NSFAS CEO: 'I would like to earn back the trust'

Matriculants from poor backgrounds could know sooner in future – even before they write their final exams - whether they will receive funding for their university studies.

This is one of the priorities of the Steven Zwane‚ the new CEO of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

Zwane began his new job on September 1 and has committed to make changes in how NSFAS operates and the relationship it has with students and universities.

This year‚ NSFAS made headlines when a student was mistakenly paid R14-million by a company contracted by the organisation.

Zwane said he wants to improve the image of the organisation in society as a whole.

“I would like to earn back the trust‚” he said.

With his experience in managing operations at Absa‚ Zwane wants to improve NSFAS by improving its student-centred model.

“Operations and technology have to work because people were asking why you have an error like the R14-million incident. If you don’t have a proper system and are still using a spreadsheet‚ you are likely to have manipulation. Why don’t you automate?

“I would love to see a first-time applicant know their results of whether they are successful or not tentatively before they write their exams. I would love to do that. This would inspire that person to do well…that is real-time feedback‚” he said.

Zwane worked as a COO at Absa for the retail business‚ business banking and insurance. He is also a beneficiary of NSFAS. He studied for his first degree‚ a BSc in Computer Science‚ at the University of Zululand and paid back the money in the first three years of his working life.

Now armed with an MBA and valuable experience in the banking sector he is facing an enormous challenge to turn NSFAS around.

The debt book stands at about R18-billion and the collection rate has dropped from about R800-million a year to R200-million after the National Credit Act stopped NSFAS from obtaining garnishee orders.

NSFAS has taken its debt book to independent firms who are recovering some of the money for the organisation. These companies have already recovered about R300-million. Zwane will be adding more capacity in the recovery division to bring more efficiency.

He said paying back the money is a societal thing.

There are people who wait for NSFAS to contact them before they can pay and there are those who feel that they should not pay because it is government money‚ he said.

“We live in a country where people feel that they must get things. This entitlement culture is so prevalent in all sorts of things. For example this girl who received R14-million from the state‚ why did she have to spend money that was not hers?”

Zwane said he is acquainted with the struggles of students having been active in his time.

During his high school days he was in the Cosas leadership in Grade 10 and at university he became a representative of the science faculty in the student representative council and later the general secretary of the SRC.

In the first few weeks at NSFAS he learned that the staff were not inspired to do their job.

“I found that the colleagues did not believe in the organisation. There is nothing that inspired them to come to work. They just did the work for the sake of it. Lack of leadership was a big thing. If the person that is leading you does not make you inspired‚ why should you be inspired?

“When I asked the guys what is it they liked about being here‚ most of them said they love the course that the organisation is serving…but we don’t like the way we are led. “We are not inspired. For me the first thing I want to see is for the guys to believe in the organisation‚” he explained.

Another big initiative is to put a face to NSFAS.

“I would like those who benefited from NSFAS to see the stories of people that are like them. Right now it is still a black hole. We want to put a face to NSFAS. We will run a campaign with about 26 people that over the last 26 years have benefited from NSFAS‚ telling stories about how NSFAS transformed their lives…We want to use that campaign as an initiative to drive contributions‚ donations and recoveries.”

Zwane has already started meeting with vice-chancellors from various universities to explain his vision and the type of relationship he wants to build with them. This relationship‚ he said‚ is meant to improve data sharing and verification which causes the delay in the payments. He will be meeting with student leadership to further build relationships with the people at the heart of his business.

“We want the students to be paid on time. Let the money follow the student. Currently we are paying student in arrears; I would like to pay them in advance.

“NSFAS relies on universities to supply information about the student whom they have accepted. That data has to be vetted by NSFAS before paying the money to the universities.”

Another hurdle he wants to change is the actual payment system. When students change cellphones they do not alert the organisation and the money goes to their previous numbers. In his view‚ a bank account is better as it remains the same even if the student changes cellphone numbers.