As anger mounts over a new payment system for student allowances implemented by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), it emerged that the board was locked in a meeting on Monday.
This comes in the wake of another meeting by NSFAS on Friday with higher education minister Blade Nzimande, as well as the director-general in the department of higher education, Nkosinathi Sishi, and Universities South Africa (USAf), a body representing the vice-chancellors of the 26 public universities.
The student representative council at Stellenbosch University has called on students to join them in a march to parliament in Cape Town on Wednesday to protest the direct payment system.
The SRC plans to hand over a memorandum of demands to Nzimande, including a request for a commission of inquiry into NSFAS.
The SRC recently wrote to the public protector asking it to look into the contracts awarded to four fintech companies, Coinvest Africa, Tenet Technology, eZaga and Norraco Corporation, to pay students allowances’ directly into their bank accounts.
NSFAS, funded by the department of higher education, provides bursaries to students from poor and working-class families.
There has been a huge outcry over the direct payment system with students even marching to the Union Buildings in Pretoria recently.
According to rough calculations based on the 360,771 students who have so far been “on-boarded” onto the new payment system, the four companies will collectively earn R4.3m a month through a R12 banking fee deduction from each student’s R1,650 allowance. This excludes other charges such as ATM withdrawals, which will cost R10 plus R2,50 for every R100 withdrawn. A R50 replacement fee is levied for lost cards while R60 is levied for delivering it.
Tebogo Radebe, communications officer for the SRC, referred TimesLIVE Premium to a statement given to students confirming that the march will go ahead on Wednesday.
It read: “We are tired of the shortcomings and challenges posed by NSFAS, and it is time for them to address the issues at hand. Our collective voice demands that NSFAS comes to the table and takes the necessary actions to rectify the system’s flaws.”
The statement encouraged professors, lecturers, deans, administrators, “and every dedicated staff member in SU to stand in solidarity with us as we advocate for a more equitable and accessible education system”.
“We cannot in good conscience continue our daily routines while fellow students, with whom we share lecture halls and common areas, grapple with hunger, homelessness and lack of funds.”
Radebe told TimesLIVE Premium that 152 students from their campus had indicated they would join the march.
“The University of the Western Cape has also indicated that they will join on the day, but I do not have the numbers.”
Besides the march, at least 612 signatures have been garnered in support of a petition by the SRC demanding Nzimande scrap the direct payment system.
Drawn up by the vice-chair of the SRC, William Sezoe, the petition stated that “It is quite clear that it is not the most poor and vulnerable that NSFAS ought to benefit but the companies appointed”.
“We request all NSFAS students to sign this petition to show their disappointment and disapproval with this new system.”
What NSFAS is doing is wrong and it has to be addressed as the lives of students are on the line”.
— Guillieano Prinsloo
Sonelise Maqhwetsha stated: “This system does not make any sense as there is nothing ‘direct’ about it.”
Guillieano Prinsloo said “what NSFAS is doing is wrong and it has to be addressed as the lives of students are on the line”.
Abigail Gericke stated that “it’s really stressful having to hope and pray that you will receive your allowances when there’s literally no communication from NSFAS about outstanding payments”.
Meanwhile, responding to questions about Monday’s NSFAS board meeting, NSFAS stated on Monday afternoon that it was still in progress.
“We have nothing to share at the moment. Should we have any outcomes from any engagements we would like to share with the public, we will do so.”
It did not divulge the agenda for the meeting.
USAf said it would only be able to respond by Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, higher education spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi confirmed to TimesLIVE Premium that Nzimande and Sishi met NSFAS and USAf on Friday.
“It is an ordinary meeting between the minister and USAf to brief each other about developments in the sector.”
He said the direct payment issue was discussed and NSFAS CEO, Andile Nongogo clarified the matter.
“NSFAS provided a detailed explanation on the consultations that took place with USAf, the South African Union of Students (SAUS) and the South Africa Technical Vocational Education & Training Students’ Association (SATVETSA) before the system was implemented.”
Saying on the planned march to parliament organised by Stellenbosch University’s SRC, Mnisi said they became aware of it on social media.
“Neither the minister nor the department had been informed about this nor are there arrangements by the minister to accept a memorandum.”
In a statement dated August 5, USAf said its board “has taken issue with the NSFAS’s decision to disburse students’ allowances directly to the students out of concern that the system that the NSFAS was implementing had not been tested at universities”.
It stated that NSFAS was advised to implement this new system in a phased approach within universities.
“These direct payments pose a risk of NSFAS continuing to pay deregistered students or those who have stopped attending classes, given that the universities’ databases are not integrated with that of NSFAS.”
The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that a director of Coinvest Africa, Tshegofatso Ntumba, landed a R29m deal with the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SSETA) in 2018 to supply promotional items at grossly inflated prices.
Nongogo was the CEO of the SSETA at the time while Ntuma was involved as director of the company Star Sign and Print.
Among the goods it provided were 20,000 exam pads at a unit cost of R214 which according to the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) retail for about R21.
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