The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training wants a forensic investigation into the R136 million National Treasury provided the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to improve failing ICT systems as it appears this was never done.
This was the request from the new committee chairperson Tebogo Letsie to the Department of Higher Education and Training. He had committed to ensure accountability during his tenure as the chairperson.
Embattled NSFAS appeared before the committee on Wednesday to provide an update on funding of students for the 2024 academic year and progress in resolving some challenges faced by the entity including institutional and administrative issues.
Administrator Freeman Nomvalo said they have been sorting out the ICT systems to enable them to answer appeals and other matters.
He admitted that it was not fit for purpose.
“The process has been slow, there have been 35 226 unresolved appeals and of these 1 660 have not been touched and the rest have been dealt with.
“Tuesday and Wednesday alone we received about 113 new appeals. Yes we are far from where we should be and one appeal outstanding is one too many but we are trying to increase our response moving forward,” he said.
Nomvalo said the systems did not only impact appeals but application processes especially for the R3.8 billion loan scheme that was established to support the missing middle students.
He told the committee more than 31 000 applications have been received by “missing middle” students, however, only about 1 300 applicants qualified for the loan scheme and they have yet to be funded months after successful application.
“The conclusion of the ICT and Business Processing Review project will deliver a more efficient ICT system that provides for a seamless interface and data sharing between NSFAS and its key stakeholders including universities, TVETs as well as accommodation providers (APs),” said Nomvalo.
Letsie questioned the use of funds that were meant to improve the ICT systems and called for a probe that will show if money was syphoned from the entity. If so then people must be charged criminally, he said.
“We are going to conduct oversight over NSFAS until things turn around and going forward, the committee will need to be provided with a monthly report on what the scheme is doing with appeals, payment of student accommodation and allowances,” he said.
Letsie also questioned the rationale of NSFAS renting a building at a cost of around R2 million a month but claiming not to have enough money in its administrative budget to hire staff.
MP Matlhodi Maseko said: “NSFAS’ fumbling of the loan scheme is unacceptable. Thousands of students have placed their hope in this scheme to access higher education and change their futures.
“It is time NSFAS makes the development of the loan scheme and the upgrading of the ICT system a priority.”
Cape Times