Lerato Mbhiza
THE DA on Tuesday morning laid criminal charges against Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande amid allegations of corruption at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
Nzimande alongside his party, the South African Communist Party, and the NSFAS board chair Ernest Khosa – are accused of receiving kickbacks for tenders from NSFAS service providers.
Last week, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) leaked a series of recordings alleging that there’s a corruption scheme operating within the Higher Education Department and NSFAS.
Nzimande has since rejected the allegations in a media briefing on Monday where he accused OUTA of colluding with companies whose contracts were terminated following an investigation into alleged tender irregularities involving sacked CEO Andile Nongogo.
Nzimande said his lawyers are studying the report.
The DA’s Karabo Khakhau said the party demands accountability from Nzimande and Parliament.
“We, as the Democratic Alliance, take this seriously because the people who are affected by the criminal activities in this department are millions of students who depend on a non-corrupt government to fund their studies for their future.
“We know that we have over R1.1billion funding shortfall, which means that in this academic year, we will have an additional 87,000 who will not be funded, in addition to the over 20,000 students whose fundings were interrupted in the previous academic year”.
Various political parties have urged law enforcement authorities to probe the matter, as OUTA’s Rudie Heyneke explained: “The Special Investigating Unit has got a proclamation to investigate NSFAS, and we shared these recordings with them last year in December. They are aware of it, and I am very sure they will be instituting their investigation.
“We will also lay criminal charges, and we will also report this to the South African Revenue Services for them to look at the tax affairs of the contractors, and then we will also ask the auditor-general to look at the contracts and audit them with a very sharp eye.”
Nzimande said while he will subject himself to the relevant legal and ethical processes, he has no plans to take the allegations lying down.
“I couldn’t just sit back and not go to my lawyers when we are being turned into sitting ducks, just because we are ministers, for every Tom, Dick, and Harry to insult us as they wish”.
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