Parly committee demands end to NSFAS instability

Parliament's Higher Education Portfolio Committee expressed concerns with the repeated placement of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) under administration, pleading with Higher Education and Training Minister Buti Manamela to end the instability at the financial aid scheme.

Following severe governance, financial and IT failures, Manamela placed the NSFAS under administration, with Professor Hlengani Mathebula appointed as the third administrator since 2018.

Committee chairperson Tebogo Letsie described the situation as "deeply concerning", citing a "gross" breakdown in governance.

"The repeated placement of NSFAS under administration is deeply concerning. It means that, since 2018, the entity has had three administrators appointed to address persistent governance failures, non-compliance with legal recommendations, [and] poor management of student allowances," he said.

The latest intervention followed a turbulent period, including a series of resignations from the NSFAS board, most notably that of the interim chairperson Dr Mugwena Maluleka.

"Instabilities at senior management and a board level often means the students, who are the main clients, are led by a 'rudderless' entity with no sense of direction," Letsie stated.

The committee highlighted that despite previous hopes of a turnaround, particularly under former leadership such as Dr Karen Stander, the entity continued to falter, raising questions about why "quality leaders" did not last at the institution.

"We ought to understand and get to the root causes as to why good leaders do not last at NSFAS," Letsie added.

The committee called for a student-centred entity capable of disbursing allowances timeously. However, it said persistent challenges with data verification, IT system failures, and poor management of student accommodation continued to undermine these efforts.

Letsie stated that the committee wanted a full briefing from Manamela on the decision to place NSFAS under administration, and it also wanted the new administrator to present a tangible turnaround plan.

"Unless NSFAS decisively resolves its governance shortcomings, we risk grappling with these problems for many years to come, with students enduring the worst of the repeated administrative failures," Letsie warned.

Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesperson on Higher Education and Training Delmaine Christians said her party did not believe a third administration would be successful.

"It is now time to completely overhaul the payment distribution system to students and universities. The DA reiterates our call to scrap NSFAS entirely and replace it with a decentralised model that gives direct control of funding to institutions, eliminating failing intermediaries and ensuring students receive support efficiently and reliably," she stated.

The South African Union of Students (SAUS) has also rejected the decision to place the entity under administration, saying while challenges persisted, the scheme was significantly more functional than in previous years.

The union said it did not accept that the current state of NSFAS justified such an "extreme" intervention, also claiming that the process may not meet the legal and governance standards.

"… appeals have been processed within reasonable timeframes, allowances have been disbursed with greater consistency to institutions and students, and there has been visible progress in the coordination, monitoring and evaluation of student accommodation across the country where we saw no NSFAS-funded student sleeping outside in corridors or lecture venues," it said.

The SAUS maintained that sustainable stability at NSFAS would not be achieved through administrative takeovers, but through consistent leadership, clear policy direction free from interference, transparent governance, and meaningful engagement with student stakeholders.

The union called on Manamela to provide a full, transparent, and lawful account of ...