Word has come that NSFAS will be writing off R2 billion in historic debt. This comes after many protests against historic debt. However, NSFAS Administrator, Randall Carolissen, provided clarification on the matter. He has said, "it's fake news, it's not correct".
This news comes after it was reported that Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande, had a briefing with Parliament where he said that almost R2 billion will be written off in historic debt. Carolissen has said that this was actually 'factually incorrect' and that historic debt is not getting written off.
On Radio Turf, Carolissen clarified that what actually happened was that old historic debt money was used to fund students. He said that nothing wrong was done with the money, it's just that the NSFAS staff responsible didn't follow the proper procedures.
When asked "How did they get it so wrong?", Carolissen replied, "I'm at a loss" and that he has explained it several times to Parliament.
What is actually happening is that a book entry correction is going to be done to balance out irregular expenditures from 2018 and 2019. When investigated, NSFAS found R2 billion which was channelled into legitimate payments to students without approval from the National Treasury. This made up unspent historic debt money.
When Minister Pandor was the Minister of Higher Education in 2018 and 2019, she allocated R1 billion towards historic debt relief and NSFAS added a further R700 million. Students who qualified then to get historic debt written off were those who were eligible for GAP funding and had more debt. Historic debt was then written off to cover the gap created as a result of insufficient funds.
Other recovery claims with institutions have been done.
Carolissen also said that they have revisited the criteria for historic debt relief and will send this new criteria to institutions. NSFAS has also been discussing the funding of the extended academic year as well as the effects of the N+2 rule on students.
This story was updated on 4/6/2020.
