Processes under way to withdraw funds from undeserving students: NSFAS

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The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) says processes are under way to withdraw funds from undeserving students.

It follows revelations that the scheme had lost R5 billion in bursaries, that were allocated to 40 000 undeserving students between 2018 and 2021.

NSFAS spokesperson Slumezi Skosana says they are communicating with students that have been de-funded.

“It is all about accountability. We are entrusted with public funds which are governed by policies on what they must be utilised for. So, we have put in place systems that are intended to root out mischief where it is found – sometimes we find cases of falsified information or contradicting information that was used by people to get positively assessed as beneficiaries,”

Meanwhile, the South African Students Congress’ president, Vezinhlanhla Simelane, has called on NSFAS to review the cases of defunded students, as some deserving individuals have been affected.

There are students that have been defunded but in terms of their documents, they do qualify for NSFAS. We think that the blanket approach that they took was not correct. They are supposed to go case by case to ensure they defund the correct people. We are not saying those who are funded incorrectly must be funded, but at least they must do it case by case. We have asked them to review and go case by case to ensure they defund the correct people.”