A week of high drama over who should lead the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) saw board members jumping ship, a ministerial warning to dissolve the leadership structure, a fightback and the board ultimately deciding to appoint a permanent CEO, the first in 30 months.
Just hours before a scheduled board meeting to appoint a new CEO on Wednesday, acting board chair Mugwena Maluleke and another board member, Karabo Mohale, resigned — allegedly to frustrate a quorum and block the appointment.
But the meeting proceeded, and the board decided to appoint NSFAS CFO Waseem Carrim, who has been acting CEO since March 2025.
Higher education & training minister Buti Manamela had also tried to stop the proceedings, informing individual board members of his intention to appoint an administrator and stating that the board did not have a quorum and was no longer capable of taking lawful decisions.
As a consequence, the board is unable to take binding decisions, exercise fiduciary oversight, or discharge its statutory functions in terms of the act and the Public Finance Management Act.
— Buti Manamela, higher education & training minister
“As a consequence, the board is unable to take binding decisions, exercise fiduciary oversight, or discharge its statutory functions in terms of the act and the Public Finance Management Act,” Manamela said in a letter to the board.
The board was said to be divided between those who wanted Carrim and those who backed Busani Ngcaweni, the former principal of the National School of Government, including Maluleke and Mohale. Manamela was also said to support Ngcaweni.
The remaining board members sought a legal opinion, which advised that they could lawfully convene and proceed with the scheduled board meeting provided they satisfied quorum requirements as set out in the NSFAS Act and the board charter.
While Manamela wrote to the remaining seven board members individually, they responded to him as a collective on Thursday, saying “the subject matter concerns the board as an organ of governance and not the personal interests of individual members”.
They rejected his “characterisation” that the board “is no longer capable of constituting itself in a manner that enables lawful and effective decision-making”.
They argued that in terms of the board charter, a majority of members present constituted a quorum, provided that at least three members of the executive committee were present.
“The present composition satisfies these requirements when all seven remaining members are present. The board is therefore able to convene, deliberate and take binding decisions,” they said.
The board members also questioned Manamela’s intention to appoint an administrator for NSFAS, stating that the law permits the minister to do so only in three defined circumstances:
- If an audit of the financial records of the NSFAS or a report by a ministerial committee reveals financial or other maladministration of a serious nature or the serious undermining of the effective functioning of the NSFAS;
- If any other circumstances arise that reveal financial or other maladministration of a serious nature or the serious undermining of the effective functioning of the NSFAS; and
- If the board requests such an appointment.
“The board submits that the statutory grounds are not met on the current facts,” the board members said.
In a separate letter on Thursday, the board, through Johanna Maphutha, who was appointed by her colleagues to preside over Wednesday’s meeting, wrote to Manamela informing him of Carrim’s appointment as the new CEO.
The board also approved a maximum salary band of R3.5m for the CEO position, up from the annual package of R3.3m. They asked Manamela to concur on the salary increase.
On Friday, Carrim described himself as acting CEO until May 31.
“I applied for the post of CEO of NSFAS in June 2025,” he said. “I participated in the interviews, wrote a psychometric assessment and subjected myself to criminal, credit and qualification checks in the month of April 2026. I have not had any outcome of the above process communicated to me. I will continue to serve in my current role till the expiry date until advised otherwise.”
The appointment of a new NSFAS CEO has been in the making since May 2025, according to a document seen by the Sunday Times. To expand the candidate pool, at some point during the process the scheme used the services of headhunting companies — one company was fired due to lack of progress and a second one was appointed in February 2026.
According to a recruitment update authored by Maluleke for Manamela, dated March 31, Ngcaweni, Lindiwe Kwele and Carrim were recommended as the three candidates “to proceed to the next stage, which includes pyschometric assessments and verification checks”.
A board insider claimed the psychometric tests tipped the scales in Carrim’s favour.
“The assessment told us that Ngcaweni is not a strategic thinker and not a good fit for what we are looking for,” the insider said. “He is more designed for a research-focused institution, while Carrim has sufficient expertise and background in the role of CEO.”
Board members reportedly claimed that Ngcaweni was being shoved down their throat, saying he was a late entry in the search for a CEO.
“We went to the markets three times, and Carrim’s application was present in all of those,” the source said. “Ngcaweni appears in the third round; he enters through this backdoor and through these DDGs [deputy directors-general] who are coming from the office of the minister; he’s being scored high, even though he is not suitably qualified for the role.”
The appointment of an executive officer is the prerogative of the board and does not depend on any individual board member’s preference. The suggestion that Dr Maluleke prefers any candidate imputes improper conduct on his part and borders on defamation. His rights remain fully reserved in this regard
— Modidima Mannya, Maluleke's lawyer
The board member, who was in favour of Carrim’s appointment, said Ngcaweni, an urban planner who has a master’s degree, did not have the profile the board was looking for.
“In our advert we didn’t ask for someone with town planning qualifications; we asked for someone who has a financial background and who has run a similar institution that does financial disbursements. Carrim has been an executive for more than 10 years. Ngcaweni has been a DDG, chief of staff, but has never run a financial institution.”
The source claimed Mohale and Maluleke ditched the board because they were not getting their way.
“Because these ones have lost the debate in that committee, they then run to the minister. The minister then told us we must halt the process. The next thing, they resigned. They had no other avenues; they thought they would create a sense of bogus instability and that it would stop the board from proceeding. The board then proceeded and made the appointment.”
According to the insider, Mohale and Maluleke, upon discovering that Carrim was set to take the post, resigned to create “a smokescreen of instability”, which would have led to Manamela dissolving the structure and placing it under administration.
Maluleke, through his lawyers, insisted that he left the board owing to his other commitments, including his academic work. “The claims set out in your inquiry border on petty gossip not worth being entertained,” said his lawyer, Modidima Mannya.
“The appointment of an executive officer is the prerogative of the board and does not depend on any individual board member’s preference. The suggestion that Dr Maluleke prefers any candidate imputes improper conduct on his part and borders on defamation. His rights remain fully reserved in this regard,” Mannya said.
Maluleke denied any knowledge of political interference in the CEO appointment process, suggesting that would be impossible as the appointment is not a political one.
Ngcaweni said he was still waiting for feedback from the headhunting firm that called for people to participate in the process, which was his “sole channel” of communication.
“Since I tabled a turnaround strategy that can be implemented by any sensible person, I have not been made aware of further developments, apart from being taken through probity and personality assessments,” he said.
Manamela did not respond to Sunday Times’ enquiries at the time of going to print.
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