Cape Town — The Private Student Housing Association (PHSA) has warned that students may not be able to return to their university accommodations if the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) does not pay its outstanding debts.
In a statement released earlier this week, the PHSA urged NSFAS to make immediate payment for past bills to accommodation providers to avoid any disruptions to the new academic year.
The PSHA, which is responsible for providing affordable accommodation to more than 80 000 students annually, said it was owed R44 million in unpaid bills.
“If NSFAS does not pay PSHA members promptly (within the next 14 days), students will be unable to return to the rooms they occupied last year, potentially disrupting the academic year’s resumption and creating a nightmare scenario for both students and their parents,” it said.
PSHA CEO, Kagisho Mamabolo, said NSFAS was exploiting accommodation providers at the expense of students, which was a problem.
“We are deeply concerned for the well-being of our student tenants and the potential disruption that unpaid fees could cause to their academic pursuits,” said Mamabolo.
TUNE IN: Private #studentaccommodation providers owed R44m for 2024, issued an ultimatum to @myNSFAS. If not paid within 2 weeks, more than 6 000 returning students may not be allowed back in residence. We call on @Dr_NobuhleN to urgently intervene and prevent this. @SAfmRadio pic.twitter.com/BfbM1OpfLp
— Private Student Housing Association (PSHA) (@PSHA_Official) January 21, 2025
The PSHA is working to plug several crucial gaps including a shortage of beds, but said student accommodation could not afford to offer free services without the funds to pay cash-strapped municipalities.
The PSHA also found several other critical issues in addition to the non-payment of student accommodation. This included a failure to announce the rate for the 2025 academic year, murky accreditation of residences, and a full implementation of the student portal.
“The PSHA urges NSFAS to resolve all the issues raised immediately and potentially review the implementation of these initiatives until all the identified problems have been resolved,” Mamabolo said.
He said learners could not be expected to go back to their residences while NSFAs has outstanding rentals, and encouraged NSFAS to sort out payments immediately.
“In a time when access to high-quality higher education is more crucial than ever, the PSHA urges NSFAS to set a good example and exhibit steadfast dedication to the students it serves,” he said.
According to IOL, NSFAS spokesperson, Anele Ntswayi said she would only be able to comment once she returned to work, while NSFAS administrator, Freeman Nomvalo, said the money had been paid directly to most of the students as the pilot project was not rolled out to everyone yet and not all landlords were in the system to be paid directly from the scheme.
Nomvalo added that there are students who did not pay the money to the landlords. This led to a protest by landlords offering accommodation to students at uMbumbulu College in southern Durban, over unpaid rental fees.
The landlords said they had only received partial payments from NSFAS and did not receive full payments between February and November, which led to problems in building maintenance.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Picture: X/@PSHA_Official
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Matthew Petersen
