TUT suspends students following protests over Nsfas funding

Striking students funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) have been issued with letters of immediate suspension following the march to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum that turned violent last week.

This week, students received letters from Tshwane University of Technology notifying them of their immediate suspension for participating in organised, unauthorised student actions that infringed on the activities of other students or destabilised the university.

Nsfas direct payment scheme

Rudie Heyneke of Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) said in October 2022 they released an investigation report on the Nsfas direct payment scheme and requested all the tender documents relating to it in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

“Nsfas denied our request. The internal appeal was lodged in December 2022. Outa believes these tender awards were irregular and we question whether these tenders are draining Nsfas resources and contributing to the dilemma many students are in,” he said.

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Heyneke said they were concerned about the new direct payment system because Nsfas hired businesses without banking licences or VAT registrations to handle the direct payment of student allowances. He added these businesses charged students higher fees than four of the biggest commercial banks in the country would.

“Outa calculated that this tender could be worth as much as R1.5 billion over five years. This is the estimated cost just to provide students with access to a Nsfas bank card, which students will have to pay directly out of their allowances, as the costs are deducted from their bank accounts,” he said.

Last week, Nsfas chair Ernest Khosa said they were worried by the occurrences of disruptions in learning activities for the beneficiaries in universities and technical and vocational education and training colleges.

“In the past few weeks, there were protests at campuses on some of the projects and services relating to Nsfas. Among the issues raised were the defunded students and direct payments and the current system.

“These interruptions have been mainly to the changes in policies and guidelines that govern how the system disburses funds to students, especially the new allowance payment system.”

ALSO READ: Students march to Union Buildings: ‘Voetsek NSFAS, fix your sh*t!

Khosa said due to the prevalent fraudulent activities targeted at Nsfas beneficiaries and to align with the student-centred model, Nsfas resolved to take over the payment of allowances to its beneficiaries.

Beneficiary allowances

“This was to ensure that incidents such as unauthorised access to beneficiary allowances and payment of ghost students experienced through the existing methods, which mostly relied on middlemen, are eliminated,” he said.

Khosa said Nsfas beneficiaries received correct allowance amounts based on registration data and claims submitted by institutions and the images of incorrect amounts deposited into students’ accounts doing the rounds were fake.

ALSO READ: Inside the Nsfas payment mess that has left students penniless and confused

“A total of 355 270 paid students, which constitutes 86% of the paid students, have been able to successfully authenticate themselves and receive their allowances,” he said.

Khosa said the defunding of students came after investigations indicated some applicants had submitted falsified or fraudulent documents if individuals do not meet funding requirements. He said a total of 45 927 were defunded, 14 703 were reinstated after revaluation and 31 224 remained unsuccessful.

– marizkac@citizen.co.za