Johnathan Paoli
THE Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande has announced the resignation of National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) board chairperson Ernest Khosa in the wake of bribery allegations.
Nzimande, who was also implicated in the allegations, issued a statement on Thursday in which he wished the former chair well on his endeavors in the future.
Khosa went on voluntary leave of absence in January after the release of a report from (OUTA), supported by voice recordings alleging Nzimande and Khosa received millions of rands in kickbacks from service providers contracted by the financing scheme.
However, Khosa said that he had never received any financial gratification for his personal use or facilitated any for the Minister nor the South African Communist Party.
Khosa raised concerns over alleged threats that have been made against both him and his family.
On Thursday, Nzimande outlined proposals for dealing with the ongoing crisis around NSFAS’s non-payment of student allowances as well as announced Khosa’s resignation.
Nzimande said that he had instructed the student funding scheme to immediately establish a task team that would visit all TVET colleges and universities in order to address the serious challenges.
“Given the magnitude of this problem and its negative impact on the well-being of students and the continued functioning of our post-school education and training system, in the next few days, the minister will be taking a series of additional and decisive steps, all of which are intended to have the problem of non-payment of allowances resolved as a matter of priority,” Nzimande said.
Nzimande said NSFAS had paid TVET college students allowances and tuition to the value of R511 106 120, and R2 306 583 222 to university students; and that these payments were made against valid registration records received on 15 March, in respect of the 2024 academic cycle.
“Regrettably, not all TVET colleges and universities have complied with the NSFAS deadline of 15 March for the submission of student registration data to facilitate the payment of allowances. The failures to comply by some TVET colleges and universities has contributed to the latest sporadic student protest,” he said in a statement.
NSFAS had sent its servicing administrators to work with the non-compliant colleges and universities to finalise the student registration data submission, Nzimande added.
“Further to all this, the Minister intends to engage all key stakeholders in the sectors, such as student leadership, with the view to ensure that the issues of non-payment of Nsfas student allowances and related challenges are resolved as a matter of priority”.
INSIDE EDUCATION
