SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said SIU had made progress in recovering unallocated funds, with the University of Fort Hare.
Students cannot be blamed for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s (NSFAS) failures as they did not request funds that do not belong to them.
This is according to the South African Further Education and Training Students Association (Safetsa) following efforts announced to recover NSFAS funds from those who did not qualify to be funded.
The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) confirmed it had signed Acknowledgement of Debt (AoD) agreements with 421 students who did not qualify to be funded by NSFAS.
The total value of these AoDs amounts to R112 174 825.97.
The SIU started its investigation into NSFAS’s affairs in 2022 following a proclamation by the president which authorised it to probe allegations of corruption and maladministration and to recover “any financial losses suffered by the state through corruption and negligence”.
The SIU said its investigation found that NSFAS “failed to design and implement controls” to ensure that there is an annual reconciliation between the funds disbursed to the institutions and the allocation of those funds to the students.
SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said: “These control weaknesses have led to overpayments and underpayments of funds to the different institutions over the period 2017 to date.
“The SIU has signed Acknowledgement of Debt (AoD) agreements with 421 students who did not qualify to be funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). The SIU is pleased with the co-operative attitude of parents and unqualified NSFAS beneficiaries who have signed AoDs agreeing to repay the money over some time.”
Unqualified NSFAS beneficiaries who had not been in contact with the unit were also encouraged to come forward and arrange for repayment.
Kganyago said the SIU had made progress in recovering unallocated funds, with the University of Fort Hare being the latest to pay back unallocated funds of R277 666 450. This brings the total of recoveries to R1 165 887 062.
NSFAS said it had so far collected about R500 million from institutions through the reconciliation process, excluding recoveries done by the SIU.
NSFAS spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said: “NSFAS acknowledges that the SIU has signed AoDS with some students. Once the funds are transferred by the SIU to NSFAS, they are kept in a designated (ring-fenced) interest bearing bank account. These funds are then subsequently used to fund eligible students. NSFAS has collected approximately R500m from institutions through the reconciliation process. This excludes recoveries done by the SIU.
“It is important to note that in 2023, NSFAS entered into an agreement with the SIU to quantify the figures while the SIU would recover the funds. This agreement ensures that there is no duplication of efforts and that state funds are preserved. The reconciliation process is ongoing, and NSFAS is working with the 76 public institutions (TVET and universities) to finalise it.”
He said the quality of submissions from institutions and collaboration with institutions was crucial for the success of the reconciliation process.
“Relating to 2017-22, some institutions (8) did not submit the required data, whilst others (21) submitted data with issues, which has delayed the reconciliation process. The 2023 reconciliation process has commenced.
NSFAS has subsequently implemented controls to prevent recurrence. These controls include the following: regular reconciliations with the institutions, payments made directly to students’ bank accounts, and additional eligibility validations relating to income through Sars,” he said.
NSFAS had appointed KPMG BDO and OMCCA to provide technical and operational capacity, Mnisi added.
South African Union of Students (Saus) spokesperson Asive Dlanjwa said that while they welcomed efforts to recover these funds, students must not be criminalised.
“We must mention that all efforts must be taken to ensure that the student does not bleed money unnecessarily to the extent which it is through illegal ways. NSFAS has helped the majority of students, they just need to ensure they have the administrative capacity to ensure they (continue) to do that and the money goes only to people meant to get it. The legislation is there, they just need to strengthen ITC systems and hire competent staff,” said Dlanjwa.
Safetsa secretary-general Wongani Mhlekazi Mgwali said: “You can’t run away from the fact that NSFAS pays.
What a student does is use the money they are given because they need it. What we need to check is the reason NSFAS is under administration, the issue of non-equal payments to students, mistakes made by the system etc. Then we need to create a system where students are able to see how much they are supposed to get and when they are supposed to get it.
“We are hoping the administrator will fix all of those (issues) with the new system.”
Cape Times
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