The University of Pretoria (UP) has paid up all of the monies it owed to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in unallocated funds. The funds were sent into the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) Trust account in four instalments. Since the SIU’s NSFAS investigation began on in September 2022, recoveries from higher education institutions have totalled R 937 926 351.
The monies paid by the UP are made up of all the unallocated funds from 2016 to 2021. The unallocated funds are for students who were eligible for financial assistance but either dropped out of school or transferred to another institution.
These funds were not obtained from higher education institutions as a result of subpar control mechanisms and lack of NSFAS reconciliation procedures. The SIU approached all the institutions and they complied, speeding up the process of recovery.
Motheo Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College in the Free State and the SIU have signed an acknowledgment of the debt agreement (AoD) for R 38 707 884.10. Additionally, the SIU signed AoDs for R 10 997 855,50 with parents and students who did not meet the requirements for NSFAS support.
Based on the findings of the SIU investigation, NSFAS neglected to plan and execute procedures that would have guaranteed an annual reconciliation between the funds given to the universities and the allocation of those funds to the students.
These control flaws have resulted in both overpayments and underpayments of funds to the various universities throughout 2017 till to date. Recently, NSFAS contracted with a service provider to help them with “close-out reporting,” a procedure that involves doing this reconciliation. The process of reconciliation is still in progress.
The SIU also discovered that a large number of “dormant” accounts were still active on the Celbux e-wallet/voucher payment system with an estimated value of R320 million, dating back to 2018.
They further discovered that information on accommodations funded by NSFAS, including physical addresses and landlord or owner details were missing from the NSFAS system. The NSFAS did not verify the physical address of the lodging nor the owner or landlord.
In terms of Proclamation R88 of 2022, the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) has the authority to look into claims of corruption and maladministration in the NSFAS’s operations. Additionally, it can recover any monetary losses that the State may have incurred due to corruption and negligence.
In order to rectify any misconduct discovered throughout both investigations that resulted from acts of corruption, fraud, or maladministration, the SIU is authorised to file a civil case in the High Court or a Special Tribunal in its name. The Special Investigating Units (SIU) will forward any evidence of criminal activities to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for additional action in accordance with the Special Investigating Units and Special Tribunals Act 74 of 1996.
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