A Qwaqwa student accommodation provider says NSFAS still owes him about R485,000 for housing funded students for 2025, saying the delays have damaged his credit score, left workers unpaid and pushed his business into financial distress.
Tebeteba Tshabalala, owner of V206 Student Accommodation in the Free State, told the Sunday Times that he has spent months trying to get answers from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), the University of the Free State (UFS), parliament’s portfolio committee on higher education and even the office of the higher education minister.
Tshabalala said his property received NSFAS accreditation in August 2024 and he later onboarded students through the NSFAS portal after training facilitated by one of the companies contracted to manage the online accommodation portal, Training Young Minds.
“We onboarded students on the NSFAS portal and the lease agreements were signed online with the students,” he said.
However, he said payments never came through.
“Payment was supposed to be made at the end of February, March and April, but it was never paid. So I started making follow-ups,” said Tshabalala.
According to Tshabalala, NSFAS later informed him that the University of the Free State’s Qwaqwa campus was not part of the NSFAS pilot programme of the online accommodation portal, and instead handled its own accommodation accreditation and payment system.
“That information was then communicated in a circular that was taken out in January,” he said.
Tshabalala believes there was a communication breakdown between NSFAS and Training Young Minds, which resulted in accommodation providers onboarding students who were not supposed to be covered by the NSFAS system.
“There was a miscommunication between the two parties, which is NSFAS and Young Minds, because Young Minds was supposed to inform us not to onboard students for the UFS for 2025,” he said.
He said NSFAS later asked him to submit documents and student information to trace where the funding had gone.
“To track the funds, they said the funds were sitting at the university, meaning the university had claimed the funds for the students in question,” said Tshabalala.
He was told the university would need to return the money before NSFAS could pay him.
Despite escalating the issue to senior NSFAS officials, Tshabalala said the matter remains unresolved.
“I escalated the matter to the CEO, Mr Waseem Carrim, and he instructed officials for the issue to be resolved, but it didn’t happen.”
Tshabalala said he also approached parliament’s portfolio committee on higher education and later contacted the office of the higher education minister, but received no response.
He said the unpaid amount now stands at about R485,000.
The delays, he said, have placed him under severe financial pressure after taking out loans to ensure the accommodation met NSFAS standards.
“For the accommodation to meet the standards and norms required by NSFAS, renovations had to be done and furniture had to be bought. So we took out loans in early 2024,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t honour the repayments because of the situation. We are still struggling with that.”
Tshabalala said the financial strain also affected workers employed at the property.
The students are now enjoying funds they were not supposed to receive in the first place.
— Tebeteba Tshabalala, owner of V206 Student Accommodation
“We had a cleaner at the property, but unfortunately, we haven’t been able to pay her since September last year. We eventually lost her because of that,” he said.
He added that he also struggled to continue paying a driver who transported students.
“The car that transports the students is still financed, so we are still liable for the instalments.”
Despite the difficulties, he said he is still accommodating NSFAS-funded students through the university’s own verification system, though he has concerns about how payments are structured.
According to Tshabalala, the university pays accommodation providers about R1,500 for accommodation while other portions of the NSFAS allowance are split between transport and utility payments made directly to students.
“The students are now enjoying funds they were not supposed to receive in the first place,” he said.
Tshabalala said his main priority is resolving the outstanding payment issue from last year.
NSFAS said private accommodation payments for universities were released on May 7 and that more than R1.1bn had been paid to accommodation providers during the quarter, benefiting more than 100,000 students.
The scheme said 95% of accommodation providers listed on its solution partner portals had successfully verified their banking details and were included in direct payments for 2026.
NSFAS also acknowledged “operational pressures faced by accommodation providers, including rising utility costs and municipal challenges”, adding that it remained committed to resolving payment challenges on a case-by-case basis.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.