The recent Cabinet re-shuffle saw former university student leader Yusuf Cassim promoted from MP in the committee on Higher Education to one of two Deputy Ministers in the department.
Cassim is from the Democratic Alliance, and a former DASO leader at Nelson Mandela University - where he served as SRC president.
In his first week in the job the new Deputy Minister choose Unisa as his first official visit, and took along departmental officials and senior NSFAS management with him.
Cassim explained that he will be continuing the Deputy Minister's Helpdesk, an initiative that was run by his predecessor.
"A number of complaints were received from students at Unisa, that had come through our helpdesk portal. I thought it was important to visit Unisa , to meet with the institution's leadership," said Cassim.
"I was accompanied by officials from the DHET universities branch, as well as by a senior manager of NSFAS who was delegated by the Administrator".
He explained that issues raised by students contacting the Helpdesk include, late-payment of allowances, policy matters about the amounts issued, the discontinuation of the data that that was previously allocated to students by the institution outside of examination periods.
"Students feel that they do not have the necessary resources and tools to succeed academically," explained Cassim.
The President of the Unisa SRC, Nkosinathi Mabilane, was also in attendance to raise the concerns of students at the meeting.
Earlier this year the previous Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, explained that the Helpdesk had successfully resolved more than 55 000 student enquiries since it was launched in August 2024.
The Helpdesk was created to act as a direct communication channel between the Department of Higher Education and Training, the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) sector, students and members of the public seeking assistance.
Gondwe explained in March 2026 that the Helpdesk had handled 57 283 student queries. Approximately 55 121 cases have been successfully resolved and closed, resulting in a resolution rate of around 90%.
