Cassim vows faster NSFAS responses after complaints from 400 students

Deputy minister of higher education and training Yusuf Cassim has pledged to improve how the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) responds to students, saying the government has to become easier to reach and quicker to act.

Cassim’s remarks followed an oversight visit to the University of SA (Unisa) last week, where he intervened after students complained about delayed NSFAS funding, unpaid allowances and appeals that had gone unresolved for months.

During his visit, he met university management and NSFAS administrator Prof Hlengani Mathebula, saying students should not have to suffer because of administrative failures.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Pretoria on Thursday, Cassim said he had spent his first weeks in office listening to students rather than making promises. He said their concerns had shaped his vision of building a responsive post-school education and training sector that put students first.

Cassim said more than 400 students responded after he announced his visit to Unisa on Facebook. “Their messages highlighted delayed allowances, unresolved funding queries, accommodation challenges, prolonged appeals and the uncertainty many continue to face,” he said.

These may sound like administrative matters, but to a student they are deeply personal, determining whether they can register, eat, have transport or accommodation, or continue their studies

—  Yusuf Cassim

Students did not separate NSFAS, universities and government departments when things went wrong, he said. “When an allowance is delayed, when an appeal remains unresolved, or when communication breaks down, students simply want the government to respond.”

Cassim said those concerns had guided his engagements with Mathebula. Their discussions focused on delays in:

• resolving gap funding investigations;
• improving the NSFAS call-centre;
• aligning allowance payment schedules with students’ needs; and
• strengthening co-ordination between NSFAS and institutions.

During a visit to the NSFAS call-centre, Cassim said he was concerned by the length of time it took to resolve some student queries. “These may sound like administrative matters, but to a student they are deeply personal, determining whether they can register, eat, have transport or accommodation, or continue their studies.”

Cassim said his office was digitising the deputy minister’s help desk, which he inherited from his predecessor, Mimmy Gondwe, to improve communication.

Working with the Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority (MICT Seta), the platform is expected to make it easier for students to report problems while helping government identify recurring issues and respond more quickly.

Cassim said the help desk should become the government’s listening post, adding that good governance began with listening.

He said the engagements he had embarked on, together with the hundreds of messages received through his help desk and social media, had reinforced one lesson, that the government had to respond faster to students’ needs.

“If, at the end of my tenure, students can honestly say that the government became easier to reach, quicker to respond, and more committed to removing barriers between them and opportunity, then I will consider my service worthwhile.”

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