Dear Editor
The DA expresses deep and profound anger that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) continues to operate in the lap of luxury, while students struggle to study in dire circumstances, and without funding.
The fact that the previous CEO of NSFAS, Andile Nongogo, saw fit to waste R18.6 million on parking bays for staff, while students are defunded mid-year, is a scandal and a disgrace.
The DA supports the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and NSFAS approaching the Special Tribunal to have the lease set aside.
This extravagant waste of students’ money, on luxury parking bays, should never have been allowed to happen in the first place, and therefore the DA will submit follow-up written parliamentary questions to the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane.
The DA will ask how many parking bays are dedicated to Board members, how often they are used, and how many are used by NSFAS staff.
The DA will also probe what the R33.3 million in “fit out” costs at the rented office space was for.
The students that NSFAS is meant to cover are struggling to finish their academic years because of defunding, and some residential landlords allegedly confiscating their textbooks, due to the defunding which means that some students are unable to pay their accommodations.
In other cases, students are literally going hungry, while NSFAS happily signed away R18.6 million for its office parking bays.
It is time NSFAS returns to its mandate to serve poor students and facilitate their higher education
Regards
Desiree van der Walt MP
DA Deputy Spokesperson on Higher Education