DA parliamentarian Karabo Khakhau has lambasted the newly appointed National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) board for failing to handle the accommodation crisis at the University of the Free State (UFS) in a satisfactory manner.
This happened during a sitting of parliament’s portfolio committee on higher education and training on Wednesday, where board members were grilled about the turnaround strategy that they presented to MPs.
Khakhau read an email she received from a distressed UFS student who explained that the university had received instructions from NSFAS to halt the allocation of funds to the students whose appeal cases had been approved.
This has posed a threat to students’ living conditions and puts them at risk of facing deregistration from the university and eviction from their accommodation.
“A large number of students affected by this devastating situation are in their final year of study. This funding delay is not only preventing us from completing our degrees but is also leaving us in a state of extreme vulnerability and hardship,” reads the email.
In the email, which Sunday World has seen, the student makes an urgent appeal for immediate intervention.
“We implore you to use your position to escalate this matter within NSFAS and facilitate the immediate release of the approved funding.
“The potential consequences of mass evictions, deregistrations, and the inability of students to afford basic needs and attend exams are catastrophic. We implore you to assist us in resolving this matter with the utmost urgency and compassion.”
Baptism of fire
The board did, however, dispute allegations that it requested the institution to halt dismemberments, with NSFAS acting chief operations officer Errol Makhubela saying the scheme would ordinarily “not do that”.
When Khakhau further asked if it is possible that the university had conveyed the incorrect message to students, Makhubela felt that NSFAS would have to get a better understanding of what is going on.
“If you are saying that you have not changed anything, then you are saying the issue is with UFS. I will take it up with UFS.” said Khakhau.
Meanwhile, the NSFAS board has lamented the hardships it has faced since being appointed in February.
Board chairperson Dr Karen Stander mentioned that board members faced a “baptism of fire” as new members tried to come up with a turnaround strategy for the entity.
The institution believes there is insufficient safe, secure student accommodation in South Africa. Another issue is that the system does not allocate student accommodation in an efficient manner.
The scheme admitted that it is always in “crisis mode” and has not “reached the maturity level of measuring its impact, and it fails to shape its own narrative”, according to a presentation by acting NSFAS CEO Waseem Carrim.
Dispute between TUT and landlords
In relation to fixing its immediate problems, the scheme is looking to finalise the 2024 reconciliation of unpaid student accommodation and has instituted a claims and appeal process to be concluded by May 31.
The board is also dealing with the dispute between Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and private landlords, which is said to be escalating.
NSFAS is looking to solve complaints from individual institutions about the R2 500 accommodation cap on unaccredited accommodation.
Carriem pushed back on allegations that there are service providers who were not paid due to non-registration or accreditation.
“What I am trying to illustrate is that we are not seeing a complete collapse where no one is being paid. Payments are being made every month to accommodation providers.
“However, the system has significant inefficiencies; [but] it does not fully pay all providers, and there are ongoing glitches that still need to be resolved,” Carriem said.
