Financial mess at NSFAS puts funding requests on hold in 2019

The National Student Financial Assistance Program (NSFAS) will not open its funding application process for the 2019 academic year as planned on Wednesday

This decision follows a directive issued by the Minister of Higher Education Naledi Pandor for the purpose of obtaining After discovering a serious delay in the payment of beneficiaries of the scheme, some of them have not received any funding for 2017 and 2018.

NSFAS attributed the delay to the announcement of the shock of the 11th hour of former President Jacob Zuma last December declaring that free education fully subsidized for Poor students would be implemented in January this year.

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"To implement the new policy this meant that in a very short time before the start of In the academic year 2018, the NSFAS had to modify its initial plans, systems and processes for 2018 in order to CEO Steven Zwane said in a statement.

City Press reported on Sunday that Pandor had had difficulty implementing the new policy, written to the NSFAS board, chaired by Sizwe Nxasana, earlier this month, informing it of its decision to temporarily suspend the application for the New Year, while by revealing that his department would open an investigation into the funding plan processes in August.] Zwane said the funding decisions for the 2018 academic year had been finalized, with funding being nt approved for more than 400,000 students and 365,000 students who have received stipends this year until now.

Meanwhile, the National Union of Education, Health and Allies) have requested a motion of censure against Zwane, who accuses him of having proceeded to appointments to irregular executive positions, of which Zwane employed two people for a position that required only the employment of a person. The senior staff he would have hired were former subordinates with whom he previously worked at Absa, the newspaper reports.

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Nehawu also targets Nxasana because of administrative problems.

The new opening dates for the 2019 funding application process will be communicated in a timely manner, but in the meantime, the NSFAS urges students who have not signed their scholarship agreements. NSFAS of 2018. to do so and submit it before the deadline of Tuesday (July 31), otherwise the student will not receive any allowance.