MyZA

News, Directory, Events and Other Stuff

You are here: Home / News / DA will keep a close eye on NSFAS promises

DA will keep a close eye on NSFAS promises

Dear Editor

The DA welcomes the honest assessment by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) Administrator, Freeman Sithembiso Nomvalo, in his media briefing on Tuesday, as well as the interventions implemented to address the various challenges at the Scheme.

The past few years have revealed a host of issues that plague NSFAS. There have been allegations of corruption and fraud with both the direct payment system and the student accommodation online portal service providers and student accommodation accrediting agents tenders; late payments of allowances to students have caused interrupted studies, hunger, and destitution; allegations of kickbacks to former Higher Education Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, and his South African Communist Party (SACP); and the use of SARS data to allegedly discriminate against students thereby allegedly breaching the memorandum of understanding between NSFAS and SARS, as well as the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) to name but a few.

While we commend the Administrator’s proposals to address many of NSFAS’ issues, the DA will keep a close eye on the progress of these interventions and request that NSFAS account to Parliament in the third term. The DA’s Alternative Funding Model might provide valuable solutions for the proposed Organisational Re-engineering and Re-alignment Project, especially if government hopes to address the issue of higher education provision for the missing middle students.

The ICT and Business Processing Review Project must be stringently assessed at every point to ensure that not a single cent is wasted and the systems developed are completely fit for purpose with no room for abuse.

The direct payment of all NSFAS students without the use of direct payment partners should be explored as a matter of urgency after the apparent success of paying TVET students this way. It seems to have the added benefit of rooting out ghost students.

Regards

Desiree van der Walt MP
DA Deputy Spokesperson on Higher Education

Category: Tag:

If you feel strongly about this article then feel free to send MyZA a ‘Letter to the Editor’ using the submission form below:

Letter to the Editor

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
If this is in response to an article please include that article title here or as the lead in for the first paragraph of your Letter below.

Separate tags with commas

Localise your letter by naming the city your words are about. Add relevant words describing your subject. Single comma separated words of no more than 5
Your Name(Required)
Your Name will be linked to the website below.
Your personal, business or social media web site
Choose NO to not set up a user account on MyZA. User Accounts will allow you to submit letters under your own Author Name

3 Latest Letters to the Editor:

  • November Grants Pay Early – No Need to Queue at Dawn

    Dear Editor, I run SAGrant (sagrant.co.za), a free resource helping South Africans navigate SASSA grants. November grants pay earlier than usual. Older Persons grants are paid on Friday 30 October, Disability grants on 2 November, and Child Support and other grants on 3 November. Grants still under review are paid on 5 November. The money…

  • NSFAS 2027 applications close on 31 October — SASSA households, apply now

    Dear Editor, I run SAGrant (sagrant.co.za), a free resource helping South Africans navigate SASSA grants. NSFAS applications for the 2027 academic year close on Friday 31 October 2026, and no extension is expected. If your household receives a SASSA grant, your child already passes the NSFAS financial eligibility test — but they still have to…

  • Publish the Call, Then Publish the Grade

    Dear Editor, South African football fans argue about everything — lineups, referees, who should start up front. But there’s one argument we never have, because nobody gives us the numbers: were the predictions we read all week actually any good? I help run XG Mind AI, a small independent football data lab. Our rule is…

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. It is wise to remember that firefighters fight fire with water before you fight fire with fire