Deputy Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela confirmed that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will continue its plan to decentralise its operations.
In 2024, NSFAS Acting Chairperson Prof. Lourens Van Staden said the establishment of regional offices aims to ensure the government bursary scheme's presence in all provinces around the country. The plans could see new officers opened in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, and KwaZulu-Natal.
As part of this restructuring, the current NSFAS headquarters in Cape Town will be closed.
The decision to move to Cape Town was initially driven by a lack of capacity in the old offices, but contracts with the landlord are set to be terminated.
NSFAS’ Cape Town office lease agreement raised eyebrows due to high rental costs, which no longer make business sense. It was reported that NSFAS spends around R2,5 million on rent a month with 140 parking bays set to cost R18.6m for the five-year contract.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has approached the courts to have the lease set aside. NSFAS has joined the SIU’s application to cancel the lease.
Calls For NSFAS Officials To Be Stationed At Institutions
While the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) welcomes the plans to vacate the costly Cape Town offices, they are calling for a different approach to NSFAS’ decentralisation project.
OUTA project manager Rudie Heyneke says instead of establishing regional offices, NSFAS should place staff at higher learning institutions around the country. They believe this could expedite addressing student concerns as they emerge.
There are 26 universities and 50 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in the country. Many of these institutions have multiple campuses.
I think that NASFAS can accommodate one [or] at least two employees or personnel at each of these institutions so that they are there for the students, they can serve the students better and that will also lead to a smaller and more affordable head office.
Heyneke called on the new management of NSFAS to cut costs so more resources can be allocated to students. In 2025, a new CEO and Board of Directors were appointed to the government bursary scheme.
In addition to the R2,5 million a month lease agreement, the previous regime at NSFAS faced criticism for introducing a direct allowance payment system which incorporated middlemen in the form of fintech service providers as well as several alleged corruption scandals.
Heyneke is confident that all involved parties will face consequences should they be found to be involved in the alleged wrongdoing.
