Speaking at a briefing on Tuesday on the developments with the funding scheme, Higher Education Minister Nzimande gave an update on the delay of 2023 NSFAS appeal outcomes.
This comes amid criticism the bursary scheme received for the poor handling of its student appeals. Earlier this month, the Parliamentary Committee for Higher Education raised concerns on the backlog of student appeals.
The Committee has been adamant in reminding the scheme that it could not be dealing with appeals in September, as students are nearing their final examinations, meaning majority of the academic year has passed.
In this academic year, the minister said, 1 131 419 applications had been received through the scheme’s online application portal, 156 700 of which were from Sassa beneficiaries.
Nzimade says the scheme received a total of 178 426 appeals from disqualified students.
The minister revealed that 30,712 of the 178,426 appeal applications submitted by students were invalid appeals, meaning students either withdrew their appeal applications or appeals were duplicated.
Then there are 41,438 appeals that require the submission of external dependencies, such as the submission of documentation. About 20,908 are awaiting supporting document appeals, meaning the student submitted incorrect documents at time of appeal and were requested to provide further documents. “
The department works with Home Affairs and South African Revenue Services to verify all Nsfas applications for funding to ensure the correct processing of students applications.
Nzimande says 20,530 students were defunded as the Department of Higher Education and Training and (DHET) and institutions indicated that the students did not progress. However, these students submitted NSFAS appeals to indicate that they have passed.
The process then dictates that NSFAS verify the information with the institution and there is a time lag on the processing with 11 institutions.
The minister says 11,248 of these appeals are being evaluated and an assigned case worker is processing the appeal applications. He concluded, "All these appeals will be attended to urgently."
Nzimande on Direct Payment System Investigation
Furthermore, Nzimande said that he was awaiting a final report on the NSFAS investigations into the process of appointing the four companies “after public allegations on the process of their appointment”.
NSFAS appointed Tenet Technology, Coinvest Africa, eZaga and Norraco Corporation to disburse allowances to students through a direct payment system that has sparked a huge outcry from students.
We are not hiding anything. NSFAS has undertaken an investigation on its own to make sure that the allegations being made are investigated.
Last month, NSFAS announced that its CEO Andile Nongogo had taken “a leave of absence” while the board investigated allegations against him related to his conduct in awarding bids at NSFAS.
Nongogo faces corruption allegations related to his previous work at Services SETA (SSETA). These allegations further raise concerns about potential improper practices in the awarding of bids at NSFAS.
As a result of the allegations and the alleged claimed involvement of the NSFAS CEO, I have noted the decision by the board to place Mr Nongogo on leave of absence while investigations by an independent legal firm are ongoing into these allegations.
He said they were not saying that Nongogo was guilty, adding: “The board has said ‘just step aside while we investigate this matter’.”
The NSFAS board enlisted Werksman Incorporated to investigate allegations against the CEO and review procurement systems and processes. The investigation was currently underway.
