Ernest Khosa resigns as NSFAS board chair

Ernest Khosa has resigned as chair of the board of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), higher education minister Blade Nzimande said on Thursday. 

Nzimande said he accepted Khosa’s resignation and wished him well.

In January, Khosa took leave of absence to enable the board to deal with allegations against him made by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), which accused him and Nzimande of defrauding NSFAS through kickbacks from service providers.

Nzimande made the announcement on Khosa's resignation as he set out steps he has taken to address the recurring problem of nonpayment of student allowances by the scheme, which he said “impacted negatively” on the wellbeing of students and the continued functioning of the higher education system.

Nzimande said the steps to be taken were intended to ensure the nonpayment of allowances was resolved as a priority. 

The minister instructed NSFAS, supported by the department, to immediately establish a dedicated task team that will visit all Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and universities where students are experiencing serious NSFAS-related problems. This task team has already started working. 

He said the director-general held an urgent meeting with NSFAS on Thursday morning to ensure that all outstanding allowances are paid as soon as it is practicable. 

“In addition, NSFAS has sent its servicing administrators to work with the non-compliant TVET colleges and universities to finalise the submission of student registration data and ensure that the outstanding student allowances and tuition [fees] are paid in the next payment cycle.” 

He said in respect of the 2024 academic cycle, against valid registration records received on March 15, NSFAS has paid the disbursements for universities and TVET college students. For the latest payment cycle, NSFAS paid TVET college student allowances and tuition to the value of R511m, which includes:

• tuition to colleges;
• NSFAS card allowances; and
• student accommodation via service providers. 

For universities, NSFAS paid allowances and tuition to the value of R2.3bn, which includes R393m direct payment to students. 

“Regrettably not all TVET colleges and universities have complied with the NSFAS deadline of March 15 for the submission of student registration data to facilitate the payment of allowances. The failure to comply by some  colleges and universities has contributed to the latest sporadic student protests,” Nzimande said. 

Nzimande apologised to all affected students for the inconvenience as a result of the nonpayment of allowances. 

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