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One company said it is owed more than R17.5 million by Nsfas.
Picture: Gallo Images
Students in KwaZulu-Natal-based staged a protest on Friday demanding that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) pay the money owed to landlords.
Some of the students have not received funds from Nsfas for up to five months, meaning they are at risk of losing their accommodation, they can’t afford food and their studies have not been paid for.
Students and landlords march against Nsfas
About 2 000 angry protesters gathered at King Dinuzulu Park and proceeded to Durban City Hall to hand over a memorandum of grievances.
Some of the landlords also joined the protest.
Philani Mncwabe, the executive director of MSR Consultants, a company that deals with student accommodation in KwaZulu-Natal, said several landlords decided to participate in the march because Nsfas owes them money.
Watch: Students and landlords protest against Nsfas
Mncwabe said his company alone is owed more than R17.5 million.
“We would like to express our deep concern regarding the ongoing non-payment of accommodation allowances by the Nsfas, which continues to affect over 700 Thekwini TVET College students residing in our properties. As of today, students have not received their housing allowances for more than five months, resulting in an accumulated debt exceeding R17.5 million owed to MSR Consultants alone.
“We are demanding urgent intervention from Nsfas and the Department of Higher Education and Training. This action is not only a reflection of the escalating crisis but a desperate call for accountability and a sustainable solution.”
Reasons for Nsfas non-payment
Mncwabe said that at the core of the non-payment issue is the systemic failure of technical and vocational education and training [TVET] institutions to submit timely and complete registration data, ongoing defunding of students without adequate explanation and Nsfas’ internal inefficiencies in processing payments.
He said, as a result of Nsfas’ failure, hundreds of students are being left without stable accommodation and basic necessities and landlords are being forced to carry financial burdens that threaten the sustainability of private student housing.
ALSO READ: Higher education minister apologises for late Nsfas payments, addresses appeals
He said he had not yet evicted any students, as that would compromise their right to education and dignity.
“Instead, we are exhausting all democratic avenues — including this march — to raise our concerns and demand collective action.
“We also wish to highlight that the crisis extends beyond TVETs. We currently accommodate over 300 students across the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and Durban University of Technology (DUT), many of whom have not received payment or have recently been defunded. Some students from the previous academic period remain unpaid, adding to the growing debt owed to us.”
He added that the problem not only impacts landlords and students — it affects institutions themselves.
The protesters’ demands included:
- Parliament and the executive to urgently allocate an additional budget to Nsfas;
- The minister of higher education to engage the TVET sector with the same urgency she has shown toward universities; and
- Nsfas to establish a national student accommodation forum made up of representatives from landlords, institutions, student bodies, South African Local Government Association (Salga), Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and a national task team to oversee crisis response and long-term sector planning.
Mncwabe said they were instructed to hand over the memorandum to the City Hall management, as Nsfas and the DHET representatives were not available to receive it.
Nsfas responded to the memorandum on Friday afternoon by saying it was “committed to addressing these concerns”.
It blamed the funding challenges on errors encountered during the application process, late registrations of students and budget constraints related to student appeals that were approved.
“Both DHET and Nsfas are actively collaborating to address these challenges. Efforts include reviewing applications from students who applied during the TVET application cycle, providing funding for students whose registration was submitted late, and exploring options to allocate additional resources to support students with approved appeals.
“Institutions are also being encouraged to assist students in resolving outstanding issues promptly,” it said.
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