Pretoria – The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has returned about R311 million to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which was to be disbursed to students between 2016 and 2021.
According to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), the funds were intended for qualified students who either transferred or withdrew from the college.
“The unallocated funds were to be collected by NSFAS from the universities at the end of each year through a reconciliation process. However, SIU’s investigation found that NSFAS has failed to develop and implement controls to ensure that an annual reconciliation occurs between funds disbursed to colleges and the list of enrolled students.
“To remedy this, NSFAS recently hired a service provider to perform this reconciliation as part of what is called a final report,” the SIU said.
The anti-corruption agency asked universities to return any funds that weren’t disbursed to students.
“With the payment made by UJ, the total amount received by the universities since the NSFAS investigation began in September 2022 is about R349.3 million.
“The SIU encourages all institutions of higher learning to come forward and pay back unallocated funds that are due to NSFAS,” the SIU said.
