The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the long-overdue appointment of a Ministerial Task Team (MTT) which will be responsible for reviewing the National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s (NSFAS) business processes. We call for the MTT to provide regular updates to Parliament on the progress of their work.
The DA is pleased that the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Blade Nzimande, has finally heeded to the DA’s calls for this review mechanism. We trust that this MTT will be more than just another talk shop and that it will be a catalyst for the complete overhaul of NSFAS and its management due to its long time inefficiencies.
These inefficiencies include the delayed disbursement of allowances, haphazard allocation of funds due to poor ICT systems, and a lack of a culture of accountability within the entity.
The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Technology was briefed in detail today on the work this committee will undertake. The DA is therefore pleased to hear that the MTT will review the following areas:
- IT systems used by the entity and the institutions;
- The funding model with a close analysis of the student funding cycle;
- An investigation will look at NSFAS policies and control measures currently in place; and
- The organogram of the entity will be reviewed along with its governance processes.
NSFAS has been embattled for years with its inefficiencies resulting in increasing frustrations among students which have been evidenced by the annual protests at the start of the academic year at campuses across South Africa.
The DA hopes that the task team will rise to the occasion and assist with turning around this entity to benefit the students of this country. We will monitor the progress of this task team and the timeline given as we have to ensure that public funds are not used in vain but rather that the objective is achieved timeously.
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