After several delays, online applications open on Friday for National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding for 2025.
It will be the culmination of an eventful week for the state tertiary education funding agency which manages an annual budget of about R52bn.
This week, higher education and training minister Nobuhle Nkabane announced the scheme's controversial R2.5m monthly office rental in Cape Town had been cancelled and smaller regional offices would be set up in Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, where the need for funding is greatest.
She confirmed the department was in the final stages of appointing a new NSFAS board, after the previous board was dissolved in April due to delays in disbursing student allowances and allegations of corruption among board members.
While it is still early days, it appears things are moving in the right direction.
The role and responsibility of NSFAS is immense. It holds the future of about 1.3-million students in its hands, playing a crucial role in providing financial aid to students from disadvantaged backgrounds who seek higher education.
It has been hit by a string of controversies over the past few years. In 2020 the scheme transitioned to a new payment system which was allegedly intended to streamline the process. The process was a disaster, with many students reporting they had not received their payments on time. This delay in funding repeatedly caused disruption on university campuses.
The role and responsibility of Nsfas is immense. It holds the future of about 1.3-million students in its hands, playing a crucial role in providing financial aid to students from disadvantaged backgrounds who seek higher education
In a 2021 parliamentary inquiry it was revealed that NSFAS had lost track of more than R7bn in payments, further casting doubt on its ability to manage public funds responsibly.
Allegations of inflated service provider contracts came to light. In 2022, a scandal emerged involving the appointment of service providers at exorbitant costs to administer NSFAS funds.
Then-higher education minister Blade Nzimande commissioned an investigation by Werksmans Attorneys which recommended NSFAS should terminate contracts with direct payment service providers who were allegedly appointed irregularly.
The scheme's leadership inexplicably fell into inertia and Nzimande, in April, dissolved the board and placed the scheme under administration. The minister did not escape unscathed though. Civil lobby group Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse revealed leaked recordings, exposing damning allegations of corruption involving Nzimande and NSFAS chair Ernest Khosa.
Nzimande denied the allegations but when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his third cabinet in June Nzimande was replaced by Nkabane. A former Unisa tutor who has been an MP since 2019 and deputy minister of mineral resources and energy since 2021, Nkabane will have many eyes on her in her new portfolio.
Her handling of the NSFAS saga will be a litmus test and we wait in anticipation for her announcement of the new board. Nkabane is off to a solid start. For the sake of the more than a million students whose future careers lie in the hands of NSFAS, we hope she continues with that trajectory.
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