Staff Reporter
“This was not a political brawl; it was a legal, governance and student-protection response,” Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela told Parliament on Friday as he defended his decision to place the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) under administration.
The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training held a full-day meeting with Manamela about how he reached the decision to appoint an administrator — Professor Hlengani Mathebula — and dissolve the NSFAS board.
Manamela placed NSFAS under administration on 4 May. In his presentation flighted at the meeting, he gave the reasons for the administration — the third in the last five years — as operational failures, an Auditor-General disclaimer challenged data analytics, payments to 822 deceased students, funding for students whose family income was above the qualifying threshold, unresolved appeals, and numerous board resignations, including those of the chairperson and deputy chairperson.
The presentation said NSFAS had
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