It has been three months since President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a proclamation allowing the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to carry out an investigation into alleged corruption of maladministration and corruption at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas).
The first three months of this investigation have already yielded positive results as the unit recovered more than R30 million.
Nsfas Board Chairperson Ernest Khosa says the SIU investigation enjoys the full support of the financial aid scheme. They believe that the SIU will recover “lots and lots” of funds during their investigation.
Khosa explained that while the investigation is still in the early stages, it is progressing well. Last month the SIU recovered R33 million that was meant to be returned to Nsfas but was “invested” by a college.
Khosa believes that the SIU’s work will also deter fraudsters from tampering with Nsfas’ systems.
Nsfas is an elephant moving R50 billion per annum it's no small feat at all so wherever there's a ray of light there'll be lots of cockroaches
In 2021, the Auditor General (AG) detected around R77.5 billion in irregular expenditure at Nsfas. The scheme is working closely with the AG and they hope to reconcile funds that were sent to universities from 2016, which were meant to be returned to Nsfas.
Civil organisation AfriForum youth also laid a criminal complaint against Nsfas concerning irregular expenditure detected by the SIU. The group say they laid the criminal complaint on the basis that nobody has yet been arrested for the alleged misappropriation of funds.
AfriForum Youth spokesperson René van der Vyver said it is unacceptable that thousands of students are unable to access funds to study which they alleged was misappropriated.
Khosa says all civil organisations are welcomed to assist Nsfas, however, they argue that there is a big difference between irregular expenditure and the misappropriation of funds that AfriForum youth claims took place.
Nsfas no longer has cash reserves, which Khosa attributes to the "extended academic year because of Covid-19. While this may have led to problems at the beginning of the current academic year it has since been resolved and Nsfas has been assured they won't experience issues of this nature in the coming years.
Khosa concluded that Nsfas has good management that is committed to good governance. They added that they are committed to working with all stakeholders, the AG, Portfolio committee, the shareholder, even students to ensure their funds are used appropriately.
