The University of Pretoria (UP) has paid almost half a billion in National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSAFS) funds to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).

The funds pertain to a period from 2016 to 2021 and were paid by NSFAS to the university for qualifying students who had either changed institutions or deregistered.

The funds stay in the institution’s possession for a year.

According to the SIU, money was paid into its trust account in four instalments.

UP spokesperson Rikus Delport says the university was merely an agent for disbursing the funds and is restricted to using them solely for NSFAS-approved students.

“In recent years, the university has been engaged in reconciliation efforts with NSFAS for the periods spanning from 2017 to 2022,” says Delport.

He says that as the reconciliation remains incomplete, an agreement has been reached with the SIU to return the funds.

The SIU is an independent statutory body that was established in terms of the SIU and Special Tribunals Act, Act No. 74 of 1996, and is investigating serious malpractices in administration at NSFAS.

The SIU said that the unallocated funds were due to poor control systems and a lack of reconciliation processes by NSFAS and were not collected from institutions of higher learning, including UP.

It also revealed that NSFAS failed to design and implement controls to ensure an annual reconciliation between the funds disbursed to the institutions and the allocation of those funds to the students.

It said these control weaknesses have led to over- and underpayments of funds to different institutions from 2017 to date.

“When approached by the SIU, the institution co-operated, which led to a quick recovery process,” said the SIU.