Government must first realise that 40 000 improperly funded students is the equivalent of 40 000 squashed dreams.
Nsfas should be an easy fix, but government must first realise that 40 000 improperly funded students is the equivalent of 40 000 squashed dreams.
The way that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) has been trending these past two months, people can be forgiven for thinking it is a new institution that is in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.
Nsfas was formally established way back in 1999, replacing the Tertiary Education Fund of South Africa, which was established way back in 1991.
This government has had more than three decades to get the running of a national student financial aid institution in order. And it has not.
What it has managed, instead, is another channel for tenderpreneurs and unscrupulous administrators to loot state funds with very little, or no consequences at all.
So, why was Nsfas not in the spotlight until recently? The real reason is until former president Jacob Zuma’s last kick measure of making education free before leaving office, funding tertiary education was not a lucrative area for those hellbent on looting taxpayers money.
Yes, the budget was R9.2 billion in 2015 but that shot up to four times its value (R35 billion) in 2020. That kind of growth is a looter’s heaven.
While the government could easily disburse R9 billion to needy students by paying funds directly to institutions before, a whole ecosystem had to be established to handle the R35 billion because there was now more to loot.
There is a disingenuous conflation of issues whenever Nsfas is in the spotlight. Terrible administration of funds versus citizens who do not qualify for funding applying and getting funds before students who really deserve the funds.
The board would like the public to believe it is those cheating the system who are to blame for the problems with the institution, whereas it is bad management that has led the current need for a clean-up at Nsfas.
Those cheating or attempting to cheat the system only do so because they have realised the opportunity exists.
South Africa’s banking system is such that there should be no problem whatsoever to disburse R35 billion to the right individuals. Such payments happen every day with very few errors in the way of duplicate payments, or ghost payments.
The problem is those who should be focused on ensuring that the right candidates get on the list of people who must receive the funds are themselves finding foolproof ways of ensuring they are among those paid out by the financial aid scheme.
The public protector finding that some 40 000 students were improperly funded to the tune of R5.1 billion was dismissed as “not a disaster”. That would explain the lack of urgency on fixing the fund by the minister of higher education.
The bungled appointment of administrator Hlengani Mathebula that will now cost the taxpayer more than R3.2 million is a case in point.
Nsfas should be an easy fix, but government must first realise that 40 000 improperly funded students is the equivalent of 40 000 squashed dreams, dreams of students who could be the only ones in their families to change those families’ destinies.
It is a disaster of mammoth proportions. Funding poor and deserving students properly is what will alleviate poverty in this country.
Instead of Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela relying on reports to know whether he paid consultants or not, he should be personally spearheading the fix himself.
Pay the right financial brains to set up a working Nsfas, set up checks and balances and the minister should not have to worry about spending R5.1 billion on wrong recipients.
