The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has praised the work done by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to recover funds entitled to the bursary scheme.
Careers Portal previously reported that the SIU recovered R1.7 billion from institutions. These unallocated funds should have been returned to NSFAS; however, they were not, which necessitated recovery efforts from the SIU.
NSFAS says the recoveries made by the SIU are the result of the NSFAS bursary reconciliation of the academic years from 2017 to 2022.
The reconciliation process sought to identify cases where NSFAS had over-allocated and under-allocated funding for students. They also looked at funding discrepancies as well as identifying students who were not entitled to receive NSFAS funding.
Proclamation R88 of 2022, signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, granted the SIU authority to investigate various matters concerning NSFAS. Since the proclamation was signed, more than R1.7 billion rand has been recovered by the unit.
NSFAS says their collaboration with the SIU is not only effective but serves as a commitment to uphold financial accountability.
NSFAS will continue its cooperation with the SIU investigating team as well as provide all the necessary information and support that will ensure the successful conclusion of recoveries.
While NSFAS has committed to working with the SIU, the bursary scheme has not been spared from the unit's criticism.
The SIU’s investigation revealed that NSFAS failed to design and implement controls that would ensure an annual reconciliation between the funds disbursed to the institutions and the funded list of registered students. This contributed to the millions of rands currently up in the air.
What Happens To The Money
All recovered funds will be deposited into a bank account managed by the SIU until the bursary scheme, together with institutions, determines who is responsible for monies owed.
In some cases, NSFAS is required to make payments to institutions that are owed money.
