The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training in Parliament‚ Connie September‚ said on Thursday that MPs want to be fully briefed about the erroneous payment of R14-million to a student at the Walter Sisulu University.
“It can only serve to benefit Members of the Committee to be brought up to speed on how such a dubious act occurred and why it took this long to be identified. The Committee wants to know the number of students who could have benefited from this money‚” September said.
“This is unacceptable that such a grave mistake as this one could occur undetected...”
She said the Committee accepts that this is not the fault of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme‚ but still companies that NSFAS use to distribute funding should be of unquestionable capacity with efficiency all round.
The student spent over R800‚000 following the erroneous payment into her account. September noted that the company which made the payment‚ Intellimali‚ has said it will follow the law in trying to recover the money.
“It is rather unfortunate that the student did not query the extra zeros that have been put to the original amount she should have received.”
September said the Committee "accepts that steps are under way to recover the money and is keen to hear from the Department and NSFAS on the matter. The company may‚ as well‚ be required to come and appear before the Committee".
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