Cape Town — The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape conducted an oversight visit to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in Cape Town.
The purpose of the inspection is to evaluate its preparedness for the upcoming distribution of grants to hundreds of thousands of students in the academic year. NSFAS has been rocked with a scandal involving Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande, and board chairperson, Ernest Khosa. Khosa has since taken leave, SABC News reported.
DA leader, John Steenhuisen, addressed the kickbakc claims and stated their intention to approach Cyril Ramaphosa to fire Blade Nzimande over the NSFAS corruption allegations and they also claimed they intend to act in the interests of the students, in an effort to end the ANC’s corruption. Steenhuisen also stated the idea of a mass mobilisation campaign at tertiary intitutions throughout the country.
According to EWN, The party wanted NSFAS to ensure that all outstanding payments to beneficiaries were paid in full after the oversight visit to the NSFAS headquarters. The troubled financial aid scheme has had problems making payments to students since November last year.
The DA said transparency and accountability in the distribution process will be key to its assessment, while also proposing the idea of an alternative funding model to NSFAS for higher education institutions.
“Our focus will be on assessing the efficiency, accuracy, and accessibility of NSFAS processes, ultimately aiming to enhance the support provided to students pursuing higher education,” DA’s Chantel King said.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Picture: X/@myNSFAS
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Matthew Petersen
