Call for Forensic Scrutiny of NSFAS Administration Spending

Statement by Dr Delmaine Christians MP – DA Spokesperson on Higher Education and Training:

The Democratic Alliance (DA) will launch a probe into the new and deeply disturbing allegations of luxury accommodation, apparent double-booking and excessive travel expenditure under the current NSFAS administration. If these allegations are confirmed, they would constitute a gross abuse of public funds intended to support South Africa’s poorest students.

These allegations come just days after National Treasury rejected the proposed R11 million remuneration package for the NSFAS Administrator. Taken together with the appointment of highly paid advisors, these revelations paint a deeply concerning picture of an administration that appears increasingly focused on spending public money on itself, while students continue to endure delayed funding, inadequate allowances and accommodation crises.

These developments warrant far more than explanations. They require forensic scrutiny of expenditure incurred under the current NSFAS administration to determine whether public funds were spent lawfully, whether any expenditure constitutes fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and whether there has been compliance with the Public Finance Management Act, National Treasury regulations and NSFAS’ own policies.

To this end, the DA will submit further parliamentary questions demanding every invoice, every approval, every travel authorisation and every policy relied upon to justify this expenditure. We will pursue every available parliamentary mechanism to ensure that those responsible are identified and held accountable.

NSFAS exists to fund students, not lifestyles. Every Rand wasted on bureaucracy is a Rand taken away from a student trying to build a future.

Minister Buti Manamela can no longer ignore what is unfolding at one of South Africa’s largest public entities. The repeated governance failures, ballooning administrative costs and continuing controversy under administration demonstrate that the current model is failing. Even Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has voiced his frustration with NSFAS’s administrative expenses, suggesting that the funds could be used more effectively to support additional students. Minister Buti Manamela must support the urgent review of the NSFAS Act and the decentralisation of student funding administration so that universities and TVET colleges can once again take greater responsibility for delivering funding directly to students.