Stander's resignation letter made allegations of bullying, intimidation, racism and threats to personal safety
Concern has been raised after the sudden resignation of Dr Karen Stander as chairperson of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) board.
Stander’s resignation letter made allegations of bullying, intimidation, racism and threats to personal safety.
In response to this, Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO Wayne Duvenage said there is a lot of work to be done to continue to address the governance and performance issues at Nsfas, including the clean-up of past contracts entered into by the previous administration, which got Nsfas into the current mess it is in.
Stander could return if backed by minister — Outa
Duvenage said while the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Buti Manamela, cannot force Stander to stay on if she doesn’t want to, he believed that she had the appetite to stay on.
“But only if the minister really wants her to do so, and if she is convinced that the minister will have her back when it comes to what she needs to do to address the fallout that is developing at Nsfas,” he said.
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Nsfas board is ‘split’
Duvenage said the board is split and has lost a few good board members who had a similar mindset to Dr Karen Stander, such that good governance and accountability are non-negotiable.
“This in turn makes her job more difficult, because from what we can gather, there are a number of board members who pay less attention to performance measurements, governance and accountability than they ought to – these are our views.
“Dr Stander means well, but under the circumstances, if she does not have the 100% support of the new minister and the CEO, as well as the existing board members, then her job will be unpleasant and almost untenable,” he explained.
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Duvenage also added that the current acting CEO, Waseem Carrim, was not fit for this role.
“We believe he doesn’t respect the chairperson. For this reason, his contract should be terminated. If that doesn’t happen, I can’t see the chairperson staying on, and that would be a pity. All of this is a sign that the minister is not seizing the opportunity to clean up shop throughout higher education,” he said.
“We see this also in the Setas [Sector Education and Training Authorities], where he is employing many of the old guard and their boards, who have been remiss in their roles to hold the executive managers to account, thereby enabling poor governance and the continuation of the rot and maladministration in a number of the Setas,” he added.
Duvenage said Manamela was unfit for this role and should never have been appointed as the minister.
New leadership needed at Nsfas?
Senior political lecturer at North-West University, Dr Benjamin Rapanyane, said the leadership must sometimes make way for renewal when institutional trust and collaboration have broken down.
“If anything, Stander also indicates that she highlighted deeper structural problems within the scheme, including leadership instability, reputational damage and widespread systemic dysfunction. If she couldn’t resolve them, then all of these problems may need a new leader, even if we acknowledge that we have a serious problem at Nsfas; a turmoil of years of governance crises, administrative disruptions and student protests over delayed payments,” he said.
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Dr Delmaine Christians, the DA spokesperson on higher education and training, said Stander was appointed to lead a newly constituted Nsfas board after the previous board was dissolved and the entity placed under administration following repeated failures to pay student allowances.
“Her appointment had raised genuine optimism that ethical leadership and stability could finally return to Nsfas. That optimism has now been severely undermined by her sudden departure,” she said.
Christians said the DA has written to the chairperson of the portfolio committee on higher education and training demanding that Manamela appear before it to account for the allegations raised in Stander’s resignation letter, as well as his own intervention in the matter.
“South Africa’s students cannot afford uncertainty or mismanagement.”
ActionSA MP Malebo Kobe said her party condemns allegations of hostility and racism, and is concerned about the ongoing governance instability within the Nsfas board.
“The Nsfas board is entrusted with the management of billions in public funds and carries the responsibility of safeguarding the educational futures of thousands of young South Africans. Continued instability within the board undermines confidence in the entity and jeopardises the efficient delivery of financial aid to deserving students,” she added.
