The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was placed under administration in April 2024 due to a host of challenges including allowance payment failures, lack of institutional capacity and the board's failure to implement the recommendations set out in the Werksmans Report.
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande fired the NSFAS board and quickly appointed Freeman Nomvalo as the scheme's new Administrator.
This decision meant that Nomvalo would have to oversee the management, and administration of NSFAS for 12 months.
At the time, Nzimande said that Nomvalo’s main objectives were to ensure students receive their allowances on time, develop capacity to address NSFAS shortfalls and evaluate possible changes to the NSFAS Act to improve the scheme's efficacy and efficiency.
One of the things we have to change… is the composition of the board. I mean NSFAS is a R50 billion operation. We really need a particular calibre of people who must be on the board as of now it's become clear to me that is actually not the case.
Nomvalo announced new support personnel have been appointed to assist in various aspects of his mandate. These additional resources are set to shadow NSFAS executives in critical areas at the scheme to ensure the objectives are achieved.
The support will shadow NSFAS Executives in finance, ICT, student accommodation and operations. These are some of the areas of concerns raised by the Minister which are part of issues in immediately need to deal with at NSFAS.
The newly appointed support will focus on addressing these urgent issues and enhancing the efficiency of NSFAS operations.
"We have also finalised the governance framework for the Administration to ensure greater transparency and a more objective decision-making process," the Administrator announced.
This framework aims to bolster accountability and streamline administrative functions.
Nomvalo said that over the next three weeks, efforts will be concentrated on building capacity within various structures to ensure the effective implementation of this governance framework.
To execute on all matters as per the terms of reference of Administration and to address capacity deficiencies, deal with long outstanding matter, such as, the submission of financial statements and the Close Out Report, additional capacity will be procured by the end of this month.
