The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) has blamed universities for a funding disaster that has left thousands of needy students across South Africa without money for food.
About 100,000 students have not received their allowances for November — which should have been paid on Tuesday — leaving them “starving” as they write their crucial end-of-year exams.
The scheme said the payment debacle was caused by universities failing to adhere to an instruction in June to stop paying Nsfas allowances directly, because a new system had been put in place.
“This meant Nsfas had to put in [place] control measures to withhold payment,” the scheme's spokesperson, Slumezi Skosana, said.
Those affected include 23,081 students at North West University, 9,491 at the University of Venda, 1,936 at Durban University of Technology, 431 at the University of Cape Town, and 60% of Nsfas beneficiaries at Stellenbosch University.
And, in a virtual meeting with staff and students at the University of Limpopo on Friday, Nsfas accused the institution of “mixing up” a file that resulted in 2,500 students not being paid their allowances for October and November.
Despite undertaking to ensure payouts were made “within an hour” after the 9am meeting, Nsfas officials could not be contacted for the rest of the day, and no payments were made.
The Sunday Times was sent an audio recording of the meeting, which was attended by senior Nsfas official Thilivhali Mukondeleli; Ismail Ally, the CEO of eZaga, one of the service providers contracted in June to pay allowances to students at the institution; University of Limpopo financial aid officer Thabo Mangale; and student representative council (SRC) president Khutso Mamabolo.
In the meeting, Mukondeleli says the students were blocked from the system in August after it was discovered their personal details had been “mixed up”.
They were found to have the same identity numbers, but their e-mail addresses and cellphone numbers were different.
Mukondeleli said the payments to the 2,500 students could not be effected at the end of last month because the corrected file was sent to Nsfas only on October 26, a day after it had given eZaga the list of students who should be paid.
But Mangale told the meeting she had a problem “when someone is saying the mistake is from the institution”.
She said they submitted the initial data to Nsfas, and that she recalled one of her colleagues struggling to load the “adjustments”, and they had then received assistance from Nsfas to upload the file.
“I even overheard Thili [Mukondeleli] off [the] record saying … that this is not their [Nsfas’s] mistake or [it's] none of their business. It’s really wrong to say that, but at the end of the day we are here to find solutions to pay for the students.
However, Nsfas has not paid the money to the university to make these transfers possible
— University of Limpopo spokesperson Victor Kgomoeswana
“Let’s find common ground and find each other in resolving student issues without blaming the other party,” she said.
When asked when the 2,500 students would be paid, Mukondeleli told the meeting: “If our data people are not in a position to process the payments today [Friday], we will, in the coming hour or so, be coming back to the institution to ask [it] to release the payment.”
However, Mamabolo told the Sunday Times on Friday night that Nsfas had not reverted to the institution and no payments had been made.
Officials at eZaga said they had been trying to get hold of Mukondeleli “for quite a number of hours”.
“We are very frustrated because our meeting was joined by students as observers, and they were under the impression that if the list was sent to eZaga, they would get their money as soon as eZaga received it,” Mamabolo said.
“Our issue is Nsfas is not picking up calls. They did not send the list, and no payments were made, so we are trying to devise means to go to Cape Town early next week with officials from eZaga to directly confront Nsfas officials.”
eZaga said late yesterday that Mukondeleli had confirmed that a response pertaining to the next steps would be shared within an hour of the meeting.
“He requested to be excused from the online meeting as he wanted to attend to the problem with urgency, saying the CEO was available, and he'd like to quickly get guidance on the next steps.
“eZaga never heard back from him or anyone from Nsfas during the course of the day. We sent a follow-up e-mail requesting an update, to which there was no response.”
eZaga said it tried calling Mukondeleli but received no answer. “He eventually called back after close of business and confirmed he had sent an e-mail directly to the University of Limpopo confirming that they should go ahead with the release of the funds to the affected students.”
University of Limpopo spokesperson Victor Kgomoeswana confirmed that Nsfas sent an e-mail to the university’s financial aid office stating that the university should transfer funds to the affected students. “However, Nsfas has not paid the money to the university to make these transfers possible,” he said.
“Thabo Mangale … declines to comment on the quote attributed to her. Pointing fingers will not resolve the problem of funding for students, and the university would rather concentrate on working with Nsfas and other stakeholders to resolve the problem affecting 16,000 of our 23,000 students,” Kgomoeswana said.
On Wednesday, the SRC and the university dished out food hampers to 2,000 students, including many who were not paid their allowances for October and November. The hampers included maize meal, instant porridge, sugar, tinned fish and beans, salt, cooking oil, packet soup, tea bags, potatoes and onions.
In a bid to assist starving students at the University of Venda, the service provider responsible for paying allowances, Tenet Technologies, took it upon itself to issue food vouchers worth R130 each to 8,000 students on Friday at a cost of more than R1m.
Tenet Technologies’ CEO Ryan Passmore told the Sunday Times the company was pleased to assist the students at such short notice in a time of crisis.
University of Venda student Vhutali Neluonde, 20, said: “We are writing exams, but we don’t have food. How are we supposed to go and write?”
The first-year student, who is pursuing a BA in language practice, said she had been forced to borrow R500 from a family friend this week for food and transport.
Another struggling student studying towards a degree in criminal justice said a friend had been helping her with meals, as her own grocery cupboard was empty. “My aunt bought me a braai pack and tinned food last month, but it’s finished.”
I even overheard Thili [Mukondeleli] off [the] record saying … that this is not their [Nsfas’s] mistake or [it's] none of their business. It’s really wrong to say that, but at the end of the day we are here to find solutions to pay for the students
— University of Limpopo financial aid officer Thabo Mangale
University of Venda spokesperson Takalani Dzaga confirmed that only 177 out of 9,668 students received their November allowance. “No formal communication has been received from Nsfas about when the students will be paid. Students are complaining, but we escalated the matter to Nsfas.”
In a bid to provide emergency assistance to students, North West University began running soup kitchens at its Vanderbijlpark, Potchefstroom and Mahikeng campuses from Thursday.
University of Pretoria spokesperson Rikus Delport said the university had seen an increase in the number of students seeking food assistance in the past week.
University of Stellenbosch spokesperson Martin Viljoen said the institution had approached Nsfas to find out when the rest of the allowances would be paid, “but no official communication from Nsfas has been received”.
DUT spokesperson Alan Khan said students in distress were being assisted through the university’s Phakimpilo food security programme, and “from the occasional benevolence of benefactors”.
Bheki Hlophe, spokesperson for Mangosuthu University of Technology, said the university had a pantry for students who need food “irrespective of the financial support they get”.
University of Johannesburg spokesperson Herman Esterhuizen said the university had a meal assistance programme for needy students.
Nsfas's Skosana told the Sunday Times that the agency had experienced payment challenges because a notice had been issued to institutions not to pay beyond June, as Nsfas intended to take over the direct payments. However, a few institutions did not adhere to this request and paid for July.
“This meant Nsfas had to put in [place] control measures to withhold payment. Some of the institutional claims had anomalies which Nsfas had to resolve. It becomes crucial for universities to adhere to these payment instructions to ensure that deserving students receive their allowances.
“Failure to comply with these instructions may result in nonpayment to deserving students or Nsfas running the risk of over-disbursements.”
He said a number of institutions didn't comply with the requirements, which led to the withholding of payments. “We are actively working to address this matter with the affected institutions.”
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