsfas by next month.

“We have called for nominations for a board and they are closed.

“We are going to have a panel to do the screening and vetting and recommend who serves on that board,” she said.

“What we have done is up the game. The minimum requirement is a masters degree.

“We want to make sure we bring in capable and competent people who will serve the purpose,” said Nkabane.

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