TEBOGO LETSIE | We need NSFAS more than ever — fix it, don’t close it

Calls to shut down the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) are reckless, anti-intellectual and do not take into consideration the scheme’s transformative value in higher education. The paralysis at NSFAS is merely governance-related, and talk of closure is not supported by science.

The minister of higher education & training, Buti Manamela, appointed an administrator to take care of the affairs of NSFAS. He indicated his action was occasioned by the financial 2025 audit disclaimer from the auditor-general. A disclaimer is a situation where auditors could not even start doing their work due to the absence of evidentiary performance and expenditure materials.

Other issues the 2024-2025 audit raised included, among other things:

• payments to 15,000 beneficiaries whose incomes are above the threshold and payments to 822 deceased beneficiaries;
• board resignations;
• unresolved appeals; and
• missing data.

Ordinarily, when this happens, the dissolution of a board is justified, and the minister put NSFAS under administration, a decision that was challenged and will be adjudicated by the courts. This reflection is by no means a comment or view on those pending court processes. Far from it — this is a mere argument in support of the scheme’s continued existence given its role in a developmental state.

It is hard to imagine a workplace in South Africa today where there is no NSFAS beneficiary. If there are any such places, they need to take stock.

Calls to shut down government entities that have contributed massively in the higher education space need to be approached with caution

NSFAS has produced almost 6-million graduates who ordinarily wouldn’t have seen the doors of learning and culture, let alone obtained degrees or diplomas.

Calls to shut down government entities that have contributed massively in the higher education space need to be approached with caution. They should be informed by empirical data on whether the entity is needed; in NSFAS’s case, it is. It has significantly changed the face of South Africa by providing access for poor black South Africans. That journey remains incomplete.

Governance challenges should not automatically justify closure, or even the conclusion that the entity has achieved nothing. NSFAS had twice been placed under administration; what was lacking was follow-up and implementation of solid controls.

We need to improve affordability and progression for black South Africans at university, both as students and academics. We cannot lament skills shortages and misalignment of education to workplace needs on the one hand, and advocate the closure of institutions that were established to address that challenge on the other.

The issue of skills should never be one to play politics around.

In South Africa today, one would struggle to find a black professional who could say neither they nor their family received help from NSFAS, or the erstwhile Tertiary Education Fund of South Africa. How then do proponents of a NSFAS shutdown, themselves beneficiaries of the scheme, push for the closure of such a transformative empowerment tool?

Governance challenges should never be the basis for the complete closure and collapse of these entities, which were established to meet the needs of the workplace

It is unfortunate that NSFAS, and to some extent the sector education & training authorities (Setas), are being talked about negatively in such terms as being dens of corruption, failed projects, and so on.

Perhaps it is time to revisit the purpose for which these entities were founded. NSFAS and the Setas are tools to attain higher education and bridge workplace experiential learning gaps. They are relevant and still have a huge role to play.

Black South Africans are still hugely disadvantaged, disempowered and need a helping hand.

Governance challenges should never be the basis for the complete closure and collapse of these entities, which were established to meet the needs of the workplace. The debate should not be about closure but about how to improve governance for the benefit of those in need.

Failure of governance should be attributed to those who lead these institutions. The failure trap must not influence how we make decisions, at least not in the education & training portfolio.

The conversation should be about the impact of NSFAS and the Setas and how to insulate their functioning from political machinations and interference. South Africans ought to concern themselves with enhancing NSFAS through ensuring that the maximum number of poor South Africans benefit. There can never be a better key performance indicator for South Africa.

The need for this entity is as great as ever.

• Letsie is the chair of the portfolio committee on higher education & training in the National Assembly. He writes in his personal capacity.