Lerato Mbhiza
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has called on the government to take urgent action to tackle the fallout from the latest National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) controversy.
The federation has called for immediate intervention by the Department of Higher Education and Training, the National Treasury, and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (the South African financial institutions market conduct regulator) to act against the picture of endless chaos at NSFAS.
Last month, NSFAS introduced a direct payment method which allows them to pay student allowances directly into bank accounts.
The new payment system also allows NSFAS to speed up the defunding of undeserving beneficiaries.
Many students have expressed dissatisfaction with the new payment system, with the anger leading to protests on various university campuses nationwide.
Last week, students from the University of Pretoria, the Tshwane University of Technology, and other universities marched to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum of demands.
The situation quickly turned violent, with frustrated students blocking roads and police firing rubber bullets to disperse them.
“NSFAS has long been infamous for delays in payments reaching students and the universities and colleges who depend upon it. NSFAS has wrongly defunded many students and then have had to wait from 6 months to years for their cases to be resolved, Matthew said.
“There is no excuse in a 21st-century economy for this level of chaos to be allowed to continue. The Department of Higher Education and the National Treasury need to intervene and implement a payment system that will ensure students, universities, and colleges receive their payments timeously and without scandalous deductions by private companies profiteering at the expense of the poor.
“If such a system can exist at the South African Revenue Service, then it should not require a genius to replicate it at NSFAS. The Financial Sector Conduct Authority needs to investigate the deductions fleeced from students’ allowances by these companies and ensure that they are refunded.”
The rector and vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, Professor Francis Petersen, expressed great disappointment after violence erupted on three of its campuses.
“It is unacceptable. The level of vandalism, destruction…. and levels of criminality,” said Petersen.
“I didn’t expect that. I’m fully disappointed in our students that they … followed that route. I want to say that that’s unacceptable behaviour and actions of our students, of my students.
“I want to apologise to my staff at the university and the public.”
North-West University second-year engineering student Tumelo Boikanyo told Inside Education that the new system needs to be fixed in the best interests of students.
“Since we use Noraccoi, it is increasingly hard to access the NSFAS funds. Part of the problem is that the withdrawal fee is R150; at worst, using the mobile application costs money- this is a direct contradiction to how bank applications work. The minister of education needs to do something about this,” Boikanyo said.
A University of Limpopo third-year education student Koena Motloung said the new direct payment system should be reviewed immediately.
“The ezaga system is a problem because of the extra fees charged. I don’t understand why NSFAS changed the system to ezaga.”
In an address in Pretoria on Monday, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s Board Chairman, Mr Ernest Khosa, said he was perturbed by the occurrences of the past few days; the disruptions in learning activities for beneficiaries in universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges.
“These interruptions have been mainly to the changes in policies and guidelines that govern how the system disburses funds to students; more especially the new allowance payment system introduced by NSFAS.”
Throughout the years, he said the scheme had undergone a series of changes and improvements in its processes as well as funding eligibility criteria; This was mainly to ensure that the funding solution offered to students in higher education and learning is moving with the times and is fit purpose.
“It is therefore worrisome that the disturbances in question are attributed to an insinuation that NSFAS is imposing system changes; we pride ourselves in being an organisation that promotes accessibility and consultation.”
INSIDE EDUCATION
